Extra Subjects?

Solus01

Anyone know what extra subjects are handy enough to do well in at honours. I was looking at Classical Studies, Religion, Business Studies or maybe Music. I'm doing French, Biology, Chemistry and Geograpgy and already but doing ordinary maths and Irish and would like to take on another honours subject. What would you recommend? Btw I only have one year to learn the subject becasue I am doing my LC in 2011.
Cheers

Gordon Gecko

Your best bet would be Classics, Economics or Ag. Science. Classics is very consistent in terms of questions being easily predictable and the content being very manageable. Economics is a short course and very logical and straightforward. Ag. Science is short, easily digestible and, importantly for you, overlaps with Biology to the tune of over half the course material. All three are doable in a year, and to A1 standard if the work is put in.

An Fear Bocht

Gordon Gecko wrote: »

Your best bet would be Classics, Economics or Ag. Science. Classics is very consistent in terms of questions being easily predictable and the content being very manageable. Economics is a short course and very logical and straightforward. Ag. Science is short, easily digestible and, importantly for you, overlaps with Biology to the tune of over half the course material. All three are doable in a year, and to A1 standard if the work is put in.

I'm sorry, but that's absolute nonsense - you clearly haven't taken the course, have you? Classical Studies is easily one of the most exerting and demanding courses at Leaving Cert level and its marking scheme is also one of the most punishing. The exam questions are anything but predictable and manageable. It's one thing giving a recommendation on the internet, but at least let them know what they're in for - there are more than a few books on the syllabus and each is several hundred pages long.

To the original poster, if you intend to do an eighth subject, try and find one that overlaps with your current selection. Spanish is not hard to pick up if your French is good; I've heard that music and the business subjects aren't that hard, but I haven't examined the syllabi, so I can't comment. I'm not sure about religion; I've heard that it's not as easy as it looks.

Gordon Gecko

Very OTT denigration of Classics there AnFearBocht , however I will concede that Classics comes easier to some than others. OP realistically your safest bet for a new subject is Ag. Science as it overlaps with Biology so much. Taking up HL Spanish would be foolish as languages are very difficult to take up to A1 standard in a year. Do Ag. Science, give it 40mins at least EVERY day and you should come out with a high mark come June

rainbowtrout

With Ag Science comes a project which your teacher grades so you need an ag science teacher to grade and sign off on your project.

An Fear Bocht

Gordon Gecko wrote: »

Very OTT denigration of Classics there AnFearBocht , however I will concede that Classics comes easier to some than others. OP realistically your safest bet for a new subject is Ag. Science as it overlaps with Biology so much. Taking up HL Spanish would be foolish as languages are very difficult to take up to A1 standard in a year. Do Ag. Science, give it 40mins at least EVERY day and you should come out with a high mark come June

I'm not denigrating it, I love the subject! Still, I think students of Classics need to at least know what they're in for - the amount of people who take it thinkng it's an easy honour and then crashing and burning is quite astonishing. Classics does come easier to some than others, but that's more a question of personal interest. Regardless, there's an awful lot of work that needs to be put in and a lot of refinement of answers and essays.

As for Spanish, that's very feasible if you already know English and French, as the original poster does. The verbs, modes, rules of gender and number agreement etc. are relatively straightforward to learn. As languages go, Spanish is quite easy to learn - it's definitely nothing in terms of difficulty compared to Irish, Latin or Ancient Greek (all three are great languages, but they're very demanding to learn).