History vs. Accounting

eVeNtInE

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chillywilly

To your friend-

I just saw the the thread title and it kind of stuck out to me as I did LC history, but I am studying Accounting in college(Business course). Im 24(old man in your eyes ) and I don't know about you but I didn't really know what I wanted to do at your age! I was kind of like yourself as I loved history, I found it really interesting and I still love history today! Unlike yourself, I never even considered Accounting as I hated anything to do with numbers!

You are right, studying for LC history is hard, and I believe it would be tougher than Accounting(just my opinion). Anyway, if I was in your situation I personally would pick Accounting as it has a lot more practical uses than History does in real life IMO. You say you will probably not study in either Acc or His but you could be suprised, if someone had said to me at your age that I would be studying Business with Accounting I wouldn't have believed them! But as I am older I realise the uses of accounting in business and in real life too.

Yes, History would stand to you if you wanted to do Arts but I would advise against doing an Arts course as any of my friends who did it are in totally unrelated jobs or went on to start another course!

Of course it is up to yourself and you have to pick what you feel is right as everyone is different! But knowing what I know now, I would have done Acc for the LC as it would have given me a head start!

Hope I helped somewhat and good luck

JohnSmith17

Can you not study one out side of school?

what re the history and acc. teachers like in your school

what are the friends in your school picking?

GoldFour4

JohnSmith17 wrote: »

Can you not study one out side of school?

what re the history and acc. teachers like in your school

what are the friends in your school picking?

Accounting outside school is a possibility but the history could be complicated with the project and all .

**Timbuk2**

I'd definitely go for accounting if it was me, none of that tedious learning off! Slightly more useful than history as well (although you strictly don't need either subject to get into any college courses in Ireland).

I did accounting for the leaving cert. I had an excellent teacher. Don't be under any illusion, accounting isn't a doss and you need to put the work in (regularly.. it's one subject where last minute cramming does not work, and last minute cramming is my middle name!).

My twin brother did history instead of accounting (but all the same other subjects as me, apart from he did German instead of French). His textbook was massive, and I said it to him... and he told me that's only one of his textbooks... he had another one. And he had to learn all that. And write essays about it. He put in similar time studying history that I did with accounting (possibly a bit less, but more or less the same). He came out with a C2 in HL History, I got an A1 in HL Accounting. While this comparison isn't really relevant, as the subjects are different and we are different, I think the value you get studying accounting in terms of the final grade is more than history. With history you could spend ages studying a topic that mightn't even come up. The same holds true for accounting, of course, but with accounting - practicing one question helps with the rest of the questions (there are adjustments on nearly all questions, you'll know what I mean if you do it).

I'm a bit biased though as I love numbers, maths and accounting and didn't particularly like 'rote-learning' subjects. Just something to think about though!

For the record, I don't think you could do either of the subjects without a teacher, outside school.

Fireball07

Hmm...I actually think I could possibly help you.

I do both, liked them both for the Junior Cert, and were probably my two best subjects.

I find Accounting incredibly easy tbh, there is a minimal amount of work involved....and if you understand it then a small bit of revision of the different topics should be enough. If you are patient and able to do it, it's something that you should be able to get an A1 in. I certainly hope to do so. It's definitely a lighter workload but probably a lot easier to do outside of school too, but I have a good teacher and a small class, so that probably helps in learning it all.

As for history...maybe it's just me but I don't find that there's a huge amount of learning off. Again, I have an excellent teacher, but the majority of the stuff I just remember first-time, similar to what it was like in Junior Cert. The real struggle in history is timing your essays and making sure you don't ramble, getting down the relevant points to pick up marks. I find the subject easy but I still get lower marks than accounting for that reason. But again regarding the amount of learning, there is a huge amount of choice on the exam paper so I think that's overexaggerated really.

But it really depends on how easy you find history to learn. I don't think there's a huge amount of learning off at all, certainly not as much as I would have to learn for a language. If you were to do one outside of school I would recommend accounting for that....if you really need it for the points, I would also say accounting but I enjoy history, it's my favourite subject and it is possibly to get an A1 without too much work...if you find it interesting.

Aoifey!

I didn't do History for the Leaving, but I did Accounting so I'll try help you best I can.

You say you liked to do the questions over and over again which is one of the main things in Accounting, you have to repeat them and repeat them so you get faster and get to know the workings better. A lot has to do with Trading Profit and Loss accounts and Balance Sheets (but more complex). Most of Accounting is about understanding the questions more so than learning things off, but there is a bit of learning off as almost every question has a theory part on the end (not much, but it's still worth marks). It's not an easy subject, but if you like it then it's not too hard to pick up on. It's one of the worst subjects for timing and almost everyone is racing to get the exam finished before the time is up, but with repetition it gets a bit easier.


From what I hear of History from my friends that did it, there is a lot of learning in and there's not many things that are definites. It's also hard enough on timing as there's so much writing with all the essays. Also, History has a project thing (don't know much about it) so you have part of your marks done before you sit the actual exam, where as Accounting has no projects and is all exam.

orlabobs

Whilst i didn't do Accounting, I did do LC history.
Quite frankly I loved History, by far my favourite subject. I studied history on my own and it is definitely a great subject to do if you enjoy it.

Yes, there is a good bit of work involved, there are four different sections and theres alot of info to learn off.

However, if you said it was your best subject for jc, you've a good start already. If you enjoy history you can make it into a story almost. If you can get the basic idea of the course and each section, and then write an awesome essay and learn it with the ability to change it, you should be fine.

My advice would be to do accounting in school and then do history as an extra subject. This of course is on the assurance that you can get the history teacher in your school to agree to correct essays and sign off on your project. For me I had my father who was a teacher of history years previous (changed to english then principle) who could correct my essays kinda (he didnt know the marking scheme but ya kno... ) then the history teacher in the school helped me with my project (the nitty gritty parts to get the marks, the essay itself is easy enough to do on your own)

The reason I say to do history on your own is that it is fairly easy to study on your own. Get the books and read them, then analyse them (like bit by bit) and then try writing essays. Find extra material and enjoy it.

Accounting requires technique and learning abilities... you'd have to get grinds...

Thats my personal opinion. I loved history. I didn't do that much in 5th yr, bar the project summer of. But in lc I worked my butt off and got myself an a1. So it's well able to do it yourself. (oh and the institute does a fantastic revision course over christmas.... i'd go and just eat those notes... they are like gold dust.)
Oh and you have so many options for era's you can do. That said, I wouldn't do the early modern... no1 does it and you'll be hard pushed to even find books on it! But in the later modern theres lots of options. Oh and do the american section.... very narrow and easy to learn all the stuff..

Dannnnn

Contrary to what other people have said, the difficulty of History is somewhat non-existent. The essays are easy to write and they are easy to learn, and there really isn't as much to write/learn about as people may suggest.

I also share your love for History. However, if you decide on History, you must be prepared for something. The Irish History you learn is, to put bluntly and politely, boring and ****. It's complex and dull and that is that.

slipskip

hey if i were you i would never do Accounting again..
when i finished TY my subject choices got mixed up so i had accounting and home ec in the same time slot for lc options. my home ec teacher agreed to do home ec with me outside of school because i was really interested in doing accounting and at leact then id have the option to drop one.. i came back in fifth year to find she had moved schools and i was not able to get into the home ec class.. thus i was left with acconting..

i loved the accounting side of business in Jc and i got an A in honours maths and business for the JC.. still i have never hated a subject more in my life. each accounting class maked me sick.. its boring, frustrating and daunting!

i suppose i should also add that i find my teacher unbearable as he is an obnoxious bastard... but that aside i would never do acc again.. i know one girl who reapeated 5th year so she wouldn have to do accounting again.. either way goood luck

barbarians

I can kind of help.

I'm in 5th year and do both History and Accounting. I got an A in History and Business Studies for the Junior Cert. and they were my best subjects and I had excellent teachers for both subjects so this was this incentive to keep on both subjects.

I'll get straight to the point for Leaving Cert. I prefer History and find it easier.
This is probably because I find the History course easy and have an excellent and really sound teacher. For Accounting however although i don't mind it too much it can be really frustrating. One wrong figure sets everything wrong and some parts can be confusing. Also the teacher ( although nice) is only an ok teacher.

Accounting is probably more relevant for college courses but I think History would be easier to get points in as you learn your essays and just twist them to suit the question asked.( Also the project takes pressure off the final exam)

To conclude I'd recommend History over Accounting to do in school but if you're going to do the two of them but one of them outside school I'd do History outside school.

Hope that helps

ReacherCreature

eVeNtInE wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Indicates a pushing towards history. I'm a student of it, so I'm hopelessly biased.

chillywilly wrote: »

To your friend-

You are right, studying for LC history is hard,

Yes, History would stand to you if you wanted to do Arts but I would advise against doing an Arts course as any of my friends who did it are in totally unrelated jobs or went on to start another course!

Of course it is up to yourself and you have to pick what you feel is right as everyone is different! But knowing what I know now, I would have done Acc for the LC as it would have given me a head start!

Hope I helped somewhat and good luck

History is indeed a difficult subject. OP's friend - if you want to do Arts, do not let this discourage you, your aims are your aims.

Dannnnn wrote: »

Contrary to what other people have said, the difficulty of History is somewhat non-existent. The essays are easy to write and they are easy to learn, and there really isn't as much to write/learn about as people may suggest.

I also share your love for History. However, if you decide on History, you must be prepared for something. The Irish History you learn is, to put bluntly and politely, boring and ****. It's complex and dull and that is that.

Sadly I agree. Irish history at Leaving Certificate level has a huge amount incorporated and in comparison with the dictators, wars, international tension, it's tedious and tough to stomach. It's not an 'entertaining' aspect of history but alas it's necessary.
For it, give it a little more attention, as you learn try categorise and understand it bit by bit. Any notes you build up, they'll be helpful.

Aileen123

Hmmm well I'm in leaving cert and I do both history and accounting.
I chose the two of them simply because i got A's in both in the junior cert and i liked them both. After just getting my mocks back and having both courses covered I would definately recommened accounting over history if you want to get higher points. History for the leaving cert is very different its not just about recalling information but analysing it and evaluating sources. As in its not just listing off what you learnt you must make it relevant. I found the essays extremely hard in 5th year I have kind have gotten into it now but I do find it hard to figure out what there asking you. You also only have 2 hours 50 minutes to write 3 essays and a document question that all have to be 4 or 5 pages each! I love the subject and find it interesting, but I feel that the exam is terrible and this completely turns me off the subject.
I think accounting is very easy to get good grades in if you practice. If you were good at all that ledger stuff in junior cert you will prob be able to cope with question 1 which is 120 marks out of 300 or something. Accounting is either wrong or right, and if you learn and it well and know your structures they cannot take marks off you. Alot of the accounts are similar it is definately my favorite subject. Theories a bit of a bitch though! Its hard to tell which you will prefer or be better at but I hope my experience helped you