Business or Geography for LC????

DarkDusk

Okay, I am a Junior Cert student and I have to decide which subjects to pick for the LC in the next 2-3 weeks. At the moment, I'm stuck between Business Studies and Geography. I don't like accounting at all and I don't mind the business theory and that's why it's an option for me. It also have a good interest in it. At the same time, I enjoy Geography and I find it quite easy (the paper isn't too demanding for the JC). I just want people's opinions from their experience from one or even both of the subjects. Which one/ are they demanding or time consuming etc.

Replys would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks,
James.

Daniel S

I'm doing geography, pretty much hate it. It's really hard to get marks in. If I didn't have to do it, I'd change. Apparantly business is very easy.

Got a B (Geo and Business) in the JC, hoping to get 400+ points in the LC this year. Just for some background

DarkDusk

Thanks for your reply. Could you tell me why you hate it?? Did you like it for the JC and thought you'd like it for the LC??

Thanks.

Daniel S

It was grand for the JC (as far as I can remember) but you have to do these "SRP" things, basically its a point and explain it. Pretty simple, but the amount of stuff to be learned off is rediculous. I'll admit, I've done very little work for Geography, but it's still a pain. I'd pick Business without a shadow of a doubt, but that's just my opinion, I'm sure someone out there is the polar opposite.

DarkDusk

Thanks again for your quick reply.

Anyone else??

Gordon Gecko

Do neither, choose economics: simpler than business, far shorter course and very predictable exams

Grindylow

Business is a fairly OK course if you're good at it. If you're not, well you'd be better of not doing it. The marking scheme is one of the strictest in the leaving cert, you actually NEED to know your stuff. It's not really like Junior Cert business at all. It goes into detail on stuff like elements of contracts, rules and regulations which protect consumers from being ripped off, international trade, taxation and insurance, current economic issues, etc.

The exam is divided into three parts:
1) Short Questions. Some of these are fairly tough, and you need to be really accurate to get them right.
2) Applied Business Question (ABQ). This is pretty much a comprehension and you need to read it, then answer questions on it. In the answers you have to read the questions carefully and answer with business definitions which you'll have learned from your notes and then related it to the above text. It's fairly hard to get used to, but if you get used to them, you'll be fine. Time management is extremely important for this.
3) Long Questions. There's a pattern to follow in answering these, it's set out which sections come up in each question, but you do really need to learn everything from your notes to ensure that you'll know anything that comes up.

I can't say anything about Geography as I don't do it, but if you've any Business related questions, feel free to ask me.

poisonated

I really liked Business. It is one of the more interesting subjects.

DarkDusk

Thanks for all the replys. Another question. Is it mostly learning off for business or is there understanding in it aswell??

DarkDusk

Gordon Gecko wrote: »

Do neither, choose economics: simpler than business, far shorter course and very predictable exams

I doubt there will be numbers for the subject and I don't think it has been studied in my school yet so..??..
I would love to do it though.

Grindylow

DarkDusk wrote: »

Thanks for all the replys. Another question. Is it mostly learning off for business or is there understanding in it aswell??

You really do have to understand it if you want to be able to learn it. It's not a case of just writing it down and then learning it off. A question in the ABQ could be something such as "McDonalds use management activities to their benefit. Explain the importance to a business of using management activities correctly. Refer to the text in your answer.".
In that, you'd have to explain what management activities are, explain how McDonalds use them, and then explain why they're important. If you'd just rote learned them off and didn't know what they actually were, you wouldn't have a clue what to do.

DarkDusk

Noel2k9 wrote: »

You really do have to understand it if you want to be able to learn it. It's not a case of just writing it down and then learning it off. A question in the ABQ could be something such as "McDonalds use management activities to their benefit. Explain the importance to a business of using management activities correctly. Refer to the text in your answer.".
In that, you'd have to explain what management activities are, explain how McDonalds use them, and then explain why they're important. If you'd just rote learned them off and didn't know what they actually were, you wouldn't have a clue what to do.

Thanks again, very helpful.

ciarashauna

I do both and I would say business would be a lot better if you just want to learn off, apart from ABQ. There's much more understanding to geography, well I think so anyway.

Grindylow

No problem. Feel free to ask anything, Business is definitely my favourite subject.

Solus01

Pick Business.
I got B in Geography at Junior Cert without much study so I though Geog would be pretty handy but I couldn't have been more wrong. There is a huge jump from Junior Cert to Leaving Cert especially on the volume of material there is to be learnt. Geography is the most boring subject I am doing and I wished I picked Business as my friends who do it fsaid it's grand.
Unless you have an actual interest in Geography I would pick another subject. If I'm not mistaken it has one of the lowest A1 rates per amount of students taking it (Don't qoute me on that though as I may be wrong).

spurious

2010 results
Geography HL A1 or A2 - 8.9%
Business HL A1 or A2 - 11%

Don't pick a subject based on how other people do in it. Pick it because you enjoy it, otherwise it will crucify you for two years.

Don't forget you will already have marks going into the Geography exam thanks to the Field Study.

DarkDusk

spurious wrote: »

2010 results
Geography HL A1 or A2 - 8.9%
Business HL A1 or A2 - 11%

Don't pick a subject based on how other people do in it. Pick it because you enjoy it, otherwise it will crucify you for two years.

Don't forget you will already have marks going into the Geography exam thanks to the Field Study.

Thank you for the information. Oh and about subject choice, I would never base it on other people's experience. I just want to know the backround to the courses and which ones are more demanding etc.
E.g. If I had an option between honours maths and honours English and no information on either of them at all, it would be very wise to find out more about them because as we all know honours maths is very difficult. (At the same time I know English is difficult aswell but I hope you know what I'm getting at...)

Thanks,
James.

coffeelover

I like business There are a few chapters that are slighty boring but I like the majority of it. In saying that though I haven't seen the exam papers yet so I'm not sure what they are like. My friends do geography and they find it incredibly boring. But go with whichever you enjoy most!

apkbarry

I do both Business and Geography.

I got a B for Business in JC, took up Geography for LC.

Business for LC was the biggest mistake ever. It is such a vast course. You nee to be revising from the beginning, something I obviously realised too late. Geography on the other hand, if you do the exam questions, you are sorted... You need roughly 15 pieces of information per multi part question (dont know if it changed with the new syllabus) and 24 pieces for the essay questions, an they essays are predictable in that there are only a few ways they can be asked

apkbarry

spurious wrote: »

2010 results
Geography HL A1 or A2 - 8.9%
Business HL A1 or A2 - 11%

Don't pick a subject based on how other people do in it. Pick it because you enjoy it, otherwise it will crucify you for two years.

Don't forget you will already have marks going into the Geography exam thanks to the Field Study.

Hey, don't go by this btw, Geography is a more popular subject as it is easy to get the marks when you bother. I only know this as I know a few schools which supply up to FOUR geography classes, just to cover the demand. So from what I know, alot more people do Geography!

DarkDusk

Thank you for all the help it is very appreciated. I've decided to do Geography mostly due to personal reasons and some of the tips you (ye) gave me.

AlanBr

DarkDusk wrote: »

Thank you for all the help it is very appreciated. I've decided to do Geography mostly due to personal reasons and some of the tips you (ye) gave me.

Hey it's never too late im finishin 5th year now and last week i switched from DCG to applied maths.(DCG is horrible id stay well away from it).You can change your mind if you don,t like it too so don't worry about it..

I switched to geeography from economics(due to my disgraceful teacher) and tbh its piss....i must admit their is a lot of learnin off but my god is it easy!
Some questions are basically being able to read a bar chart like haha. Business on the other hand is a huge subject....you must be very dedicated to the subject if you want to do well in it.

PictureFrame

Hey, i'm in 5th year at the moment and do both Higher Level Business & Geography. In my opinion if you keep up to date with your homework and revise a good bit they're both very easy subjects!. They are my best subjects as I recieved A1's in both all this year with some small revision. In my opinion if you are going to pick between them choose Geography. The exam is easier to predict and you also have a 20% presubmitted project which usually obtains high marks. In the actual Geography exam There are 3 sections that have Part A's in them (Physical, Regional & Elective) These part A's are worth 20 marks each and are very very easy..
Also the short questions are worth 80 Marks.. If you use common sense you should achieve at least 60/80 in this section, very very easy.
And the Option Question is worth 80 marks, if you learn off 3 sample essays you can definitely get at least 70/80 in this section..

So basically if you get full marks in your project and the results I mentioned above (without even attempting the long Part B's and C's) you can achieve

100+60+60+70= 290/500= 58% C3..

In conclusion, I would go for Geography if I were you!

irish_man

I do both subjects and I well prefer business. I absolutely hate geography. Its so boring. At least with business you know your consumer rights and get to learn about the EU and stuff. Its fairly practical. Much more useful than anything you learn in geography.

Do Business

DarkDusk

Just to let everyone know I picked Geography a week or two ago because I much prefer the subject and I think I'll enjoy it more. Plus, I'm now working even harder at it and I managed to get two 100% class tests in a row, highest in the class. (Not trying to brag lol)

Sunny!!

If your doing business at jc and dont like it, DO NOT DO IT FOR THE LEAVING CERT

wayhey

I couldn't disagree more with other people dissing Geography :P
Try and get your hands on a textbook and talk to people you know doing it. On the subject of textbooks I think it depends what ones your school uses! Dynamic Human Geograhpy, a purple and white book is actually one of the worst textbooks on the Leaving in my opinion. You need to get plenty of extra notes with it, so you might want to pick up a revision book. Feel free to PM me if you pick it and I can recommend some and you'd be able to get them second hand after the Leaving
http://www.skoool.ie/examcentre_senior.asp?id=3618
That has some notes on what Geography is like. It is a step up from the Junior and I don't think it focuses on Physical as much as the Junior, e.g. volcanoes etc. It is a full question on the paper it's just I think most people spend their time going over Regional, learning about countries/regions, their "strengths" and "weaknesses", why business locate there, why some don't.. etc. Then there's an Elective, one is Economic and the other Human. The Economic sort of complements business subjects but they're both much of a muchness. The sort of questions include why you'd locate a business at location x on a map or describing population patterns/density in the Human elective. In the Option question there is 4 options. Most schools do Geoecology where you'll learn about soils or biomes, basically habitats where you've got animals, plants, soils and climate. If you in any way like nature documentaries you'll like that section, I even got a few extra points from a David Attenborough show.

Something worth considering is that the Geographical Investigation, submitted by end of April/early May in 6th Year is worth up to 20% of your grade. If you're good at English and have a good Geography teacher it's a big lift, in my opinion. Geography isn't a walk in the park. I think some people underestimate it because it isn't that hard to understand. To be honest it depends on you or your teacher. Some teachers can make it unnecessarily difficult. Good notes/organisation with an interest in it will lead to a good grade. One of my friends doing both prefers Business but I hated it in First Year.. literally got 100% in my end of year exam and dropped out of it to go to Tech Graph because I found it so boring :P The questions on the Geography paper can be slightly twisted/tricky also, I know my friend thinks Business is more clear-cut, but I couldn't study it. Any subject is what you make of it I suppose but I don't find Geography that difficult.

If you've any specific questions you can PM me no bother, I'll probably be on over the coming week at least once. Good luck with your choice!!

kilo1

unless youve got very good and interesting geography teachers i would recommend NOT doing it. i've had a rubbish geo teacher for the last two years and i would definitely change subject if i possibly could! wanted to do chemistry originally but had to do geo :mad: its not too bad IF you can get a grasp of it but not the most interesting by far!

People make business out to be hard

Really really isnt. You might need lots of information but most of it is so simple that you already know it and dont need to learn it off.