Giving up my 7th subject?

Prodigious

The subjects I do are

English
Irish
Maths
Chemistry
German
Applied Maths
Physics

However, I absolutely despise physics and never do well in it. I got 55% in my christmas exam and I'm waiting on the mocks result, pretty sure I failed.

I'm conpetent and comfortable with all my other subjects, so I really don't see the point in continuing physics. I know that if I work at it, I might improve it to a B, but this amount of work would seriously impact on my other subjects. Honestly I think my time would be better spent focusing on bringing the others to A's.

I'm looking for opinions here. Of course, people are going to say; "What if you screw up in...."
To be honest, I am confident that I won't. If I focus on the 6 now I will be well set for the leaving.

Thanks

Kevcol

Hi Methememb,

I was in a similar situation to yourself when I did my leaving. At the time the subject I despised was Chemistry and even though I put some effort into it, it was never going to be a runner realistically! I ended up giving up on it about 3 months from the end and I wish I had made the decision sooner. As you said yourself, the effort you put into Physics could be better spent getting better results out of your other subjects.

I'm not saying it's a clear cut case, but if I was to go back and do my Leaving Cert again, I would drop the extra work and just concentrate on what your comfortable with. The only thing I'm looking at is the fact that your doing Applied Maths too which I thought was very similar to Physics.

0mega

It would be a terrible idea. You could be sick on one of the days and then you may well need physics.

You can't take a risk like that. I was sick for two exams during my Junior Cert and didn't do nearly as well as I should have. You can't predict how you're going to be feeling in June and with the stress and strain of the exams, your immune system will be lower than normal.

You really should consider this before you make such a decision I think, especially if you're looking for high points.

YoursSincerely

What about just dropping to pass physics? Like the others said if you were sick at least that way you would have some back up, It's a huge risk to take because you say you wont screw up, and honestly i believe you, but if something happens that is out of your control, god forbid someone close to you dies during the exams, then you might just need that seventh subject, If you have done honours physics up till now and are getting 55% then you should be well able to get an A/high B in pass physics/ Having a pass subject as a back up is better than having no subject at all

Leahxo

Regardless of how confident you feel, I think you should still have a seventh subject as a back-up. As a repeat student, I had the option to drop a subject that I struggled with but already got my minimum grade requirement in - French, for example.. but I couldn't. I'm doing all HL and also pass French, just in-case something did go wrong.

As the person above said, why not do Physics at OL? You already know you don't plan on counting it in your Top 6, so why not do it at OL and just get a pass in it as a back-up? I doubt OL Physics is anywhere near as hectic as HL. But, if you're extremely, and I mean extremely confident that you do not need a seventh subject - then go for it!

Prodigious

Dropping to pass physics doesn't really solve my problem. It'd be still there, hanging over me, and require some work. I am very confident in my other 6, and aside from a catastrophe I can't really imagine screwing up badly enough that physics would come out on top, especially if it was OL

Leaving Cert Student

Methememb wrote: »

Dropping to pass physics doesn't really solve my problem. It'd be still there, hanging over me, and require some work. I am very confident in my other 6, and aside from a catastrophe I can't really imagine screwing up badly enough that physics would come out on top, especially if it was OL

Solution: Do Phys/Chem
It is pass physics and pass chemistry combined, supposedly piss easy and a walk in the park if you have any experience in the higher level courses... probably sounds stupid but anyone in our physics class who is considering doing pass is advised by our teacher to just do phys chem!

Prodigious

Leaving Cert Student wrote: »

Solution: Do Phys/Chem
It is pass physics and pass chemistry combined, supposedly piss easy and a walk in the park if you have any experience in the higher level courses... probably sounds stupid but anyone in our physics class who is considering doing pass is advised by our teacher to just do phys chem!

Think it may be too late to sign up for that exam, but I'll have a look! Cheers!

Leaving Cert Student

Methememb wrote: »

Think it may be too late to sign up for that exam, but I'll have a look! Cheers!

I know a guy who decided to sit the applied maths exam a couple of weeks before the lc! its tricky to sign up for it but can be done.

FHB

I'm pretty sure you can't do Phys/Chem if you're doing either Physics or Chemistry too. As he's doing chemistry, I don't think that option would be available.

Leaving Cert Student

FHB wrote: »

I'm pretty sure you can't do Phys/Chem if you're doing either Physics or Chemistry too. As he's doing chemistry, I don't think that option would be available.

Yeah I should have clarified, Phys/Chem would involve you dropping both chem nd physics. Unless you reckon you are an A chem candidate it could be a good choice!

yournerd

I do 8 HL and I am not thinking of dropping anything..

Prodigious

yournerd wrote: »

I do 8 HL and I am not thinking of dropping anything..

Congratulations.

aimzLc2

I really don't understand how everyone wants to keep a 'backup' incase because you don't want to take the 'risk' , that is ridiculous that you would struggle away and work at a subject that you will only use 'incase'. Honestly , you are just as likely to have a disaster in any of your other subjects than this one so no i would definitely drop it , you are wasting your time. If you drop it you will have the time available to spend on your other subjects to make sure that a 'disaster' will not happen in them. I would drop it as soon as possible as it is taking up extra time that you can be using

yournerd

I didnt mean to sound cocky there but youd hate to keep your options limited..

ko4jm6y9iwv2lc

At the start of 5th year I had Maths, Irish, English, Economics, Construction Studies, Tech Graphics, Physics. (I had given up French after 3rd year because I knew I wanted to go to UL/DCU). After Christmas in 5th year I swapped Tech Graphics for Geography. I also just gave up Physics and used to go to the free hall and just do homework and study.

It was the best decision I ever made with regards to school. I liked Tech Graphics, but just realised how much easier it would be to get an 'A' in Geography. It's really all about the points at the end of the day. There's no point wasting time on a subject you'll never need which could be better spent studying Maths, English etc.

0mega

aimzLc2 wrote: »

I really don't understand how everyone wants to keep a 'backup' incase because you don't want to take the 'risk' , that is ridiculous that you would struggle away and work at a subject that you will only use 'incase'. Honestly , you are just as likely to have a disaster in any of your other subjects than this one so no i would definitely drop it , you are wasting your time. If you drop it you will have the time available to spend on your other subjects to make sure that a 'disaster' will not happen in them. I would drop it as soon as possible as it is taking up extra time that you can be using

Well considering practically everyone in the country does 7 subjects, it's not exactly uncommon to have a 'backup just in case'.

Most schools make you pick 7 for a reason, even though you'll only be counting six.

aimzLc2

0mega wrote: »

Well considering practically everyone in the country does 7 subjects, it's not exactly uncommon to have a 'backup just in case'.

Most schools make you pick 7 for a reason, even though you'll only be counting six.

Just because it is common doesn't mean it is a good thing you don't need to be a sheep

xoxox1994

I really believe in having a backup, nobody knows what is going to happen on the day of exam. I know some of the best students who literally just felt the exam didn't suit them that year and they didn't get on well in it. Any other year they would have got an A.

Please don't limit yourself, drop to pass if you have to, but don't drop it altogether.

0mega

aimzLc2 wrote: »

Just because it is common doesn't mean it is a good thing you don't need to be a sheep

Nice logical argument you've got there. :pac:

Parawhore.xD

One of my teachers was telling us about a guy that just randomly puked in the middle of one his exams, she was his reader at the time.

Safe to say he didn't do as well as he'd hoped.

All I'm saying is... Sh1t happens, in a worst case scenario you might need another subject. No one can stop you if you really want to drop but it's worth thinking about!

Monsieur Folie

You do Applied Maths and Chemistry and you're thinking about dropping Physics? I'd strongly advise against that to be honest. Applied maths makes the physics mechanics a walk in the park, and there's some overlap between chemistry and modern physics with stuff like radioactivity and that can help too. They tie in very nicely as a group of subjects, I find.

Your best option is probably to just sit the paper at ordinary level, as others have suggested. You could do very little between now and June besides show up for your classes and do your homework, and you'd probably comfortably pass an ordinary level paper and since you're fairly confident you won't need it, that will be enough. No need to completely drop it.

PictureFrame

Ok, you have a lot of different opinions coming at you from people but I will give my opinion based on experience (having done my Leaving last year and sat 9 subjects).

In my opinion, only YOU yourself know your capabilities with subjects and whether you honestly need to keep on the additional subject or not. Last year I sat 9 subjects:

• Irish/Maths at OL
• English/Geography/French/Business/Music/Economics at HL
• LCVP

I had to take up and self-teach Economics as I needed 6 honours subjects to get high points and couldn't drop Irish/Maths as they're entry requirements to almost every course/university in Ireland.

In the end, I ended up having 3 'back-up' subjects, those being Irish (A1), Maths (A1) and LCVP (Distinction) which I didn't count towards my final point tally.

Looking back, despite not doing a lot of work for those 3 back up subjects, it was such a waste of my time and study during the Leaving Cert. year to just disregard 60/60/70 points.

I knew I was comfortable with only having 6 HL subjects, I knew I was good enough at those subjects to get me the points I needed, and despite a disappointing B2 in French I was right (A1, A2 and 4 B1's).

So at the end of the day, do what works for you. People say 'you should have a back-up subject' but honestly, what's the point in having to do work and eventually panic before the exam when you won't use it for points anyway?

In my opinion, choose your best 6, drop the additional subject and work your ass off at those 6, as opposed to doing a half-ársed job on 7 subjects, which will cause your point tally to suffer!


Best of luck to you, any other questions feel free to ask!

Canard

Similar to PF's post, except I sat all 7 of my subjects at HL. From mid 5th year I hated history and had an awful teacher and didn't switch out of it (don't ask me why! :pac:), and decided I wouldn't be counting it because my other 6 were far better (as bad as I was at maths, the bonus points were there sooooo...). In 5th year my business teacher had said we'd be finishing the course in November of 6th year, which we did, and which made me think I could get around a B1 in it, but it ended up that he just stopped teaching us pretty much and read the entire book front to cover again, completely wasting everyone who wanted to do well's time by not doing exam questions, and meaning any exam questions I did were in my own time and with little guidance.

The point of mentioning all that is that despite 6 classes of business a week, I only got a B3. I miraculously got a B3 in history too, so really you can't say which I didn't count, but it could easily be said that if I'd dropped history I'd have gotten a higher grade in business. Pretty much all my grades (including several A2s which was even more irritating) were extremely borderline (~5 marks), so again, if I'd just dropped the subject, who knows what might have been? It didn't matter because I got all the points I needed, but if I'd missed my course I would have been annoyed over it. If the subject really is lacking, and if you're like me with history and you absolutely dread the subject every day...just stop going/do OL/drop the subject. The odds of messing up an exam, and the odds that physics would ever save you if that does happen, are negligible.

I think you'd be happy doing it, but of course it's quite a big decision. Good luck whatever you decide to do.

Prodigious

Fair play lads, fantastic response.

Prodigious

Right. So Monday I decided I'd work my ass off and try and do it. Did bits and pieces ove the week. Got my mock result today. 31%. Totally shattered any confidence I had. Is it too late for me? 98 days till the leaving.

mulciber

Methememb wrote: »

Right. So Monday I decided I'd work my ass off and try and do it. Did bits and pieces ove the week. Got my mock result today. 31%. Totally shattered any confidence I had. Is it too late for me? 98 days till the leaving.

I got 42% and I was hoping for my physics to be one of my A1 subjects. I think it was just this mock that's putting people off of it. Look at previous papers and you'll see that they're far easier than this mock was. I'd urge you to not be discouraged.

Monsieur Folie

Yeah don't worry too much about that Physics mock. I was expecting 90%+, got 75% and everyone I talked to did a lot worse than than they were expecting to.