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Italian or History?

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  • 30-04-2013 4:11pm
    #1
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭


    Hey!

    I have subject choices for Leaving Cert. One of the choices are Italian, History or French. Just thinking, points wise, which one would be easier to achieve a high grade? Junior Cert history is just about learning facts and putting them down on paper, does this apply to leaving cert? Italian is a language and you know xD languages especially italian is complicated with all the grammer rules. I'm good on both subjects, I just want to know from people who did them if the "exam" is different from the junior cert counter-part if you know what I mean. I want to achieve max points so I want to chose the easiest :p. Any opinion is greatly appricated! :)


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    #2
    Student007
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 53 ✭✭Student007


    From what I know, you have to write a lot for History - It is more like the English exam, but backed up by facts. I think you have to give opinions on events, etc. Going through the past exam papers on examinations.ie might give you a better idea of what you might be asked.


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    #3
    Student007
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 53 ✭✭Student007


    Also keep in mind that if you do any language, you will have an oral exam - meaning you need to be fairly good at conversing in that language too... also for history there is a project you have to submit in 6th year


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    #4
    shanec1928
    Registered Users Posts: 4,126 ✭✭✭shanec1928


    history has a lot of writing in it. and its tight enough for time unless the exam has changed in the last three years. their is also a project too.


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    #5
    Glee_GG
    Registered Users Posts: 522 ✭✭✭Glee_GG


    What university/college are you thinking of going to? Some colleges have a requirement that you do a European language for a lot of their courses even if its not a language course - UCD/UCC/NUIG/NUI Maynooth all require one as far as I know so you might have to do Italian to keep your options open unless your doing another language (other than Irish/English)?


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    #6
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    Glee_GG wrote: »
    What university/college are you thinking of going to? Some colleges have a requirement that you do a European language for a lot of their courses even if its not a language course - UCD/UCC/NUIG/NUI Maynooth all require one as far as I know so you might have to do Italian to keep your options open unless your doing another language (other than Irish/English)?
    I'm aiming to go to Trinity to study either Psychology, Genetics or Computer Engineering .. they need alot of points and don't require a language besides Trinity's entry requirement to have Irish. :p


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    #7
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    I'm a fast writer, i'm going to look through a few years of the Leaving Cert History and Italian exams. Time was never an issue for me, during my mocks i've always finished early, enough time to re-read and change answers. I'll love to do Italian as another language is more useful but i'm not 'perfect' at languages XD. Thanks for the opinions, the more points of view I get, the better ;). :)


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    #8
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,139 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    If you have one Romance language already (did you say you had French?) then Italian is not that difficult.

    I never took an Italian lesson in my life and bored stiff while supervising an Italian mock JC paper one year, I sat the paper myself and got 67%. It wasn't Leaving Cert of course, but I got a number of questions right just from my three years of French and a bit of cop on about sentence structure.


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    #9
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    spurious wrote: »
    If you have one Romance language already (did you say you had French?) then Italian is not that difficult.

    I never took an Italian lesson in my life and bored stiff while supervising an Italian mock JC paper one year, I sat the paper myself and got 67%. It wasn't Leaving Cert of course, but I got a number of questions right just from my three years of French and a bit of cop on about sentence structure.
    Oh nice haha. You make it sound easy ;). But as a teacher, would you do Italian or History for Leaving Cert?


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    #10
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,139 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    As a History graduate, I would do History:D, but if I was 17 again and had a choice, I would do the language.


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    #11
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    spurious wrote: »
    As a History graduate, I would do History:D, but if I was 17 again and had a choice, I would do the language.
    Makes sense, i'm alright with both subjects .. ugh, hard choice XD. History is in another selection too, but i'll have to ditch a science subject for it .. you won't see that happening :p. How different is Leaving Cert History compared to JC History?


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    #12
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,139 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    DublinArnie wrote: »
    How different is Leaving Cert History compared to JC History?

    It's quite different. Many students who liked the almost 'story' approach of JC are horrified when it comes to LC. There's a terrific amount of writing involved, though the extended essay and the Document question has improved things somewhat as regards the exam. It's almost like two different subjects, to be honest.


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    #13
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    spurious wrote: »
    It's quite different. Many students who liked the almost 'story' approach of JC are horrified when it comes to LC. There's a terrific amount of writing involved, though the extended essay and the Document question has improved things somewhat as regards the exam. It's almost like two different subjects, to be honest.
    Uhm interesting :p. Thanks :) we'll have history and italian demos anyway, so that'll help :).


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    #14
    Jolly Red Giant
    Registered Users Posts: 3,434 ✭✭✭Jolly Red Giant


    I would suggest that you choose the one you would enjoy doing and don't worry about the points. The more you enjoy the subject the better results you are likely to get.

    If you want to get an idea of the LC history course you could have a look here -

    http://leavingcerthistory.net/


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    #15
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    Jolly Red Giant wrote: »
    I would suggest that you choose the one you would enjoy doing and don't worry about the points. The more you enjoy the subject the better results you are likely to get.

    If you want to get an idea of the LC history course you could have a look here -

    http://leavingcerthistory.net/
    Thanks for the link :). I'll have a look. I enjoy both subjects, when I have them, they fly past very fast :3 even though my History teacher is one of the most strictest teacher I know, he makes the class fun and enjoyable :). Same applies to italian, only he losses control of the class sometimes and he gets off topic alot when people ask "Why? etc" then he's like telling the entire story of Italy or whatever :p. If I do Italian, I think I might do grinds on top of it(to make sure I get a B3+ in higher), so I'll have to look into the cost for that.


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    #16
    Murphstock
    Registered Users Posts: 8 ✭Murphstock


    Do two. If you're looking to achieve maximum points, then you're clearly intelligent. Just pick one in school and do the other outside of school. I know it can be a bitch to learn two languages, having done both French and Italian in my first year of college, but it pays off in the end, and competency in two foreign languages is great for finding jobs over seas.


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    #17
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    Murphstock wrote: »
    Do two. If you're looking to achieve maximum points, then you're clearly intelligent. Just pick one in school and do the other outside of school. I know it can be a bitch to learn two languages, having done both French and Italian in my first year of college, but it pays off in the end, and competency in two foreign languages is great for finding jobs over seas.
    Makes sense! I should probably do Italian outiside school and History in, but, wouldn't that be too much if i'm going to do Applied Maths plus I do Higher Irish ... I don't want to be overloaded with various of subjects.


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    #18
    Canard
    Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 8,572 Mod ✭✭✭✭Canard


    Hmm, would it not be easier to do well in HL Italian than HL Irish do you think? Personally I detested history but adored French. History is a subject you really need to be passionate about, because there is a ridiculous amount of information to learn, and if you're stuck with a bad teacher...well... :P Unless you're doing some other third European language, I'd say it's best to keep Italian on, especially since the other option is history.


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    #19
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    Canard wrote: »
    Hmm, would it not be easier to do well in HL Italian than HL Irish do you think? Personally I detested history but adored French. History is a subject you really need to be passionate about, because there is a ridiculous amount of information to learn, and if you're stuck with a bad teacher...well... :P Unless you're doing some other third European language, I'd say it's best to keep Italian on, especially since the other option is history.
    My history teacher is excellent and I have no problem learning facts and numbers :p. I'm not the best with languages ... Basically, I want to do Italian, but i'm afriad i'll do bad in the Leaving Cert with it, History seems easier because i'm the type of person that has no problem learning things off. I'll see how my Junior Cert goes first xD. Hopefully a B in Italian :).


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    #20
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    Canard wrote: »
    Hmm, would it not be easier to do well in HL Italian than HL Irish do you think? Personally I detested history but adored French. History is a subject you really need to be passionate about, because there is a ridiculous amount of information to learn, and if you're stuck with a bad teacher...well... :P Unless you're doing some other third European language, I'd say it's best to keep Italian on, especially since the other option is history.
    Also, Irish is a requirement for some colleges like Trinity ;).


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    #21
    Appleblossom42
    Registered Users Posts: 533 ✭✭✭Appleblossom42


    DublinArnie wrote: »
    Also, Irish is a requirement for some colleges like Trinity ;).

    Irish isn't a requirement for Trinity but it is for the National Universities of Ireland.


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    #22
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    Appleblossom42 wrote: »
    Irish isn't a requirement for Trinity but it is for the National Universities of Ireland.
    Oh my bad, it's a pass with any language besides English that's a requirement for Trinity.


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    #23
    Canard
    Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 8,572 Mod ✭✭✭✭Canard


    DublinArnie wrote: »
    Also, Irish is a requirement for some colleges like Trinity ;).
    Never said it wasn't. :P HL Irish isn't though, so I meant that it might be a better idea to do HL Italian and OL Irish, because generally European languages are easier than Irish due to the course/better teaching/lots of online resources imo :)


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    #24
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    Canard wrote: »
    Never said it wasn't. :P HL Irish isn't though, so I meant that it might be a better idea to do HL Italian and OL Irish, because generally European languages are easier than Irish due to the course/better teaching/lots of online resources imo :)
    That makes sense :p, i'll only get marked in the top 6 subjects anyway. I've had a look at the History Paper for LC, you have to write alot of essays .. and 100 marks per essay?! Alot of writing :p.


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    #25
    Canard
    Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 8,572 Mod ✭✭✭✭Canard


    DublinArnie wrote: »
    That makes sense :p, i'll only get marked in the top 6 subjects anyway. I've had a look at the History Paper for LC, you have to write alot of essays .. and 100 marks per essay?! Alot of writing :p.
    That's the thing! It's so difficult to do well in because you can't really build up marks. The one section you can do that in is the document. In my exam I ended up with ~81/100 or something in that part and 63-67/100 in the 3 essays, and while that was much better than I ever planned to do in history (:p), I'd done 2 of those essays exactly before for my teacher and gotten 90+/100, and one of them I'd done almost exactly...it's just so difficult to remember everything and get it all written down like.


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    #26
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    Canard wrote: »
    That's the thing! It's so difficult to do well in because you can't really build up marks. The one section you can do that in is the document. In my exam I ended up with ~81/100 or something in that part and 63-67/100 in the 3 essays, and while that was much better than I ever planned to do in history (:p), I'd done 2 of those essays exactly before for my teacher and gotten 90+/100, and one of them I'd done almost exactly...it's just so difficult to remember everything and get it all written down like.
    So it's like a mixture of English and History? : o


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    #27
    Canard
    Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 8,572 Mod ✭✭✭✭Canard


    Sort of! I know people who got A's in history and C's in English, and I did a good bit better in English than history, and equally I know people who got A's in both. It seems being able to make your essays eloquent and engaging can earn some marks too. It's definitely not a necessity, but it does help. :)


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    #28
    DublinArnie
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,823 ✭✭✭DublinArnie


    Canard wrote: »
    Sort of! I know people who got A's in history and C's in English, and I did a good bit better in English than history, and equally I know people who got A's in both. It seems being able to make your essays eloquent and engaging can earn some marks too. It's definitely not a necessity, but it does help. :)
    Oh cool :). I think i'm going to go with Italian as there's more use for it with the future courses i'll like to do xD.


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