Advice for 5th year/Leaving Cert subjects

yvngceebs

Hello. I am currently a 3rd year student and in about 3 months I will be sitting the Junior Cert. On top of bombarding us with information for the exams in June, my school are making me choose my L.C subjects.

I am definitely skipping T.Y, so I will be moving straight into 5th year. I have my heart set on studying languages/media/journalism after school.

Okay so, these are the options my school are providing me with:

1 - French
2 - German
3 - Geography
4 - Chemistry/Biology/Physics
5 - DCG
6 - Construction
7 - Business/Accounting/Economics
8 - Music
9 -Art

Out of these, I must choose six subjects, and my school will provide me with the four I 'ranked' or want the most, according to the timetables.

How my option list looks like so far
1- German
2 - French
3- History
4- Biology
5- Geography
6- Business

All HL except Maths and Irish.

I want to do both French and German for L.C as I absolutely adore languages and I've studied them both since 1st year But since I will (hopefully) be doing three languages (Irish, German and French) how will the workload be like? Especially with three oral exams?

Is Biology a doable subject? I was considering doing Physics, but I find some parts if both sciences difficult and some easy. Chemistry is my weakest and I don't really have any interest.

What about History? I heard there is a significant amount of essay-writing to do? I hope to do journalism after school and i am completely aware that I need to stay with Honours English in 5th year. I sort of struggle with it now but I will be getting grinds soon. I currently get C's in exams for English.

For current fifth years/sixth years: how much different is J.C level English in comparison to L.C level?

I am sorry for asking so many questions, I am just so curious, especially about doing three languages for the L.C.

Thank you

spurious

The four non-language subjects in your options are all fairly hefty on the writing.
Three languages (four really) is not an issue if you have a flair for them.

Curious as to why you're skipping TY - it is a fabulous opportunity for someone interested in journalism to get all sorts of relevant practical experience in media, making contacts, creating school newsletters, doing the website etc..

yvngceebs

spurious wrote: »

The four non-language subjects in your options are all fairly hefty on the writing.
Three languages (four really) is not an issue if you have a flair for them.

Curious as to why you're skipping TY - it is a fabulous opportunity for someone interested in journalism to get all sorts of relevant practical experience in media, making contacts, creating school newsletters, doing the website etc..

Thank you so much for replying I am skipping T.Y because I don't have the finances for it and my family would much rather save towards university rather than for me to enter TY. I was really interested in it a few months ago though. Also, if I entered T.Y I would be 19-years-old entering my first year of college. I know age isn't a factor but my parents don't seem to agree with that But thank you for your information!

thelad95

There isn't massive step-up from JC english to LC English. Paper 1 is nearly identical and the only section on paper 2 thats new is the comparative. The workload can be extremely high for paper 2 however. You need to know your single text in far more detail than JC and you need to know 5-6 poems from at least 5 poets. Comparative requires less work as you don't need to know the texts in any great detail, a general knowledge is fine.

For history, you need to be a fantastic essay writer and have a massive interest in the subject to do well. Otherwise it's a nightmare. How are you at geography now? The LC syllabus is only a tiny bit more advanced than JC and you don't need to be a good essay writer necessarily.

Biology should be okay and can be a good subject for points. Just make sure you work at it from the start. A lot of concepts in earlier chapters link in too later one's so you can get lost very quickly.

yvngceebs

thelad95 wrote: »

There isn't massive step-up from JC english to LC English. Paper 1 is nearly identical and the only section on paper 2 thats new is the comparative. The workload can be extremely high for paper 2 however. You need to know your single text in far more detail than JC and you need to know 5-6 poems from at least 5 poets. Comparative requires less work as you don't need to know the texts in any great detail, a general knowledge is fine.

For history, you need to be a fantastic essay writer and have a massive interest in the subject to do well. Otherwise it's a nightmare. How are you at geography now? The LC syllabus is only a tiny bit more advanced than JC and you don't need to be a good essay writer necessarily.

Biology should be okay and can be a good subject for points. Just make sure you work at it from the start. A lot of concepts in earlier chapters link in too later one's so you can get lost very quickly.

Well, I'm a B student in Geography now and I don't really have a major interest in it. Like, I would only take it up if my school weren't able to provide me with my top four choices. Thanks for the information on English by the way

rainbowtrout

I did French and German for my LC and I had no problems. Sure it was busy around the time of the orals, in all schools the Irish orals are on one week and the foreign language orals the following/previous week. Having said that it was no different from JC in the sense that I was able to manage all three languages for JC so I didn't see any difference in Leaving Cert.

Other students will have a similar workload if they pick a variety of practical subjects e.g DCG/Ag Science/Construction/Engineering/Art/Music and will have a busy week when all of their practical exams are on. I regularly have students who have a 6 hour Construction practical, a similar engineering practical and an ag science oral assessment in the same week in May and they survive.

If you like languages go for it.

Troxck

yvngceebs wrote: »

Hello. I am currently a 3rd year student and in about 3 months I will be sitting the Junior Cert. On top of bombarding us with information for the exams in June, my school are making me choose my L.C subjects.

I am definitely skipping T.Y, so I will be moving straight into 5th year. I have my heart set on studying languages/media/journalism after school.

Okay so, these are the options my school are providing me with:

1 - French
2 - German
3 - Geography
4 - Chemistry/Biology/Physics
5 - DCG
6 - Construction
7 - Business/Accounting/Economics
8 - Music
9 -Art

Out of these, I must choose six subjects, and my school will provide me with the four I 'ranked' or want the most, according to the timetables.

How my option list looks like so far
1- German
2 - French
3- History
4- Biology
5- Geography
6- Business

All HL except Maths and Irish.

I want to do both French and German for L.C as I absolutely adore languages and I've studied them both since 1st year But since I will (hopefully) be doing three languages (Irish, German and French) how will the workload be like? Especially with three oral exams?

Is Biology a doable subject? I was considering doing Physics, but I find some parts if both sciences difficult and some easy. Chemistry is my weakest and I don't really have any interest.

What about History? I heard there is a significant amount of essay-writing to do? I hope to do journalism after school and i am completely aware that I need to stay with Honours English in 5th year. I sort of struggle with it now but I will be getting grinds soon. I currently get C's in exams for English.

For current fifth years/sixth years: how much different is J.C level English in comparison to L.C level?

I am sorry for asking so many questions, I am just so curious, especially about doing three languages for the L.C.

Thank you

I only do History, German and Physics out of those you have written down so I'll see if I can help. I'm a 5th Year too and the year is pretty much nearly over so I feel as if can help.

With History, it does require to have a good grasp of the English language along with good writing skills, this can be developed through out the year but you can notice who has and hasn't this skill. It does require good bit of effort and learning but manageable. Only take History is you are willing to put in the effort and have an actual interest in History. A lot of people in my class thought History would be a basic enough subject but now they're bored and struggle with it, so keep that in mind.

With doing both French and German, the workload regarding oral would be intense but so would the workload for those doing a practical subject as practicals take place close to the orals, so you will be fine. Since you said you enjoy both, then they won't be too hard. With German, just learn as much vocab as you can, learn 10-12 new words a day and be able to use them in a sentence, it will help so much. The only difficult part of German for LC is the grammar but if you get it from the start, you're sorted.

Biology is the easiest of the three Sciences, if you put in the effort you will get a good result. I do Physics and find it quite difficult, although incredibly enjoyable. You need to be mathematically minded for it, although with Physics, JC OL is the Maths level required but if you do Physics, you normally do HL Maths (not always the case but in my class everyone does honours Maths bar 2). If you're only doing a Science subject just to have a science subject then I would go with Biology.

yvngceebs

rainbowtrout wrote: »

I did French and German for my LC and I had no problems. Sure it was busy around the time of the orals, in all schools the Irish orals are on one week and the foreign language orals the following/previous week. Having said that it was no different from JC in the sense that I was able to manage all three languages for JC so I didn't see any difference in Leaving Cert.

Other students will have a similar workload if they pick a variety of practical subjects e.g DCG/Ag Science/Construction/Engineering/Art/Music and will have a busy week when all of their practical exams are on. I regularly have students who have a 6 hour Construction practical, a similar engineering practical and an ag science oral assessment in the same week in May and they survive.

If you like languages go for it.

Knowing that the Irish orals are separate from the foreign language orals makes me feel a bit relieved haha Yeah I think I'll definitely go for both languages thank you so much for the info + help!

yvngceebs

Troxck wrote: »

I only do History, German and Physics out of those you have written down so I'll see if I can help. I'm a 5th Year too and the year is pretty much nearly over so I feel as if can help.

With History, it does require to have a good grasp of the English language along with good writing skills, this can be developed through out the year but you can notice who has and hasn't this skill. It does require good bit of effort and learning but manageable. Only take History is you are willing to put in the effort and have an actual interest in History. A lot of people in my class thought History would be a basic enough subject but now they're bored and struggle with it, so keep that in mind.

With doing both French and German, the workload regarding oral would be intense but so would the workload for those doing a practical subject as practicals take place close to the orals, so you will be fine. Since you said you enjoy both, then they won't be too hard. With German, just learn as much vocab as you can, learn 10-12 new words a day and be able to use them in a sentence, it will help so much. The only difficult part of German for LC is the grammar but if you get it from the start, you're sorted.

Biology is the easiest of the three Sciences, if you put in the effort you will get a good result. I do Physics and find it quite difficult, although incredibly enjoyable. You need to be mathematically minded for it, although with Physics, JC OL is the Maths level required but if you do Physics, you normally do HL Maths (not always the case but in my class everyone does honours Maths bar 2). If you're only doing a Science subject just to have a science subject then I would go with Biology.

I'm definitely not mathematically minded, so I think Biology would be a better option for me Regarding History, I absolutely love it and I love essay-writing so I think it would be a good choice. By the way, if you don't mind me asking, is there a project you do for History? I think I heard it somewhere but I'm not sure.

Currently, I enjoy German but I certainly find some aspects of it difficult, especially the reading comprehensions and some sections of the listening. However, I'm aware that both of those comprehensions are at completely different levels during the LC years, so I'll attempt to develop on them as much as I can now.

Thank you so much for your help

Troxck

yvngceebs wrote: »

I'm definitely not mathematically minded, so I think Biology would be a better option for me Regarding History, I absolutely love it and I love essay-writing so I think it would be a good choice. By the way, if you don't mind me asking, is there a project you do for History? I think I heard it somewhere but I'm not sure.

Currently, I enjoy German but I certainly find some aspects of it difficult, especially the reading comprehensions and some sections of the listening. However, I'm aware that both of those comprehensions are at completely different levels during the LC years, so I'll attempt to develop on them as much as I can now.

Thank you so much for your help

There's a project which I think is 20-25% of your final grade. You can choose whatever topic as long as it's not any of the case studies you do. I'm looking into mine now and it's really interesting (do a local event, easier to get resources, it's individual and examiners prefer it). I had the exact breakdown of it but I don't have it at home, sorry.

I didn't really want to put you off Physics but I had to be honest, it would be better than you struggling for two years.

yvngceebs

Troxck wrote: »

There's a project which I think is 20-25% of your final grade. You can choose whatever topic as long as it's not any of the case studies you do. I'm looking into mine now and it's really interesting (do a local event, easier to get resources, it's individual and examiners prefer it). I had the exact breakdown of it but I don't have it at home, sorry.

I didn't really want to put you off Physics but I had to be honest, it would be better than you struggling for two years.

Best of luck with your project! To be honest, I think I was always more interested in Biology than Physics, but thank you anyways.

rainbowtrout

yvngceebs wrote: »

Knowing that the Irish orals are separate from the foreign language orals makes me feel a bit relieved haha Yeah I think I'll definitely go for both languages thank you so much for the info + help!

Also a lot of schools would be accommodating to students studying multiple languages. There were 7 or 8 of us with the Irish/French/German combination when I was in Leaving Cert so when the week arrived that French and German orals were on, say German was on the Monday, us 2 foreign language students were sent in first to get it out of the way and we were last to go for French (which was on say Tuesday - Friday) so we could have as big a gap as possible between them. Not saying every school is that accommodating, but where there is room for flexibility I can't imagine any school trying to make things difficult for a student.

Also the German oral includes picture sequences like in Irish, just not as many maybe 5 or 6 I think, rather than the 20 there are for Irish. Like Irish, you have the picture sequences in advance so it's part of the oral you can prepare for. You will be given one at random from the selection by the oral examiaer and asked to tell the story in the pictures and then asked a few questions on it. There are no picture sequences for French.

yvngceebs

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Also a lot of schools would be acommodating to students studying multiple languages. There were 7 or 8 of us with the Irish/French/German combination when I was in Leaving Cert so when the week arrived that French and German orals were on, say German was on the Monday, us 2 foreign language students were sent in first to get it out of the way and we were last to go for French so we could have as bug a gap as possible between them. Not saying every school is that accommodating, but where there is room for flexibility I can't imagine any school trying to make things difficult for a student.

Also the German oral includes picture sequences like in Irish, just not as many maybe 5 or 6 I think, rather than the 20 there are for Irish. Like Irish, you have the picture sequences in advance so it's part of the oral you can prepare for. You will be given one at random from the selection by the oral examinaer and asked to tell the story in the pictures and then asked a few questions on it. There are no picture sequences for French.

That sounds brilliant!! I hope my school is that accommodating thank you.

dob1234

The key is both french and german is constant vocab learning - a majority of the marks are for reading and listening comprehensions! Know your verbs very well and be able to alternate between tenses very well!

Biology is a huge subject but all subjects require a lot of work, the subject is very interesting and a big section is on the mandatory experiments so that is easy enough to learn

English requires a lot more learning for the leaving cert, you have your single text, your comparative (made of a play, a film and a novel) and loads of poetry (both unseen + studied) - and thats just paper 2 but if you are interested in the subject then it should be easy to study

Geography is very like junior cert but once again the workload is massive, its not complicated just long

best of luck

spurious

Depending on how your school is organising it and how big the school is, there is a possibility that if not many are doing the 'second' language and it is set against, say, Biology, then your German class may be small and have both levels in it.

I know when I was at school, I didn't do French for the Leaving and was one of only 11 in the year who didn't and we all ended up in the one class for Geography instead. I know now as a teacher how difficult that must have been for the teacher to manage the two levels in one class.

Anonymagician

If you want to go into the journalism area I'd say history is a must. It improves the ability to write events without relying heavily on narrative and just generally aids the English language. You'll find your English grade automatically improving and you'll learn a lot about the background of the country which can be pretty impressive if you're trying to get a job writing current affairs.

You clearly have a gift linguistically and if I were you I'd consider cutting sciences all together and think about business - something that will also help with writing in an informative manner and teach you about current affairs.

yvngceebs

Anonymagician wrote: »

If you want to go into the journalism area I'd say history is a must. It improves the ability to write events without relying heavily on narrative and just generally aids the English language. You'll find your English grade automatically improving and you'll learn a lot about the background of the country which can be pretty impressive if you're trying to get a job writing current affairs.

You clearly have a gift linguistically and if I were you I'd consider cutting sciences all together and think about business - something that will also help with writing in an informative manner and teach you about current affairs.

Thank you . Yes, I'll definitely pick History as one of my subjects and as much as I find the sciences tedious, I have to pick at least one them - my school is making me. I was actually thinking about picking up business and economics, but as part of the LCVP course instead. Mostly because I do two ordinary level subjects and LCVP might boost my points a little bit. Thank you for your advice and have a great day

Anonymagician

Ugh the science thing is ridiculous.. My school just give us all the subjects and tell us to pick our 3 and a language and they'll try to accommodate our choice. None of this grouping business.

spurious

Anonymagician wrote: »

Ugh the science thing is ridiculous.. My school just give us all the subjects and tell us to pick our 3 and a language and they'll try to accommodate our choice. None of this grouping business.

The grouping has to do with timetabling.

shedu

If you end up being given a subject not of your choosing you could consider doing an extra subject outside of school. Japanese assumes no previous knowledge for Leaving Cert. Classical Studies would also be a good option. That's if the workload of the extra subject wouldn't be detrimental to your school subject.

rainbowtrout

shedu wrote: »

If you end up being given a subject not of your choosing you could consider doing an extra subject outside of school. Japanese assumes no previous knowledge for Leaving Cert. Classical Studies would also be a good option. That's if the workload of the extra subject wouldn't be detrimental to your school subject.

Typically those subjects are by and large taken by students in Dublin where there is a larger population and there are teachers of those subjects. You'd be hard pressed to find a Japanese or Classical Studies teacher in the west of Ireland for example. If the OP wants to take another subject they'd be better off going for a mainstream one where there's a chance they can get grinds, find a teacher outside school who can teach them.

shedu

rainbowtrout wrote: »

Typically those subjects are by and large taken by students in Dublin where there is a larger population and there are teachers of those subjects. You'd be hard pressed to find a Japanese or Classical Studies teacher in the west of Ireland for example. If the OP wants to take another subject they'd be better off going for a mainstream one where there's a chance they can get grinds, find a teacher outside school who can teach them.

I was working on the assumption that the OP would study the subject on their own without a grind teacher. Anyway, it's unlikely the OP will need an extra subject.