Leaving Cert Physics

mk19

Hi all I was wondering would it be possible to do physics on your own outside of school and still get a good grade in it? I am naturally quite good at sciences and would like to move down in a language to OL to accommodate physics. Is it possible considering the mandatory experiments etc and is it difficult to understand on your own? Any help appreciated!

LoveLamps

simply, no

for many, many reasons

shedu

Yes it is very possible to do physics on your own and get a good grade on it. For the experiments, the universities like NUI Maynooth, UL, DCU do experiment days for the leaving cert around January each year. If you are not doing chemistry, you could do the subject 'physics and chemistry' (instead of physics) , which has easier physics and chemistry than at higher level.

Mr Pseudonym

shedu wrote: »

Yes it is very possible to do physics on your own and get a good grade on it. For the experiments, the universities like NUI Maynooth, UL, DCU do experiment days for the leaving cert around January each year. If you are not doing chemistry, you could do the subject 'physics and chemistry' (instead of physics) , which has easier physics and chemistry than at higher level.

Are you sure those experiment days are for the purposes of doing the mandatory experiments? Though very few students are actually checked, it is a requirement of the course to have done and written-up the experiments.

I would advise against Physics and Chemistry because, although the content of each part is less than that of the corresponding full subject, the combined is more than one of them on their own, IMO.

It's possible to do Physics on your own, but it's likely to be challenging. The book tends to over-complicate, and one is likely to become demoralised at times because of the complexity of some parts.

shedu

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

Are you sure those experiment days are for the purposes of doing the mandatory experiments? Though very few students are actually checked, it is a requirement of the course to have done and written-up the experiments.

Here's the ad for NUIM http://www.nuim.ie/news-events/leaving-certificate-examination-science-practicals

You're right about the possibility of being checked by an inspector and if you can't produce a written up experiment book they can prevent you doing the written exam and/or simply give you zero in august

Mr Pseudonym

shedu wrote: »

Here's the ad for NUIM http://www.nuim.ie/news-events/leaving-certificate-examination-science-practicals

You're right about the possibility of being checked by an inspector and if you can't produce a written up experiment book they can prevent you doing the written exam and/or simply give you zero in august

Thank you for that. I had looked on their website...but obviously not hard enough!

mk19

Aside from the mandatory experiments though, is it a doable subject on your own? Is it difficult to understand and is there much learning involved? Also what is the exam like? Anything at all is helpful!

LoveLamps

I have a fantastic teacher and still find it tricky. The books are often quite hard to understand. I think you really need someone who knows their stuff to be able to explain some parts to you. Having said that, some parts are a doddle, but it's often hard to leave parts out.

Mr Pseudonym

I encourage that you do some research!!

Here is the link to past papers! The first part of the paper (30%) requires the answering of three questions on experiments out of a choice of four - none of these is difficult or unpredictable, and the well prepared student should aim to get an A here. Five questions must then be answered from the remaining eight (two of which allow for choice within). Most of the questions are very manageable, although there is often a question that is noticeably tougher than the others. Obviously, that can be avoided by having prepared for all topics. The mathematics topics are no more advanced than what you'd see at JC, but the way in which they are applied is. The most difficult of such applications can be rote-learned, and there are not many.

These are the notes of the well regarded Physics teacher at King's Hospital school, Noel Cunningham. He uses them in his class in place of a textbook, and says that he has removed superfluous information. I think they remain more detailed than necessary, but they are very good.

Whether or not it's achievable depends on yourself. I would have been intellectually capable, but would not have had the necessary willpower and motivation. Maybe you possess both.

Edit: as with all LC Science subjects (and some others), if you can do every question of the past papers from the last 5/10 years, you will get an A1.

AtomicKoala

Mr Pseudonym wrote: »

It's possible to do Physics on your own, but it's likely to be challenging. The book tends to over-complicate, and one is likely to become demoralised at times because of the complexity of some parts.

Are you talking about Real World Physics? Because that's an excellent book, in my opinion. We have Chemistry Live for Chemistry, and that's full of waffle - but Real World Physics is straight and to the point, the waffle is kept to the minimum, it teaches the curriculum well.

Mr Pseudonym

AtomicKoala wrote: »

Are you talking about Real World Physics? Because that's an excellent book, in my opinion. We have Chemistry Live for Chemistry, and that's full of waffle - but Real World Physics is straight and to the point, the waffle is kept to the minimum, it teaches the curriculum well.

First, by superfluous/over-complicated, I mean to that which is required for performing well in the LC. In other words, the detail may be to the benefit to our understanding, but not necessarily to our subsequent grade.

My understanding is that Dan O'Regan is well respected in the Physics fraternity, and I do think his textbook is fully comprehensive with some excellent questions. However, I think a lot of content is over-complicated, which is partly a result of its comprehensiveness.

Chemistry Live was awful, right?!