Which new subject to take up in 6th year?

Jammysticks

I'm currently repeating my leaving cert, and am torn between picking up agricultural science and applied maths this year. The statistics say that I would be better off picking applied maths, in which typically around 25% of people get an A grade. This is in comparison to the 10% A grades that ag. science gets.

I got a C1 in my leaving cert maths (H) this year, which, while lower than I had hoped for, is still a good reflection of my ability in maths. I'm no maths whiz. I don't see myself having any problem with ag. science, but the lower rate of A's worries me. I'd be very grateful if anybody with experience in either or both of theses subjects could give me some advice as to which would be a better choice.

EoghanIRL

If you got a c in maths and you are no maths whiz then do ag science .
Ap maths is generally more difficult than hl maths . People who are good at maths are usually good at ap maths .
You also get an interview with ag science .

rainbowtrout

Jammysticks wrote: »

I'm currently repeating my leaving cert, and am torn between picking up agricultural science and applied maths this year. The statistics say that I would be better off picking applied maths, in which typically around 25% of people get an A grade. This is in comparison to the 10% A grades that ag. science gets.

I got a C1 in my leaving cert maths (H) this year, which, while lower than I had hoped for, is still a good reflection of my ability in maths. I'm no maths whiz. I don't see myself having any problem with ag. science, but the lower rate of A's worries me. I'd be very grateful if anybody with experience in either or both of theses subjects could give me some advice as to which would be a better choice.

This is not a valid indicator of the likelihood of you getting an A. Ag Science is taken by about 8,000 students per year and is taught as a mainstream subject in schools across the country. It is taken by a very wide range of students, with wide ranging abilities. I am very aware that there is a cohort of students who take it outside school. So you will get a broad range of grades, which are broadly in line with other subjects with a relatively decent uptake, e.g. geography, biology have similar A rates.

Applied Maths on the other hand is taken by a much smaller number of students, about 1200. Many do it outside school as an extra subject. The type of student who does it is self selective: they tend to be taking HL Maths and often HL Physics, which both use the same type of abilities and it complements those subjects. People tend not to take Applied Maths for the craic, or as an 'easy honour', or if they have any sort of weakness with maths.

So because it is more of a niche subject with people generally opting for it when they have a good ability in maths the A rate is going to be much higher.


I'm saying this as an ag science and physics teacher. I have huge ag science classes and tiny physics classes. I get a broad range of ability in ag science, some very interested in the subject, some because they didn't like any of the other options and it was the best of a bad lot. I only ever get interested students in physics. It has that 'physics is hard' aura about it.

So, pick the subject you think you will like the most and will work at. The people in my class who had the ability to get an A in physics/ag science got them this year because they had the ability and they did the work. It had nothing to do with national averages.

JonG

Jammysticks wrote: »

I'm currently repeating my leaving cert, and am torn between picking up agricultural science and applied maths this year. The statistics say that I would be better off picking applied maths, in which typically around 25% of people get an A grade. This is in comparison to the 10% A grades that ag. science gets.

I got a C1 in my leaving cert maths (H) this year, which, while lower than I had hoped for, is still a good reflection of my ability in maths. I'm no maths whiz. I don't see myself having any problem with ag. science, but the lower rate of A's worries me. I'd be very grateful if anybody with experience in either or both of theses subjects could give me some advice as to which would be a better choice.

This time last year I was in a very similar situation to yourself. I was repeating the leaving cert and didn't know whether to take up Ag Science as 6th subject or not. I can honestly say it was one of the best decisions of my life taking it up and I ended up getting an A1. However, like every exam paper I do put it down to predominately Luck. I do Biology also which helped hugely. To be honest I did leave a few bits and pieces of the course out because I hadn't time. If you are doing Biology already it is a huge help, however, there is the Project involved which takes up a lot of time. I might aswel just state the obvious here but the majority of people do end up at least looking, if not using someone elses project from a previous year. I didn't get called for the interview either which helped a lot because to be honest I didn't have much farm experience.
You can really break the course down into the main parts:
1) Biology (Plant Science, Human Systems, Genetics etc.)
2) Grassland
3)Soil
4)Crops (Barley and Potatoes)
5)Livestock
The only disadvantage is that it is pretty much impossible to predict the paper in anyway. The course hasn't changed much since it first started about 20 years ago (I think) which means that they try and catch ya out as much as possible and once or twice things have been asked that were never in an Ag Science text book at all.
I also dropped Maths and Irish which ment I had a lot of time to study Ag Science which helped a lot.
Hope it helps.

spurious

Regardless of textbooks, they won't ask anything that isn't on the syllabus - this is the same for all subjects. The SEC and Department have nothing to do with text books.