second year vs first year

agent graves

i did pretty ok in first science while doing a decent amount of work.. but now that iv started second year iv noticed alot of people that are repeating so how much of a jump is there between 1st and 2nd year.

Boeing777

Not gonna lie, it's quite a big jump in standard. I'm in 3rd Science now and looking back, second year was definitely challenging. For Chemistry the standard jumps quite a bit, but it's still definitely manageable if you put in the work. Don't be worried about second year just put in the work from the beginning and you should be fine. And honestly don't miss any lectures in second year unless you really have to! If you have any questions about specific subjects just ask

GarIT

First year is designed as an introductory year with no real work required. I'd say for every hour of work needed in first year 3 to 5 hours are required in second year and maybe 10 in third year.

CSSE09

There's a jump with every year but if you keep up with your assignments and continuous assessment work you'll be fine. A lot of people don't seem to realise how valuable the CA marks are and suffer badly for it.
Say the CA counts for 30% overall of a module, do poorly in the CA you'd have to try and get everything right in the exam for the other 70% to do well. Work hard but work smart.

agent graves

chemistry and maths iv no problem with.. i enjoy them so find them easy to grasp.. but the biology on the other hand..... i got a 3rd last year,, there was so much to learn with it. what is biology like in second year?

Boeing777

agent graves wrote: »

chemistry and maths iv no problem with.. i enjoy them so find them easy to grasp.. but the biology on the other hand..... i got a 3rd last year,, there was so much to learn with it. what is biology like in second year?

Biology gets a bit harder. Biochemistry and Animal Physiology in semester 1 are actually the nicer of the modules between semester 1 and 2. It's very much geared to just learning off the material. There's not much you actually have to understand which was annoying for me.

Watch out for Chemistry! Although you found it easier to grasp, the jump this year is quite high and everybody is kind of on a level playing field because there's new concepts that nobody might have done for Leaving Cert. Organic is the module that gets a lot of people, but with a good bit of work you should be fine

Beaner1

First Year - Leaving Cert stuff for most subjects
Second Year - Jumps up a level inbetween the final two years
Third and Fourth Year - These are really your degree years and are at a similar level.

I got caught out a bit in second year as its also a good time to party.

Darth Floodric

What is second year physics like in science?

Darth Floodric

Darth Floodric wrote: »

What is second year physics like in science?

Almost ridiculous jump in standard.
I found the rest didn't change much but Physics was unreal, the lecturers are great but the content is awful.

Boeing777

Deleted User wrote: »

Almost ridiculous jump in standard.
I found the rest didn't change much but Physics was unreal, the lecturers are great but the content is awful.

Heard that too There was a 7.5 credit module that had an abysmal failure rate so they split it up into two modules last year (5 and 2.5 credits) and the failure rate was still quite high for both. I think first year physics gives you a false representation of what the subject is actually like.

Planemo

Deleted User wrote: »

Almost ridiculous jump in standard.
I found the rest didn't change much but Physics was unreal, the lecturers are great but the content is awful.

Yep, and third year is almost worse! Avoid unless you have a real aptitude for the subject or absolutely no other options!

Darth Floodric

I'm kind of surprised to hear that about the physics. surely of you are well motivated and keep your head down you will do well in it. All the facilities and resources are in the college so could it be that the failure rate was down to student complacency and perhaps not respecting the material.

Boeing777

Darth Floodric wrote: »

I'm kind of surprised to hear that about the physics. surely of you are well motivated and keep your head down you will do well in it. All the facilities and resources are in the college so could it be that the failure rate was down to student complacency and perhaps not respecting the material.

If you're dedicated and motivated enough anything is possible. Personally I just think that people were blinded by first year physics which made second year a total culture shock. With chemistry and biology in first year you do a foundation of pretty much everything you're going to cover in second year, whereas with physics it seems that second year is like a brand new subject. If you put the work into the subject there's no reason why you wouldn't succeed

lemansky

As said above, with physics you have to get the head down. Once you do that there will be no problem too big that it can't be fixed, especially given the amount of help that is available. All of the lecturers in physics are delighted to help make things click for you.

Yeah the lecturers are fantastic, still stick out as some of the best teachers I've ever had. I wasn't really into the subject and some people did get on OK in it just everyone else seemed to fail. I ended up with a pass thanks to the second semester being a bit easier (quantum is a bit crazy).