Struggling with Leaving Cert Options!!!

ciar23

So next Wednesday is the day we have to pick our leaving cert subjects.. II have a bit of a dilemma, I'm in an all girls school which means they have never had a physics class as they never get the numbers but I'm honestly dying to do physics! I love science and maths and I know for sure that science is the area I want to pursue in the future. They have a physics teacher in the school since September but will only put on the class if they get 15 students, I can almost guarantee they will not get the 15! Last year a girl moved schools altogether so that she could do the physics but I think this may be a bit drastic, would a weekly grind be sufficient to get the course completed or would I actually need to move schools? Any advice atall would be great!

AulBiddy

Hi
I'm not too sure if one class of physics would be enough a week.. I think most of us have 6 or more classes a week on our optional subjects. I don't take physics but I do chemistry and biology and they are not difficult but require a lot of theory learning and of course there are practicals that you are required to do and from what I have heard anyone who takes grinds and grinds alone they are just made to learn off practicals which can make it hard to remember and just in general isn't great. What some of my friends do is during school they go to a different school in the area when the specific class they want to do is on, it's a bit awkward but they are doing fine... You could leave out an optional subject in school to give you time to study physics on your own, I know a girl who does this, she studies art instead of french and she goes to a class with another teacher where she is allowed to study down the back.
Sorry if I haven't been much of a help, these are just some things that people I know do!

EoghanIRL

I learned nearly all my physics from the text book called real world physics and managed to get an A. The material in the book is really good . I also bought a revision book . Self directed learning ftw .

ciar23

Thanks for the reply! That all makes sense, I stupidly hadn't even thought of the practicals! The weekly grind doesn't seem to be enough now I'm thinking about it! Yeah a girl I know went over to the cbs to do Physics with the lads a few years ago but our principal has stopped this because she doesn't get along with the cbs principal, bit unfair but nothing I can do about it! I may have to consider moving its looking like! hanks for your help!

ciar23

EoghanIRL wrote: »

I learned nearly all my physics from the text book called real world physics and managed to get an A. The material in the book is really good . I also bought a revision book . Self directed learning ftw .

Wow you taught it to yourself and got that result? Thats fantastic! I don't think I'd be able for that now to be honest but it makes a weekly grind seem more manageable now? I'm so indecisive its killing me..

spurious

Astonished that over thirty years after we had a Physics class in an all girls' school there are still some schools where there isn't that option.:eek:

Are there not more than 15 in your HL Maths class? Could they be persuaded?
How about PhysChem? Would that be more attractive?

ciar23

spurious wrote: »

Astonished that over thirty years after we had a Physics class in an all girls' school there are still some schools where there isn't that option.:eek:

Are there not more than 15 in your HL Maths class? Could they be persuaded?
How about PhysChem? Would that be more attractive?

I know it is really bad! I'll do my best but to be honest it has such a stigma attached to it that it's an unbelievably hard subject that most people dont even bother considering it! We don't have PhysChem either unfortunately although I dont know of any school in my county that does have it, we have relatively small secondary schools.
Thanks for the reply!

spurious

There is always a way. The sharing with the CBS is possibly an option as there is probably a subject your school could offer that they would like to but can't. Nonsense with Principals not withstanding, of course.

Yet another argument for one big school catering for both sexes, all levels and all subjects and not this nonsensical duplication and triplication that we have in so many Irish towns.

Do you have any contacts in the other schools in the town? There could well be the makings of more than one Physics class between the schools. I realise you shouldn't be doing this, your school management should be, but some people can be very inward-looking.

ciar23

spurious wrote: »

There is always a way. The sharing with the CBS is possibly an option as there is probably a subject your school could offer that they would like to but can't. Nonsense with Principals not withstanding, of course.

Yet another argument for one big school catering for both sexes, all levels and all subjects and not this nonsensical duplication and triplication that we have in so many Irish towns.

Do you have any contacts in the other schools in the town? There could well be the makings of more than one Physics class between the schools. I realise you shouldn't be doing this, your school management should be, but some people can be very inward-looking.

My Mam works in a local school, (it's the school I should be going to by cachment area but my stupid 12 year old self decided against it because my mam teaching there seemed weird), but yeah I have the contacts through her, however all the schools in my county are a good drive apart from eachother, there are not multiple schools in each town (apart from the cbs which seems unattainable at the moment)

EoghanIRL

ciar23 wrote: »

Wow you taught it to yourself and got that result? Thats fantastic! I don't think I'd be able for that now to be honest but it makes a weekly grind seem more manageable now? I'm so indecisive its killing me..

No we had physics class in school but our teacher was absent often and to be honest I ended up just using the book and teaching myself. I have a huge interest in science though .

I have no experience with grinds at all so I would be of no help in that area.
Physics is really doable . Just make sure you have an actual interest in it because otherwise it's a pain to learn.

There is an option question on particle physics which always comes up and it's easy to get full marks in . So that's one question down .
You get 4 experiments to do 3. They are predictable and they have nearly all came up at one stage or another . You should aim to get close to full marks in section a.
Section b is trickier . However there is a short questions question which comes up every year and is easy to get full makes in .
Personally I hated mechanics . I answered every question on the paper this year except for the mechanics questions in part b.
I used this site occasionally too- http://thephysicsteacher.ie

ciar23

Oh ok I understand! If I did manage to round up 14 other girls for a class of physics do you think doing biology, chemistry and physics would be a good idea? I love science and I know I want to pursue either science research or healthcare so it covers me for both. However from what I have been told chemistry and physics are both difficult subjects for leaving cert and I'm afraid I might be taking on too much?

ciar23

Oh ok I understand! If I did manage to round up 14 other girls for a class of physics do you think doing biology, chemistry and physics would be a good idea? I love science and I know I want to pursue either science research or healthcare so it covers me for both. However from what I have been told chemistry and physics are both difficult subjects for leaving cert and I'm afraid I might be taking on too much? As opposed to doing a stereotypically 'easier' subject like geography.

EoghanIRL

I did all three, so did a lot of my friends .
All I can say is that you get out of it what you put into it .
If you do the work then you should get the results you want . The sciences at lc level aren't the worst when you look back at them .

ciar23

EoghanIRL wrote: »

I did all three, so did a lot of my friends .
All I can say is that you get out of it what you put into it .
If you do the work then you should get the results you want . The sciences at lc level aren't the worst when you look back at them .

Yeah I plan on working hard through fifth year so that I do not leave myself under unbearable pressure in sixth year, if that doesn't go to plan as I hope though would doing my homework to a good standard be enough for them?

Qualitymark

ciar23, would it be worth talking to the physics teacher and principal and asking for him or her to do a 'commercial' for the class in the gym during a break on Tuesday, showing all the cool things that are learned by learning physics? If it's a great teacher, other people might then want to sign up for the class.

Good sense on the working hard through fifth year plan.

ciar23

Qualitymark wrote: »

ciar23, would it be worth talking to the physics teacher and principal and asking for him or her to do a 'commercial' for the class in the gym during a break on Tuesday, showing all the cool things that are learned by learning physics? If it's a great teacher, other people might then want to sign up for the class.

Good sense on the working hard through fifth year plan.

Thanks that's a really good idea! Might take away some of the stigma that's attached to it that makes it as unattractive as it is in our school!

Qualitymark

Physics is scary too; people thing "I couldn't do that". If the teacher did a demo, asked people questions, said "Yeah! That's right!" it might make people feel they could do it.