Choosing Chemistry?

kevindelahunty

I'm a TY student about to make my subject choices. I really liked chemistry in Junior Cert and although I got B in the exam this was down to my poor biology. I want to do Chemistry yet have heard that the course is meant to impossible. People who have got A's in Science have told me to avoid chemistry at all costs. I really need your advice on just what makes this course so difficult.
Thank you

NOS3

I'm a TY also, and I also really enjoyed chemistry during the JC. Apparentlly, LC chemistry is a big step up from this, and is also quite different. It supposedly involves alot of understanding. However, after doing chemistry this year I am definetely sure I want to do it for the LC, so it's at the top of my subject choice form. JC science is not a good representation of the LC sciences. People can easily get an A in the JC with a little interest, but when it comes to the LC you would really have to have the interest and aptitude for each science to do well.

Str96

Chemistry is definitely a 'doable' subject. Although not great at it initially I eventually got up to A1 standard in 6th year. It requires serious attention in class and then constant revision. Everything won't really click until 6th year really. The marking scheme is ruthless, zero room for error. However the chemistry paper is relatively predictable and once you train yourself for the exam by doing all the past papers I think you'll see it's very accessible. Just make sure you work hard from the very 1st class in 5th year or it will catch up on you! If you have any question about something, make sure you always ask the teacher, especially in a subject like chemistry. I did all three sciences and it was by far my favourite one simply because I thought the exam was approachable to be honest!

Conaaaa

Im going into 5th year and im doing the 3 scinces , excited for chemistry! How did you find physics?

Str96

Conaaaa wrote: »

Im going into 5th year and im doing the 3 scinces , excited for chemistry! How did you find physics?

Biology and chemistry I thought were more accessible although a lot of people I knew found physics easier as opposed to chemistry. Physics is incredibly predictable, the paper repeats itself so much that you can be pretty well prepared. The maths is very simple but it requires a very sound understanding of the theory in order to carry it out. Some physics qs can be very tricky but if you practise, practise, practise then you won't find it that hard. If you do applied maths then you'll find the mechanics part of physics a complete doddle.

kevindelahunty

Str96 wrote: »

Chemistry is definitely a 'doable' subject. Although not great at it initially I eventually got up to A1 standard in 6th year. It requires serious attention in class and then constant revision. Everything won't really click until 6th year really. The marking scheme is ruthless, zero room for error. However the chemistry paper is relatively predictable and once you train yourself for the exam by doing all the past papers I think you'll see it's very accessible. Just make sure you work hard from the very 1st class in 5th year or it will catch up on you! If you have any question about something, make sure you always ask the teacher, especially in a subject like chemistry. I did all three sciences and it was by far my favourite one simply because I thought the exam was approachable to be honest!

Thank you could you give me a brief description of the topics thought and how much study you put in a week.

prettygurrly

Of all the subjects I recommend Chemistry - it ties both biology and physics together. If you enjoy Chemistry then you'll do fine but take the advice above - it requires constant effort but if you enjoy it then it's not "effort".

Str96

kevindelahunty wrote: »

Thank you could you give me a brief description of the topics thought and how much study you put in a week.

Chemistry is split into inorganic and organic chemistry. You probably won't start organic till 6th year.

Inorganic deals with the study of the electron, atomic chemistry, bonding types, redox reactions, titrations, intermolecular forces, gas laws etc. There are sections to cover on chemical equilibrium, rates of reaction and water analysis also. It's not overly complicated stuff although bonding can take a bit of time to understand.

Organic isn't exactly adored by a lot of chemistry students but once it clicked together for me I absolutely loved it. You'll be studying fuels, heats of reaction, organic families (alcohols, aldehydes, esters etc) and the associated experiments.

In 5th year I just did the homework and didn't put much effort into additional study or revision. I got a B2 in my 5th year summer exam which I wasn't exactly overly pleased with.

From the start of 6th year I did all the exam paper qs for the sections of the course I had covered since the start of 5th year and made sure I constantly revised everything. I listed all the definitions and used to try write them out on a blank sheet of paper from memory every now and then. We finished the course in March and I had completed papers from 2001-2013 by start of April. After that my teacher just gave the class mocks every week to do. The grind definitely paid off as I got 94% in my mock in late February and then the A1 in the LC. It was just constant repetition doing papers and making sure I knew absolutely EVERYTHING on the course. Each LC q is worth 50 marks and you have to answer 8 for a total of 400 marks. That means for A1 grade you can only afford to lose 6 marks max per question which is a tiny margin for error so you understand now why I said you need to know everything!

AtomicKoala

kevindelahunty wrote: »

I'm a TY student about to make my subject choices. I really liked chemistry in Junior Cert and although I got B in the exam this was down to my poor biology. I want to do Chemistry yet have heard that the course is meant to impossible. People who have got A's in Science have told me to avoid chemistry at all costs. I really need your advice on just what makes this course so difficult.
Thank you

Impossible? Hardly. It depends how smart you are and how much effort you put in. I got a B in JC science (and a B in HL JC Maths). I'd say if you got a C or better in JC Maths you should be grand. But if you had to do JC OL Maths avoid it, probably won't be suited to you.

I thought it was a lovely subject for what it's worth

Str96

kevindelahunty wrote: »

I'm a TY student about to make my subject choices. I really liked chemistry in Junior Cert and although I got B in the exam this was down to my poor biology. I want to do Chemistry yet have heard that the course is meant to impossible. People who have got A's in Science have told me to avoid chemistry at all costs. I really need your advice on just what makes this course so difficult.
Thank you

If you're considering a career in medicine, engineering, physiotherapy, science or pharmacy, then I seriously recommend you choose chemistry. It's not going to make perfect sense at the start and will take a decent amount of meticulous study before it's really understandable but if you have a reasonable aptitude for science and are willing to work hard then I can't see much reason why not to choose it. Review some of the papers now online and see how you feel roughly about the style of questions. Talk with the chemistry teacher in your school also!

johnb25

Str96 wrote: »

Biology and chemistry I thought were more accessible although a lot of people I knew found physics easier as opposed to chemistry. Physics is incredibly predictable, the paper repeats itself so much that you can be pretty well prepared. The maths is very simple but it requires a very sound understanding of the theory in order to carry it out. Some physics qs can be very tricky but if you practise, practise, practise then you won't find it that hard. If you do applied maths then you'll find the mechanics part of physics a complete doddle.

My daughter is looking at subject choices just now, and has a choice to make between Chemistry and Physics. Maths is not her strongest subject. Is there a big difference in the Maths element of Chemistry vs Physics?

Thanks.

norabattie

My son has to make his choice by next week. Science would be one of his weakest subjects but he knows that to get into college
the majority of them require I science and 3 languages.
People have told him that Biology is the easier of the 3 to study so I think he may pick that.
He still has no idea what he wants to do with his life ( bar maybe joining An Garda Siochana) but that's
not a guarantee in these days with so many people applying etc so he has to be realistic.

I think it quite unfair as he hasn't even sat his JC yet that they are making them pick, and not letting them see how well they
did in their exams but his school has a 3 year LC programme so choices need to be in asap.

Str96

johnb25 wrote: »

My daughter is looking at subject choices just now, and has a choice to make between Chemistry and Physics. Maths is not her strongest subject. Is there a big difference in the Maths element of Chemistry vs Physics?

Thanks.

Physics is definitely the most mathematical of the three sciences. Anyone in my class who obtained an A or B in LC physics was also a quite capable honours maths student. The actual maths itself isn't overly complicated but the understanding required to do it is certainly linked to the same logical and problem solving approach of a strong maths student. I always found maths and physics results had a strong correlation anyway.

That's not to make chemistry sound like an easier option. It is also a very tricky subject but is much more conceptual and theory based. The calculations in chemistry are very basic but again a sound understanding of the theory is required. I do know plenty of people however who got A's and high B's in chemistry and weren't necessary at the same level in honours maths.

They're both tough subjects regardless and require a strong work ethic from 5th year in order to get a good grade at the end. Certainly not something you can cram for!

Str96

norabattie wrote: »

My son has to make his choice by next week. Science would be one of his weakest subjects but he knows that to get into college
the majority of them require I science and 3 languages.
People have told him that Biology is the easier of the 3 to study so I think he may pick that.
He still has no idea what he wants to do with his life ( bar maybe joining An Garda Siochana) but that's
not a guarantee in these days with so many people applying etc so he has to be realistic.

I think it quite unfair as he hasn't even sat his JC yet that they are making them pick, and not letting them see how well they
did in their exams but his school has a 3 year LC programme so choices need to be in asap.

Given what you've said, I would recommend biology. It is quite approachable and easy to comprehend. However the course is gigantic and is very wordy based. A student with a weaker aptitude for science can still secure a top grade in biology if they put in the hours of study. There's very little understanding required, it's simply the volume of material that has to be learned. By the same token I'm not trying to say biology is necessarily 'easier' to get an A1 in as regards work required compared with physics or chemistry but the concepts may be easier to grasp.

I only took up biology in 6th year and got an A1. I wouldn't have been able to achieve the same grade if I had taken up chemistry or physics in September of 6th year

Troxck

norabattie wrote: »

My son has to make his choice by next week. Science would be one of his weakest subjects but he knows that to get into college
the majority of them require I science and 3 languages.
People have told him that Biology is the easier of the 3 to study so I think he may pick that.
He still has no idea what he wants to do with his life ( bar maybe joining An Garda Siochana) but that's
not a guarantee in these days with so many people applying etc so he has to be realistic.

I think it quite unfair as he hasn't even sat his JC yet that they are making them pick, and not letting them see how well they
did in their exams but his school has a 3 year LC programme so choices need to be in asap.

There is little to no correlation between JC and LC results. I scraped Cs at HL Science and Maths for the JC but will be looking for an A1 in Physics and a C1 in Maths both at HL for the LC. It's all down to motivation and work ethic.

As for three Sciences, Biology is very simple. It is just rote learning. If he is handy at Maths, Physics will be fine. I wouldn't recommend Chemistry for someone who is picking a Science just to have one, it requires a lot of understanding and dedication.

Make sure your son picks subjects he likes or he'll end up like me dreading going to certain classes, which in turn makes studying for said subjects a nightmare!

prettygurrly

Best advice there ^^^^^...choose something you like. At the end of the day...a great Leaving Cert with less than popular subjects is better than a mediocre or poor Leaving Cert with the popular subjects such as a science in there. If he's not strong in science then why would he study science at 3rd level?

Mahmoudsaid_1

Chemistry is definetely doable

bjork

Biology is the easiest because it it rote learning

Chemistry is not impossible. If you're any good at balancing equations you're half way there.


Are you accurate and precise?
Are you good at manipulating formula?
Can you follow recipes?
Are you good at predicting outcomes?
Are you interested in how materials behave and why? > and willing to learn the core principles.
Are you good at extracting information from tables and determining if it is useful or not?
Are you a logical thinker?