Leaving Cert Subjects-History vs Home Ec

lauracx

I just got my form for LC subjects for this September. I originally had planned to pick Eng, Irish, Maths, Spanish, History, Biology & Home Ec. Unfortunately the lines didn't work out that way.
I have now picked Spanish on Line 1, Bio on Line 2, and possibly Geog on Line 4( you can choose between a number of subjects on this line, my strongest would be Geog, Bus, LCVP. Leaning towards Geog)
On Line 3 I am not sure wither to pick History or Home Ec. Any advice? I have looked at exam papers & researched about both but I am still stuck. The only thing about History is the long ass essays- not too sure how I feel about that.
Any advice/help would be much appreciated!

Laurenom

I can't tell you about history as I didn't pick it but I do homec and it's one of my best subjects, 20% is the assignments in fifth year which are a pain , but then there done and over in fifth year so won't take up study time in Sixth year.
Most schools take the social studies elective and if you do it is literally common sense with a bit of learning!
The short questions Just require practise and then you'll fly with them, the section B big long question is the hardest and you'll need to know ur stuff there as questions come from all over the course but again it doesn't take too much learning and bullet points get you the marks unlike history where it has to be an essay!
I know I don't know about history at all but that's just what I think of homec!

IrishLoriii

History is honestly a great subject! Don't forget you do 20% of it before even sitting the exam by the research project! Personally I loved doing the research and its a very achievable 20%! Also History is a great choice subject for example on the American topic yuou get 4 essay titles and only have to do 1, on the irish topic again its 4 essays and you choose one and then theres the dictators and democracy which is generally always a question on hitler or Nazi Germany, Russia, Britain in the inter war years or fascist Italy and of course the document question which for 2015 anyway is treaty of negotiations, Belfast blitz or the Eucharistic congress. In my opinion in biology you have to learn lots of different subjects(body,the home etc) History is so easy to do well in

Sarah165

I don't do Home Ec, but I do History.
There is a lot, I mean a lot of work involved in history and I sometimes regret picking. You have to prepare to do and learn 5-8 page essay every week or two. I would only reccommed choosing it if you have a strong interest in the subject, the workload is huge. It is obviously doable and very interesting at times. With history you have 20% in your pocket before you even sit the exam also.

koolis02

I do home ec and its an okay subject. In my opinion its very hard to get an a1/a2 in home ec due to the journals. You have to write up 5 journals and each year they give you different briefs, for example one of them for 2016 is about muscle mass and another about the properties of sugar.They are so subjective and there is no set format or anything so teachers just make it up as they go, which can cause you to leave things out and lose marks. The journals take up so much of your time also and usually you have to cram a lot in leaving cert due to the time missed in 5th year. For example we've been doing them From Jan-April and we've done very little theory,they just take up so much time.
The course itself is okay, pretty boring at times. Its very broad - much of it is a continuation from junior cert, things like meat fish eggs and also stuff on fridges and cookers families marriage etc.

I dont do history but from my understanding its a very long course but probably more interesting than home ec and it seems like it would be definitely easier to score higher in the history RSR than in the home ec journals!

ColmL18

I do History and I wouldn't recommend it, really struggling with it at the moment. It's a very interesting course and I do enjoy reading about all the events but it's very difficult to study. The essays are a killer and you need to do a lot of practice. I feel that Home Ec., from what I've heard, is much more straightforward from a study point of view. Just be aware that there is a huge amount of written work in History and you have to be able to write essays very quickly.

Troxck

I don't do Home Ec and it's not offered in my school, so I cannot offer advice on that. I can offer advice with History. It's an incredibly interesting subject, but the subject that requires the most work out of my 7. I regret keeping it on, it is incredibly difficult to study for due to the vast amount of information required to be regurgitated on the day of the exam. Along with that, you must do a research project (worth 20%) which takes an awful long time to complete. In my class of 25, everyone wished they dropped it after the Junior Cert. Unless you enjoy learning rote notes and writing 6 page essays in 40 minutes, I would avoid it.

lauracx

Thanks guys for all the advice! I picked Biology, Spanish, Home Ec and Geography!