Subject choice help!

sryanbruen

Sorry about asking all these questions very early 'cause I haven't done my Junior Cert yet as I am in third year, I just like everything done and over with. Do you think this would be a good Leaving Cert course if I wanted to be a Meteorologist or Musician?

English (OL), Irish (HL), Maths (HL), Geography (HL), Music (HL), Physics (HL), Metalwork (might be, I'll decide when I move to the new school I will go to after JC so I don't know level yet).

spurious

Any reason why you're only doing OL English?
For writing essays etc. at college, HL would be much better.

sryanbruen

spurious wrote: »

Any reason why you're only doing OL English?
For writing essays etc. at college, HL would be much better.

I have a difficulty on English

spurious

sryanbruen wrote: »

I have a difficulty on English

Will you have the same difficulty writing essays in Geography and Music?
Are you getting a reasonable accommodation for it?

sryanbruen

spurious wrote: »

Will you have the same difficulty writing essays in Geography and Music?
Are you getting a reasonable accommodation for it?

Essays in Geography and Music??? I am confused.

Music is very easy for me. In second year this Summer, I got 96% in my exam. Geography I got 87%. English I got 72%.

cxxlin

sryanbruen wrote: »

Essays in Geography and Music??? I am confused.

Music is very easy for me. In second year this Summer, I got 96% in my exam. Geography I got 87%. English I got 72%.

You have to do essays for Irish Music in the exam and for Geography it's a heap of essays too, not including the project

spurious

Leaving Cert. subjects are not the same as at JC.

sryanbruen

Yeah I can make my own essays fine enough, it's just answering questions PQE standards I really find difficult. Like I wrote my own poems, compositions (English and Music), stories, books etc.

spurious

You will learn how to do it, I'm sure. Don't be worrying about it now anyway.

Acciaccatura

The Leaving Cert version of metalwork is called engineering, but how similar the subjects are, I'm not sure. Also, you don't have to worry about it now, OP, but try honours English first for a few weeks, at least, you might struggle with it, but remember that a C2 in honours level is better than an A1 in pass level. Spurious and cxxlin are right, Leaving Cert geography is full of essays, not at all like the Junior Cert, and there's a bit of essaywork in the music exam. Metalwork involves some kind of a project write-up, I think, and beyond Leaving cert, college is full of massive essays, no matter what course you're in.

sryanbruen

Acciaccatura wrote: »

The Leaving Cert version of metalwork is called engineering, but how similar the subjects are, I'm not sure. Also, you don't have to worry about it now, OP, but try honours English first for a few weeks, at least, you might struggle with it, but remember that a C2 in honours level is better than an A1 in pass level. Spurious and cxxlin are right, Leaving Cert geography is full of essays, not at all like the Junior Cert, and there's a bit of essaywork in the music exam. Metalwork involves some kind of a project write-up, I think, and beyond Leaving cert, college is full of massive essays, no matter what course you're in.

I did try honours English in first year, then the teachers dropped me to pass because of my mark (52%) in my test. I can't make my own essays on poems, short stories etc but I am good at remembering others such as those made by the teacher. I am great at personal writing, however, like I write songs literally every week. Yeah, the Metalwork teacher in the new school I am going to on the opening night two weeks ago said I can do Metalwork for Leaving Cert. It'd be hard to catch up but that will only take a few weeks of Fifth Year. I said "I don't care I've been wanting to do it since First Year and I'm gonna do it". The current school, I am in the right now doesn't do Woodwork, Metalwork, Technology OR Technical Graphics!

spurious

Not sure what your teachers thought was wrong with 52% in a HL test.
You should try as many subjects as possible at HL ofr JC. Not doing so badly restricts your choices at LC, especially if a school says you can't do HL LC without having done HL JC. It is effectively making career decisions for you in first year. Madness.

If you get an E in HL JC English, so what? You have studied some literature, you have been asked higher order questions, you have written more than a few sentences as answers. You are still far better prepared for HL at JC than someone who got an A in OL JC where there are lower order questions.

tl; dr; Do not drop to OL at JC.

sryanbruen

spurious wrote: »

Not sure what your teachers thought was wrong with 52% in a HL test.
You should try as many subjects as possible at HL ofr JC. Not doing so badly restricts your choices at LC, especially if a school says you can't do HL LC without having done HL JC. It is effectively making career decisions for you in first year. Madness.

If you get an E in HL JC English, so what? You have studied some literature, you have been asked higher order questions, you have written more than a few sentences as answers. You are still far better prepared for HL at JC than someone who got an A in OL JC where there are lower order questions.

tl; dr; Do not drop to OL at JC.

I will ask if I can go to the HL class but right now we're reading the novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry for the Drama section of the paper - so I'll continue doing that and then maybe move? Do you think I'm doing the right idea? We're on chapter 5. Should I wait 'til I finish it?

spurious

sryanbruen wrote: »

I will ask if I can go to the HL class but right now we're reading the novel Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry for the Drama section of the paper - so I'll continue doing that and then maybe move? Do you think I'm doing the right idea? We're on chapter 5. Should I wait 'til I finish it?

Can you use that novel to answer on the Higher Paper? If so, wait til you've done the novel.

sryanbruen

spurious wrote: »

Can you use that novel to answer on the Higher Paper? If so, wait til you've done the novel.

Yeah I'm allowed.

The HL class have done multiple novels and stories though compared to us so it doesn't really make a difference.

spurious

sryanbruen wrote: »

Yeah I'm allowed.

The HL class have done multiple novels and stories though compared to us so it doesn't really make a difference.

Just make sure you're not left short in regards to questions.

sryanbruen

spurious wrote: »

Just make sure you're not left short in regards to questions.

No worries. That is a very positive thing about me. I am a quick catcher upper. Like when I'm out, even for a long period. I catch up very fast!

sryanbruen

So on Tuesday coming, I have to choose my subject choices for LC. These are what I'm thinking of doing:

English, Maths, Irish, French, Geography, Music, Physics

Despite my meteorology interest, everybody is telling me to not do Physics as they think I won't be a meteorologist and instead do a Business subject like Economics or Business itself.

This is making it hard for me to make my final decision of my subjects for LC.

spurious

Follow what you are interested in. Do Physics.

Not having done a business subject will make no difference whatsoever, should you suddenly decide to enter a business course at college.

randylonghorn

sryanbruen wrote: »

Despite my meteorology interest, everybody is telling me to not do Physics as they think I won't be a meteorologist ....

Agree with above.

Whether you end up as a meteorologist or not isn't really the issue right now. If you're interested in meteorology and such, you will be interested in geography and physics. If you're interested in your subjects, you will be more inclined to put the work in and do well.

jeonahr

sryanbruen wrote: »

So on Tuesday coming, I have to choose my subject choices for LC. These are what I'm thinking of doing:

English, Maths, Irish, French, Geography, Music, Physics

Despite my meteorology interest, everybody is telling me to not do Physics as they think I won't be a meteorologist and instead do a Business subject like Economics or Business itself.

This is making it hard for me to make my final decision of my subjects for LC.

I would advise to choose what you personally want and not to choose a subject because others are telling you to.
Personally I can see more advantages in choosing physics over business or economics. Having at least one science subject is needed for most of the science/health care courses. So if you don't have at least one science subject you immediately disqualify yourself from the many courses that require it. Also very few courses require business, economics or accounting. From what I remember from checking careers portal only one or two courses required one of the business subjects.

I would say to weigh the pros and cons for both if you personally don't know what to choose but don't choose something because someone told you it's better than the other.

riffmongous

What's leaving cert geography actually like? I thought it was more of a social science than a natural science subject. I wonder if for the op instead of business replacing physics it might be an idea to replace geography.

Will geography count as a science subject for university entry?

randylonghorn

riffmongous wrote: »

Will geography count as a science subject for university entry?

No, except in Trinity for certain courses.

endacl

spurious wrote: »

Will you have the same difficulty writing essays in Geography and Music?
Are you getting a reasonable accommodation for it?

No essay-length questions in LC music. A few longish paragraphs. Mostly sentences, single words, or box ticking. Yes. Box ticking....

As an aside, OP, LC music is a terrible syllabus. A very handy A or B('s worth of points) if you've half a clue and can perform reasonably well, but almost entirely useless as a basis for further study.

Edit: Just read what you posted about other people's opinions, OP. Ignore other people's opinions. As a teacher, and more particularly as a person with 26 years of life-after-leaving-cert experience, I'm going to let you on on a little secret...

... None of the subjects you study in secondary school matter unless they're a prerequisite for a specific course you want to study at third level. You won't miss out on anything, in any subject, at second level that can't and won't be caught up on in the first few months of college. Once you've caught up and moved on you'll see exactly what I mean. Do the subjects you're interested in and feel strongest at.

sryanbruen

I've always had an interest in geography since I was like 6 so it's only natural for me to do it. And yes, I'm aware of the terrible Music syllabus. I study Music outside of school and learn Piano, I hardly learn anything music theory related in school as a result. I'm choosing Music because I have an interest in it and also as filler.

randylonghorn wrote: »

No, except in Trinity for certain courses.

And though I'm certainly doing Geography, I just thought I'd mention in response to this post, Trinity is where I'm aiming to go to after secondary.



According to the surveys answered by all Transition Years (including myself) for LC subjects have made the voice principal come up with sample timetables that follow subjects in this order that we can choose from. We have to pick one from each line:

French, Physics, Geography, Art
Spanish, History, Biology, Business
Music, Geography, Physics
Art, Biology, History

Not enough boys chose Chemistry, Accounting and Economics to be options by the way.

The problem I have faced with here is that I cannot pick any subject from line 4 (Art, Biology, History).

I cannot choose these subjects for these reasons:

1. Art

- Did not do for JC
- Art involves History which I despise
- I find Art absolutely frustrating

2. Biology

- When we did our Interest Profilers on Careersportal, my best voted category for career is Creativity. I cannot remember the score but I do remember my score for Nature which came out as -5 :pac:.
- I am very bad at learning vocabulary
- I have zero interest in Science (except Meteorology Science)

3. History

- I've never liked History ever since I was born, I've always wanted to get rid of it but I was forced to do it in primary and Junior Cert
- Absolutely USELESS to me
- Too stressful and possibly is the most stressful subject for me 'cause I have no interest whatsoever

My Career Guidance teacher told me to go ask my resource teacher, whom is the head of the ASD Unit in my school (the biggest ASD Unit in Ireland would you believe) and you could have guessed already, I have ASD :P, to go and get a resource class of French for me or some way to study Physics also. I chose Geography, Music and Business btw out of the other three lines. I chose Business because I don't mind doing it even though it's not of any importance to my careers or interests.

Sorry if I'm rambling on a bit here . Should I ask my resource teacher for a solution to this?

endacl

Pick your favourite from each list individually. If you end up with a 'double', pick your second favourite from each of those two lists. Choose your preference of the seconds.

Process of elimination.

sryanbruen

endacl wrote: »

Pick your favourite from each list individually. If you end up with a 'double', pick your second favourite from each of those two lists. Choose your preference of the seconds.

Process of elimination.

But there is no favourite from line 4 or list 4, I hate them all for the reasons mentioned above.

VG31

Would you consider doing a subject outside of school and not doing anything for the last option? Economics is quite doable by yourself.

To be honest they are very limited choices in your school. I would have thought French and Spanish would be in the same time period.

endacl

sryanbruen wrote: »

But there is no favourite from line 4 or list 4, I hate them all for the reasons mentioned above.

Subject offers are based on consensus. The process can't be individuated. Pick the subjects you dislike the least or feel you can do best in.

sryanbruen

VG31 wrote: »

Would you consider doing a subject outside of school and not doing anything for the last option? Economics is quite doable by yourself.

To be honest they are very limited choices in your school. I would have thought French and Spanish would be in the same time period.

I have but my teachers aren't in support of me doing so. They think it'd be absolutely stupid and ridiculous if I did a subject outside of school. I don't know why.... my school is an absolute disaster in all aspects anyway, I'm not surprised that they'd say that. How would I study a subject outside of school btw? Would I simply teach myself from reading the book and then in 6th year buy the exam papers for myself?

I know right.... I absolutely despise how limited the subjects are in my school. No Technology, no Technical Graphics, no Home Economics, no Woodwork, no Metalwork. I really wanted to do Technical Graphics for JC and LC . I thought the same as well, it's very weird how French and Spanish are not on at the same time. That could be 'cause the French teacher who taught me for JC French does not do LC French but the teacher who teaches Spanish also teaches French for both cycles. That could be the reason why they're on at different periods.

I was told today by my resource teacher to not worry about the subjects as they will keep chopping and changing 'til September. And if it ends up as I will have to do a subject I don't want to, tough that's life, get on with it. I was not happy at all with this response and my family are not either. They say to me that I will definitely not be a subject I don't want to do. My life is just so depressing and stressful right now.

spurious

The cutbacks affect schools in all sorts of ways, including subject availability and choice.

For all your school Principal knows, some of the staff might be gone in Sept., due to cutbacks, or getting a job with more hours elsewhere. Wait and see what way the subjects end up when you come back. It could be very different to what is there now.

smartboyz

i was just wondering do you need a third language like french or german to do biomedical science or medicine in trinity or ucd. thanks

VG31

smartboyz wrote: »

i was just wondering do you need a third language like french or german to do biomedical science or medicine in trinity or ucd. thanks

One of Trinity's minimum entry requirements is a "pass in a language other than English". So a pass in Irish is adequate. You don't need a third language unless your course has a requirement for it.

Of course there are minimum grades needed in science/maths for medicine and science courses.

smartboyz

i dont do irish so does that mean i have to do french to do medicine

VG31

Do you have an exemption? The college websites will have information for people with Irish exemptions.

I don't know what the UCD requirements are. They might need a third language.

smartboyz

yes i have an exempyion. ive had it since first year. so what does that do. also since i do not do irish does thtat mean i will have to choose one extra subject in place for irish???

sryanbruen

smartboyz wrote: »

yes i have an exempyion. ive had it since first year. so what does that do. also since i do not do irish does thtat mean i will have to choose one extra subject in place for irish???

Everything that would require Irish does not matter to you, you get away with not doing Irish.

smartboyz

sryanbruen wrote: »

Everything that would require Irish does not matter to you, you get away with not doing Irish.

but will i have to take up another subject because if i dont thats a 100 points gone

sryanbruen

smartboyz wrote: »

but will i have to take up another subject because if i dont thats a 100 points gone

I think so yes. I'm not 100% sure so take what I say here with a pinch of salt.

smartboyz

sryanbruen wrote: »

I think so yes. I'm not 100% sure so take what I say here with a pinch of salt.

all right thanks a lot

VG31

smartboyz wrote: »

but will i have to take up another subject because if i dont thats a 100 points gone

You're fine as long as you are doing at least six subjects. Seven is probably advisable though.

jeonahr

smartboyz wrote: »

i was just wondering do you need a third language like french or german to do biomedical science or medicine in trinity or ucd. thanks

For the two courses you mentioned above in UCD you need a third language other than Irish and and English.
Unless you're exempt from Irish then you can just cross that off your minimum entry requirements. Also make sure you've got an NUI exemption if you're thinking of going to UCD or any of the colleges/universities under NUI.

smartboyz

jeonahr wrote: »

For the two courses you mentioned above in UCD you need a third language other than Irish and and English.
Unless you're exempt from Irish then you can just cross that off your minimum entry requirements. Also make sure you've got an NUI exemption if you're thinking of going to UCD or any of the colleges/universities under NUI.

im still confused. i am exempt from irish so does that mean i HAVE TO do french or not to get thoese courses in UCD. plus whats an NUI exemption

jeonahr

smartboyz wrote: »

im still confused. i am exempt from irish so does that mean i HAVE TO do french or not to get thoese courses in UCD. plus whats an NUI exemption

Your exemption is just for Irish. You'd still have to do a third language if you want to go to UCD or any other college under NUI. For colleges under NUI they only recognise exemptions from Irish if you apply for an exemption from NUI.

spurious

If you are exempt from Irish on the grounds of dyslexia, or dyspraxia or something like that, you may also have an exemption for other 'foreign' languages. Ask your Special Ed. Dept.. They will know.

smartboyz

which one would you guys say its easier to get more points in geography or construction studies(woodwork). i got a B in both during junior cert

jeonahr

smartboyz wrote: »

which one would you guys say its easier to get more points in geography or construction studies(woodwork). i got a B in both during junior cert

In 2012, 3.5% of students got an A1 and 5% got an A2 in geography.
In that same year, 2.5% of students got an A1 in construction studies and 5.6% got an A2.
It really is up to the individual so I would take these statistics with a pinch of salt. If I were you I would talk to your teachers who teach those subjects at Leaving Cert and ask them what the course is like and what it involves and do some research on the work required.

spurious

smartboyz wrote: »

which one would you guys say its easier to get more points in geography or construction studies(woodwork). i got a B in both during junior cert

Unless you're a fan of essay questions, I'd say Construction Studies.
Only 50% goes for the written exam at HL, the other 50% on the Practical exam and coursework, which if you have an interest in it, will not be as taxing as the FS in Geography.