Repeating the leaving cert - help?

kelliegrant

I just did the leaving cert and unfortunately didn't pass honours maths so I've decided to repeat but I'm unsure about what to do subject wise. My guidance teacher has told me that I don't have to repeat Irish or English since I've already passed them so this means I'd need to take up two new subjects (but this would still only leave me with 6 as I'm dropping accounting).

I was thinking about taking up Economics and Physchem?

I've heard economics is lovely and it's very easy to get it done in a year and still do well in it, but I'm not really sure about Physchem, and if I didn't do that, is there any other subject that I could pick up and do in just one year? I know I could repeat English and Irish if I wanted to, but I'd prefer not to do Irish again as it was the only ordinary subject I was doing so I wasn't going to count it anyway and I'm afraid taking on a new English course as well as new subjects would be too much work.

TMJM96

kelliegrant wrote: »

I just did the leaving cert and unfortunately didn't pass honours maths so I've decided to repeat but I'm unsure about what to do subject wise. My guidance teacher has told me that I don't have to repeat Irish or English since I've already passed them so this means I'd need to take up two new subjects (but this would still only leave me with 6 as I'm dropping accounting).

I was thinking about taking up Economics and Physchem?

I've heard economics is lovely and it's very easy to get it done in a year and still do well in it, but I'm not really sure about Physchem, and if I didn't do that, is there any other subject that I could pick up and do in just one year? I know I could repeat English and Irish if I wanted to, but I'd prefer not to do Irish again as it was the only ordinary subject I was doing so I wasn't going to count it anyway and I'm afraid taking on a new English course as well as new subjects would be too much work.

Just wondering, why are you repeating your entire LC if you only failed Maths? Did you do okay point wise despite Maths?

People in my area usually just do a PLC and repeat Maths on the side to get into college. Is that an option for you?

I know nothing on Economics, sorry.

PhysChem is OL Physics and OL Chemistry put together into a HL subject. It'd be fairly manageable in a year. Just work consistently and you should do okay.

kelliegrant

TMJM96 wrote: »

Just wondering, why are you repeating your entire LC if you only failed Maths? Did you do okay point wise despite Maths?

People in my area usually just do a PLC and repeat Maths on the side to get into college. Is that an option for you?

I know nothing on Economics, sorry.

PhysChem is OL Physics and OL Chemistry put together into a HL subject. It'd be fairly manageable in a year. Just work consistently and you should do okay.

If I just repeated maths I still would be short of my points!

I looked into doing a plc but that only rewards you a certain amount of points which wouldn't be enough for my course, meaning I'd have to get into my course by going through arts which would take two years and I think I'd prefer to repeat, hopefully get my points and then get straight into my course!

Thank you for the help! I know that the teacher who teaches physchem in my school is very very good so hopefully that will make the work load even easier.

TMJM96

kelliegrant wrote: »

If I just repeated maths I still would be short of my points!

I looked into doing a plc but that only rewards you a certain amount of points which wouldn't be enough for my course, meaning I'd have to get into my course by going through arts which would take two years and I think I'd prefer to repeat, hopefully get my points and then get straight into my course!

Thank you for the help! I know that the teacher who teaches physchem in my school is very very good so hopefully that will make the work load even easier.

Oh okay, fair enough. My friend was in the same situation as you when he failed HL Maths last year. Went from 325 to 435 including a C1 in HL Maths and he accepted his first choice on Monday. It's hard work but it is worth it in the end. He dropped only Irish last year when repeating and used that empty study slot to study English. He was fine for Paper One and was able to use the same texts for his comparatives. Just needed new poets pretty much.

It will obviously be tough to do any subject in a year but you'll have a lot of motivation now and if the teacher is good then you should be fine.

I hope it all works out for you! Repeating is a tough situation but everyone I know who repeated ended up with what they wanted, just took a bit longer!

Bazinga_N

kelliegrant wrote: »

I just did the leaving cert and unfortunately didn't pass honours maths so I've decided to repeat but I'm unsure about what to do subject wise. My guidance teacher has told me that I don't have to repeat Irish or English since I've already passed them so this means I'd need to take up two new subjects (but this would still only leave me with 6 as I'm dropping accounting).

I was thinking about taking up Economics and Physchem?

I've heard economics is lovely and it's very easy to get it done in a year and still do well in it, but I'm not really sure about Physchem, and if I didn't do that, is there any other subject that I could pick up and do in just one year? I know I could repeat English and Irish if I wanted to, but I'd prefer not to do Irish again as it was the only ordinary subject I was doing so I wasn't going to count it anyway and I'm afraid taking on a new English course as well as new subjects would be too much work.

It depends on what subjects you did last year I suppose!
I'm repeating too and I'm dropping Physics and Chemistry (as separate subjects) and taking on PhysChem. I'm also considering taking on Economics just as a back-up subject, but haven't really decided yet.

I'd only take on PhysChem if you've had some experience with Physics and/or Chemistry beforehand otherwise it seems to be a long enough course in my opinion.

In terms of English that would depend on what single text/comparative texts/poets. I know this year I could keep on my comparatives and 3 of my poets, meaning I'd only have to do 2 new poets and a single text (which is probably doable in a year). It might be the same for you! Check the prescribed material for 2017 and see what the situation is (https://www.education.ie/en/Circulars-and-Forms/Active-Circulars/cl0007_2015.pdf). All the Paper One stuff would be the same.

I've heard great things about Economics! A friend of mine repeated her leaving cert this year and she took up Economics instead of Maths. She said it was such a handy subject and managed to get an A2 in it. Tbf she did put in the work for the A2 but I don't think she ever really stressed herself for it!

Outside of that you really need to let us know what your subjects are so we can see what kind of subjects you have more of an aptitude for.

kelliegrant

TMJM96 wrote: »

Oh okay, fair enough. My friend was in the same situation as you when he failed HL Maths last year. Went from 325 to 435 including a C1 in HL Maths and he accepted his first choice on Monday. It's hard work but it is worth it in the end. He dropped only Irish last year when repeating and used that empty study slot to study English. He was fine for Paper One and was able to use the same texts for his comparatives. Just needed new poets pretty much.

It will obviously be tough to do any subject in a year but you'll have a lot of motivation now and if the teacher is good then you should be fine.

I hope it all works out for you! Repeating is a tough situation but everyone I know who repeated ended up with what they wanted, just took a bit longer!

Fair play to your friend, that's amazing and gives me hope that I'll have a similar outcome this time next year!

I talked to my English teacher and he recommends that I don't repeat English this year as he thinks the word load will be too much so I think I'm not going to repeat it and at least then I'll have extra slots where I should have English and Irish to focus on my other subjects!

Thank you so much, I hope it works out too! And thank you for all your help, really appreciate it!

kelliegrant

Bazinga_N wrote: »

It depends on what subjects you did last year I suppose!
I'm repeating too and I'm dropping Physics and Chemistry (as separate subjects) and taking on PhysChem. I'm also considering taking on Economics just as a back-up subject, but haven't really decided yet.

I'd only take on PhysChem if you've had some experience with Physics and/or Chemistry beforehand otherwise it seems to be a long enough course in my opinion.

In terms of English that would depend on what single text/comparative texts/poets. I know this year I could keep on my comparatives and 3 of my poets, meaning I'd only have to do 2 new poets and a single text (which is probably doable in a year). It might be the same for you! Check the prescribed material for 2017 and see what the situation is. All the Paper One stuff would be the same.

I've heard great things about Economics! A friend of mine repeated her leaving cert this year and she took up Economics instead of Maths. She said it was such a handy subject and managed to get an A2 in it. Tbf she did put in the work for the A2 but I don't think she ever really stressed herself for it!

Outside of that you really need to let us know what your subjects are so we can see what kind of subjects you have more of an aptitude for.

Last year I did History, Biology, Accounting and French, but this year I'm dropping Accounting because I really really didn't like it last year and I'd prefer to put my energy into another subject that I will enjoy and will be capable of doing better in!

The only experience I'd have with Chemistry and Physics would be from doing Science in the junior cert, do you think that would be enough? The only other subject I could think of that I would consider taking up would be Religion, but they only run that in my school if enough people ask for it and this year it's not running which would mean I'd have to take it up myself or get a teacher outside of school, not sure if it'd be worth the hassle!

Regarding English, I emailed my teacher from last year and he said that he doesn't think I should because the course is very different to what we did last year and he thinks the work load would be too much!

Wow that's amazing, fair play to her!! I've heard great things about it too! When I was in fifth year Economics wasn't an option for us but they've now introduced it to the school so if I could have picked it when I was in fifth year I definitely would have instead of picking accounting!

Bazinga_N

kelliegrant wrote: »

Last year I did History, Biology, Accounting and French, but this year I'm dropping Accounting because I really really didn't like it last year and I'd prefer to put my energy into another subject that I will enjoy and will be capable of doing better in!

The only experience I'd have with Chemistry and Physics would be from doing Science in the junior cert, do you think that would be enough? The only other subject I could think of that I would consider taking up would be Religion, but they only run that in my school if enough people ask for it and this year it's not running which would mean I'd have to take it up myself or get a teacher outside of school, not sure if it'd be worth the hassle!

Regarding English, I emailed my teacher from last year and he said that he doesn't think I should because the course is very different to what we did last year and he thinks the work load would be too much!

Wow that's amazing, fair play to her!! I've heard great things about it too! When I was in fifth year Economics wasn't an option for us but they've now introduced it to the school so if I could have picked it when I was in fifth year I definitely would have instead of picking accounting!

Okay well tbh, if you were going into 5th year I'd say PhysChem would be ideal but I dunno how much of the course you'd get through in just the year. Is there a teacher in your school you could talk to about it? They'd know better! Or if there's an Ag Science teacher in your school maybe look into that as it would compliment your Biology course to some extent.

That's fair enough about English! It really would depend on your course load!

Yeah Religion and Economics could definitely be options to do on your own/with a teacher (although I think there's a project in Religion that you'd need a teacher to sign up for!). What about Business as another subject? It's very theory based and easy enough to get through! The only other one I could think of would maybe be Classical Studies (assuming it's something you'd be interested in). As far as I know, a good chunk of repeat students take CS up and manage to do okay after a year.

Whatever you decide really depends on what you're interested in, what you have an aptitude for and what your circumstances will be (on your own, in a class, grinds, etc.).