LC Subject Choices

lcatoliver

I'm in Transition Year at the moment and I'll have to make my subject choices for the Leaving Cert in a couple of months but I'm looking for advice on subject choices. I'm 100% decided on doing Biology and Physics but for my other two choices I'm on the fence. For my language, I absolutely hate French, I have done it for three years now and I can barely speak a sentence and I just don't like the way it sounds either. I have the option to start Japanese as a subject next year and I love watching anime and really like how Japanese sounds. I suppose I'd be happier doing Japanese but will I be at a disadvantage in life by not doing French. I also know that colleges require you do a modern language for your Leaving Cert so would 2 years of Japanese apply for that? Which language should I go with? For my last choice it's either between Music or History. I do relatively well in both subjects so I'm just wondering what the courses are like for each subject, which one is more interesting and which is more difficult? Thanks anyone who offers some help!

Nyctolust

Best to do something you enjoy, honestly. At one of the college talks in my school a couple of weeks ago (it was either from Maynooth or NUIG, can't remember) they were saying French isn't actually quite as useful as people make it out to be, and if you hate it so much and struggle to get your head around it as it is, chances are it's not going to work out well for you in Leaving Cert unless you're willing to put in a lot of work to turn things around for yourself. If you enjoy Japanese in general a lot more then give that a go, I believe it should count as a modern language in college as well. As for your Music/History option I don't do either so I can't help with that, sorry!

mtoutlemonde

Nyctolust wrote: »

Best to do something you enjoy, honestly. At one of the college talks in my school a couple of weeks ago (it was either from Maynooth or NUIG, can't remember) they were saying French isn't actually quite as useful as people make it out to be, and if you hate it so much and struggle to get your head around it as it is, chances are it's not going to work out well for you in Leaving Cert unless you're willing to put in a lot of work to turn things around for yourself. If you enjoy Japanese in general a lot more then give that a go, I believe it should count as a modern language in college as well. As for your Music/History option I don't do either so I can't help with that, sorry!

I can't believe any speaker from either of those universities would state that considering they both require a language for matriculation so I think you may have misunderstood.

Nyctolust

mtoutlemonde wrote: »

I can't believe any speaker from either of those universities would state that considering they both require a language for matriculation so I think you may have misunderstood.

No, I heard perfectly fine. They were talking about how they do require a second language for most courses but that it doesn't just have to be one like French as it's not as important as students make it out to be.

mtoutlemonde

lcatoliver wrote: »

I'm in Transition Year at the moment and I'll have to make my subject choices for the Leaving Cert in a couple of months but I'm looking for advice on subject choices. I'm 100% decided on doing Biology and Physics but for my other two choices I'm on the fence. For my language, I absolutely hate French, I have done it for three years now and I can barely speak a sentence and I just don't like the way it sounds either. I have the option to start Japanese as a subject next year and I love watching anime and really like how Japanese sounds. I suppose I'd be happier doing Japanese but will I be at a disadvantage in life by not doing French. I also know that colleges require you do a modern language for your Leaving Cert so would 2 years of Japanese apply for that? Which language should I go with? For my last choice it's either between Music or History. I do relatively well in both subjects so I'm just wondering what the courses are like for each subject, which one is more interesting and which is more difficult? Thanks anyone who offers some help!

I think you should stick with French. You may have studied Japanese during TY and liked it but consider the following before giving up French.

Who is going to teach you Japanese from nearly the beginning to a level that can pass a LCert paper?

Who is going to advise you where to improve/correct your work?

How will you practice to improve fluency? One/two times a week will not make you fluent enough for a lcert exam.

If you did HL Junior cert, you have a good foundation of the language and some parts of the exam are the same ie the first two comprehensions, the written and the listening is not much more difficult.

Have a chat to your French teacher / career guidance counsellor before making any decisions.

mtoutlemonde

Nyctolust wrote: »

No, I heard perfectly fine. They were talking about how they do require a second language for most courses but that it doesn't just have to be one like French as it's not as important as students make it out to be.

Yes German/Spanish etc. They didn't say French wasn't important or if they did - tell me what university it was and I will contact them as to why they are saying such things to lcert students. Having studied in one and knowing about the others reputation, I still don't think they said French wasn't important.

endacl

Read the following carefully, OP:

Your subject choices for Leaving Cert will not affect your success at third level, your career choice, or your job prospects going forward one, little, bit.

Repeat the above as many times as necessary. Take subjects you like and that you feel you can do well in. If you need, for example, physics in college but don't do it for LC? Not a problem. They'll teach you that in college. And a couple of months in, they'll have gone way beyond the introductory course that the LC is. Same for every subject.

mtoutlemonde

endacl wrote: »

Read the following carefully, OP:

Your subject choices for Leaving Cert will not affect your success at third level, your career choice, or your job prospects going forward one, little, bit.

Repeat the above as many times as necessary. Take subjects you like and that you feel you can do well in. If you need, for example, physics in college but don't do it for LC? Not a problem. They'll teach you that in college. And a couple of months in, they'll have gone way beyond the introductory course that the LC is. Same for every subject.

Not correct. Your subject choices at leaving cert WILL affect your further studies. I will give several examples - studying a language 'some' courses do not require the study of a modern foreign language - ok at 17 you may want to do a course that requires a foreign language but you want to at 27 and you now have a problem. Take subject levels - you need HL or a B2 OL in maths to study engineering. You also see people who had no intention of becoming primary school teachers at 17/18 but they want to at 24/25 and have to resit HL Irish.

Universities/colleges are not there to teach you to Leaving cert - they require that as a foundation for them to build on. I have personal experience of this where I had to study Physics in my undergrad - and I had not studied in LCert - I struggled which resulted in me and many more that had not studied previously, having to repeat physics in the autumn.

So bear in mind when making your subject choices and levels that they fit your needs for further study. Best of luck.

Mr Rhode Island Red

To be honest less and less courses require a foreign language, just looking at NUIG as an example, they no longer require students to have a third language for Engineering, Nursing and almost all Science courses. If you're being offered the chance to do Japanese, and you would rather do Japanese, then do Japanese! On a side note, whereas the LC French exam is based on you having studied the language for about 5 years, the LC Japanese exam would be based on 2 years of study, so that's something to bear in mind.

Regarding Music and History...as far as I know Music has the highest rate of ABC grades of any leaving cert subject, around 95% or so get a C or better, however, A1s/H1s are rare enough to get, and from what I heard LC History is fairly political, and the exam is a bit of a speed-writing contest.

smiles_1998

Mr Rhode Island Red wrote: »

Regarding Music and History...as far as I know Music has the highest rate of ABC grades of any leaving cert subject, around 95% or so get a C or better, however, A1s/H1s are rare enough to get, and from what I heard LC History is fairly political, and the exam is a bit of a speed-writing contest.

I do both History and Music and this is so true!

Music may seem like a doss subject to some people but if you can't read music and/or don't have a reasonably good (Grade V is the standard I think) proficiency in your instrument then it'd going to be a two-year long nightmare. The Melody and Harmony composition questions require lots of practice, as do the listening questions just so you can keep the different Works straight in your head! If you have an interest in Music and a fairly good standard, you shouldn't have any problems with the course though.

It is VITAL that you have a passion for History if you're going to do it at Leaving Cert. The Later Modern course is the one most schools do and it's quite similar to third year History but A LOT more in-depth. Being able to write fast is also a huge advantage, as you have to write 3 (roughly) 5 page essays, answer a series of questions on a document and write another 2-page essay in under 3 hours! That being said, if you love the subject, studying it won't seem like such a chore as the course is really interesting!

Hope this helps you a bit!