should I take lc applied maths?

mynygma

I'm about to go into fifth year, and I did an applied maths module in TY where we covered tasters of the course, mostly ordinary level questions but a few higher as well. A lot of people dropped out within the first few months but I found it quite interesting, but more challenging than normal maths. ( I did well in the class tests, but I did sometimes struggle to understand the concept of things at first.)

Along with the holy trinity, my subjects are physics, chemistry, french, and art. Physics interests me a lot, and I'm in higher level maths and do well. Applied maths is taught as an extra subject in my school and there's a place for me in the class if I choose to do it, but I can't decide whether I should or not. I'm doing all higher level subjects, and ap maths would be higher level too. It's not that that worries me, I do get good marks and am generally a studious person, but I'm afraid taking it won't be worth it. What if it ends up just dragging me down? I don't want to spread myself too thin with 8 subjects, and I'm confident enough that if I get stuck in and work hard I can get the points I want in the lc without an 8th subject.

Basically I'm asking if it's worth my time to do applied maths as an 8th. Is it easy/good to study along with maths and physics, and would it help me in those subjects at all? Would I be putting myself under too much pressure by taking it?, could I be putting that study time to better use?

I'm a bit worried that I'll find higher level ap maths too time consuming/hard to get my head around, and it'll end up dragging me down on my other subjects. I do need good results in the lc, I really want to get into trinity and at the moment I'm thinking about the physics course there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I go back to school in two weeks, thanks!!

Account Number

Speaking as someone who only took it up this year, I'd say go for it. If you do well in honours Maths, you clearly have a good head for numbers, and you even said yourself that you quite enjoy it, so studying it won't be as much of a burden as something that you don't like. With regards to the being spread thin with 8 subjects, again, I was in the same boat as you, but if you do Physics, Applied Maths and honours Maths, there will be a small overlap of content/method of thinking that oh-so-slightly minimises the workload. It also is quite easy to do well in (assuming you're good at Maths, which you seem to be), as I myself got a H3 with the years work, and the H1 rate is also amongst the highest. I'd say take your chances with it, and if worst comes to worst, you could drop to Ordinary and still have seven Honours subjects to fall back on. Good luck making your decision!

evolving_doors

It looks like you are the perfect candidate to take the subject.
Hons Maths: Check
Do well in Hons Maths: Check
Physics: Check
Like physics: Check
Want to study Physics after Secondary: Check

The only issue I could see is spreading yourself thin with the 8 subjects. Maybe don't consider it as 'the 8th spare subject'. One of the other subjects mightn't turn out as do-able as you thought, and ApMaths will move up in the ranking.

The only thing you might find is competition between the subjects and being told you should be doing better in subject x and you need to study more at subject x and 8 subjects might be too much for you etc. This can cause a bit of stress and pressure, but keep your eye on the prize. Let your parents know your plan (as they can fight any potential gripes teachers might have and let you carry on with the study). That's an extreme situation though, most schools aren't like that. It might also be good to let your career guidance teacher know what you're thinking so that they can see you've given it a lot of thought and planning. And hey, the school is offering it so you're probably not the first student with the same concern.

keep in mind you'll probably not be allowed to drop any other subject along the way (except maybe Applied Maths), the school wouldn't want you sitting in a class of a subject you dropped out of (or going to a room unsupervised), if this happens it creates an avalanche effect where other students decide to give up on their 7th subject and argue to be let drop out because you've set the precedent. If heard about other students who weren't allowed to give up a subject refuse to hand up any homework or participate in class and it caused no end of grief and disciplinary consequences. Just play the game and keep your head down. Then again the school might be ok with you going to the library on your own but if anything happened you they would be in deep trouble.

There's a good few sites out there with helpful notes like this one http://www.thephysicsteacher.ie/index.html

There is a thread for AM in this forum that's being going for years https://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056614769

mynygma

Thanks for the reply! It's true I won't be able to drop any of the subjects I've chosen once term starts, or it'd be difficult at the very least, but I'm pretty sure applied maths escapes that rule in my school since it's taught as an extra subject, so I'm pretty sure the classes take place when the rest of the year are doing something like sphe or religion, so it wouldn't disrupt the timetable.

Your comment was very helpful, but I'm still conflicted as to whether or not it would be worth it to pick it up as an 8th? Do you think I should go for it or concentrate on the 7 subjects at hand? I keep going back and forth between decisions, I really don't want to stress myself out early on and miss the stage of laying 5th year groundwork to lighten the load a little in 6th. I'm worried it'll be too much of a hassle.

spurious

It might be being taught as an extra subject, but I hope the teacher isn't doing the classes for free.

The school may have engaged someone on a contract, in which case, it may not be possible to give up. Are you paying for the extra class? How is it being funded?

evolving_doors

I'd be surprised if people taking AM are allowed to drop out of religion or SPHE. In a few schools it's done after school

Here's this year's stats. Applied Maths has the most H1/H2 combined (Leaving aside the niche languages!!).. actually 55% of students who took it got a H3 or higher. Music could be a good option too if you're that way inclined, the H1's are scarce though.


Applied Maths.JPG


Also, read the last few comments of the applied maths thread below this one.

mynygma

spurious wrote: »

It might be being taught as an extra subject, but I hope the teacher isn't doing the classes for free.

The school may have engaged someone on a contract, in which case, it may not be possible to give up. Are you paying for the extra class? How is it being funded?

It's included as part of the lc curriculum, you can choose it as a subject but only as an in-school 8th. It's taught by the maths teacher who teaches the top higher level maths class, incidentally my teacher, and another maths teacher in the school.

I'm pretty sure it's included in their normal paycheck, since they do t during school hours and my teacher is definitely not the type to do a class for free lol. So no, we don't pay for the classes but they are reliable and taught by the school's teachers

mynygma

evolving_doors wrote: »

I'd be surprised if people taking AM are allowed to drop out of religion or SPHE. In a few schools it's done after school

Here's this year's stats. Applied Maths has the most H1/H2 combined (Leaving aside the niche languages!!).. actually 55% of students who took it got a H3 or higher. Music could be a good option too if you're that way inclined, the H1's are scarce though.


Applied Maths.JPG


Also, read the last few comments of the applied maths thread below this one.

The school finds a way to fit it into the timetable without having students drop other subjects haha. Possibly it rotates around non-exam classes like religion & sphe so that students don't miss too many classes of those. I'm not 100% sure how it works but I'll find out soon I guess.

The stats do look pretty good tbh- I think, (now I haven't told my parents yet or anything) but I think I might take it till christmas and see how it goes. If I do good in the exams, well then keeping it on won't hurt, and if I find it too difficult to balance study then nothing's stopping me from dropping it

mynygma

evolving_doors wrote: »

Music could be a good option too if you're that way inclined, the H1's are scarce though.

Also, read the last few comments of the applied maths thread below this one.

I actually could have taken music and be guaranteed a high mark, because I do piano [on grade 6] & music theory [about to start grade 7] , both past lc level, outside school. It's kind of frustrating since everyone keeps asking me why I didn't keep it on after the jc. Truth is I simply didn't have room for it in the 7 school subjects I'm doing: french, bc a lot of, colleges need a language, physics & chem since I'm probably gonna do a science degree in college and a lot of places need 2 sciences, and art bc I love drawing and I'm very good at it (I hate feeling like I'm bragging but that's what people say) so I couldn't not take it.

So yeah, I'd have to do music outside school probably once a week and I don't really like the idea of that. I'm probably being stupid about it but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. If I could do it in school as an 8th I'd be there in a flash but I'm here contemplating applied maths instead.

Also! I can't seem to find the thread you mentioned, do you have a link for it? Thanks so much