Please help me leaving cert physics

Finnawoke

I've gotten myself in quite a pickle.
I'm about to go into 5th year, and my subject choice is all over the place. I put down chemistry biology ap maths and German.
Stupid I know. Don't judge me.
To be fair, I was told I would get a chance to rearrange my subjects if ap maths were to run, which I did not get.
Now obviously it would be stupid to do ap maths without physics, so I thought I could do physics outside of school. I've started making notes and I've been understanding everything pretty well so far.
That's all well and good, but my heads been wrecked for another reason
Experiments.
I know they have to be done, but if I were to write the experiments up without actually having done them, would that be okay? Does the teacher have to sign off on them? Do inspectors come in to check?

Help me help me help me please

Tristan_

Physics is very doable by yourself if you have the motivation. I covered the entire course by myself in 4 months.

However, there's really no problem with doing Applied Maths sans Physics, just because they're usually taken together. The former requires no knowledge of the latter, they just complement each other nicely. I promise you taking Physics on additionally will be a lot more work than just doing Ap Maths without Physics

Finnawoke

Ok thanks, but were the experiments not a problem for you?
I know I can write up the experiments myself, but I'm worried that a teacher won't be able to sign off that I had actually done them in class.

And I've already started working on Physics, so I am definitely willing to put the effort in.

spurious

A teacher should not sign off on the experiments if they have no proof you did them.

However, Maynooth University for years ran experiment sessions in January for people in your situation. I don't know if they still do them, but no harm email and ask. Other institutions may offer them too.

Finnawoke

spurious wrote: »

A teacher should not sign off on the experiments if they have no proof you did them.

However, Maynooth University for years ran experiment sessions in January for people in your situation. I don't know if they still do them, but no harm email and ask. Other institutions may offer them too.

That's what I feared. It just doesn't make sense to do one without the other. I've gotten myself in a right mess. And those experiment sessions you were talking about, do those count as verification that I've done the experiments. And if I got a teacher from another school that I knew, would that count?

spurious

Yes those sessions would count. They would stamp or sign something there for you.

If you did the experiments under the supervision of the other teacher, yes, that would be OK.

mhiggy09

I am currently doing LC and do physics, our copies weren't checked and won't be. Are u sure that's a thing? It was in JC science but not in this. I think the only reason we do out experiments is just for our own knowledge and helping remember them for the exam.

ultraviolence

Finnawoke wrote: »

I've gotten myself in quite a pickle.
I'm about to go into 5th year, and my subject choice is all over the place. I put down chemistry biology ap maths and German.
Stupid I know. Don't judge me.
To be fair, I was told I would get a chance to rearrange my subjects if ap maths were to run, which I did not get.
Now obviously it would be stupid to do ap maths without physics, so I thought I could do physics outside of school. I've started making notes and I've been understanding everything pretty well so far.
That's all well and good, but my heads been wrecked for another reason
Experiments.
I know they have to be done, but if I were to write the experiments up without actually having done them, would that be okay? Does the teacher have to sign off on them? Do inspectors come in to check?

Help me help me help me please

Experiment books aren’t signed off for any lc science subjects. I do chem (by myself, I watch the experiments online) and bio and those experiment books don’t count towards anything. Its only to aid in your revision. Teachers dont sign them

spurious

When you are entering for the exam, they ask are you following a recognised course, or do they not do that anymore?

The school usually fills it out.

Finnawoke

you guys see now why I'm so confused,
No matter how hard I look, I just can't seem to find a conclusive answer.
But it seems like the mandatory part makes it all quite official.
All the websites I've looked at say that the experiments 'must be written up' and that they're part of the course.

I just don't know. My head's so wrecked.

spurious

Ask the Science teachers in your school. The experiments ARE part of the course, but they only do spot checks. This leads to some schools not bothering with them. IMO it is highly unprofessional of the teachers involved, but there you go, standards do seem to be dropping in all sorts of areas of life.

I don't know if you contacted Maynooth yet, but their courses used to be in January of the LC year, so there is no need to panic.

You could also contact the SEC and ask their advice.

Finnawoke

spurious wrote: »

Ask the Science teachers in your school. The experiments ARE part of the course, but they only do spot checks. This leads to some schools not bothering with them. IMO it is highly unprofessional of the teachers involved, but there you go, standards do seem to be dropping in all sorts of areas of life.

I don't know if you contacted Maynooth yet, but their courses used to be in January of the LC year, so there is no need to panic.

You could also contact the SEC and ask their advice.

I have tried contacting the SEC about my situation, and I plan to contact Maynooth. Thanks for all your help, you've really given me a much better idea of what to do, and what counts as having the experiments completed.

A97

I could be wrong about this, but it was my understanding that spot checks are performed, and you won't be permitted to do the exam or you won't be given a result if there is no evidence that experiments were completed following a check. I don't think that the checks are hugely common but you should definitely do the experiments.

We went to the Maynooth course for revision purposes. I found it to be pretty rushed and not that well supervised so from that perspective, try to have a good idea of things before going in. We pretty much only collected data, so the background and conclusions, as well as a write up were left to be done on our own. It's okay if you have no other choice, but it's not ideal. It's a long shot, but maybe you could ask a teacher in your school to do them with you the day that they cover it in their own class, but they aren't obligated to help you.

I'd personally be wary of doing 8 subjects from a time perspective but you might manage that better than me.

Corkgirl18

Teachers don't sign off on experiments being done. You should be fine.
I've heard rumours of spot checks being carried out but have never heard of any teacher actually experience it.
In most schools the experiment copies are taken home by the students to study with at exam time so I can't see when they could check them anyway.