For my leaving cert-which I'll be doing in 2012 I think!?

Question

I know I'm planning ahead but I need to make all my leaving cert choices by 3rd year and I'm doing 7 normal subjects for my leaving that my school teaches but I want to do one more, that is polish, I know my school doesn't teach it but I could get night classes, grinds etc. has anyone ever done this? This would bring me up a lot of points... Is polish hard?

Answer 1

Well for your leaving cert the points are decided by your six best subjects.

So think what you worst two are now, and think: Will I be better at Polish after four years?

The leaving cert is a LOT harder than the Junior Cert (in which I got 4 As without a bit of study) you have about triple the work in each subject, personally I think 7 subjects is enough, but there are people who have done 8 and even 9, and gotten A1s in all of them, so it depends on you and how much you're willing to work and how good you are at languages.

Also remember the Polish paper you get will be aimed at people who have spent 6 years studying it every day in school.

Polish is a Slavic language and not very similar to English, I haven't studied it though so I can't tell you much, Wikipedia has good pages on languages if you type in "Polish Language"

I think it's a great idea, if you're a very hard worker and very self motivated.

Google "Learner Autonomy" and you might find some great tips on ways of learning the four skills language by yourself.

You could always try it, and give up if the workload is too much, it won't have been a waste of time as you can take up Polish again after leaving school.

Answer 2

I don't understand how it will bring you up a lot of points.  

Even though we do 7 subjects for the Leaving Cert, they only use the 6 best results to calculate your points for University placement - in theory you could focus on 6 subjects and neglect the 7th but I wouldn't recommend that.  

Towards the end of 3rd Year (or transition year) you should be asked to pick your subjects so they can start to work out the time table for the following academic year when you go into 5th Year.  If you're going to do an eighth subject rather then start from scratch with something completely new, it might be an idea to pick a subject you've done up to Junior Cert but are planning on giving up for the Leaving.  

If you were to do Polish outside of school, you could use a combination of language tapes such as Linguaphone or the Rosetta Stone and grinds, preferably with someone who is familiar with Leaving Cert format and can tutor you not only to speak the language confidently but get you through the formal written exam.  

Answer 3

For my Junior (I'm goin in2 2nd year) I'm doing music outside of school. If you play any instrument, I would advise you do music. Its the easiest subject to get an A in.

And don't do Home Ec, its really hard for the Leaving. Its like EVERYTHING.

Answer 4

Great idea and its not as hard as other languages out there.

Answer 5

Hi Karen, look at my answer to your other question.

According to Dept of Education (and EU) regulations, you can't do Polish (or any of the non-curricular European languages) unless you are a native speaker of that language.

They are solely on offer because non-native English speakers are at a disadvantage in the LC English exam and usually don't take Irish, so they are short a subject. It also allows them to apply for university in their native country.

Anyway, the Slavic languages are very difficult, much more difficult than German or French, so you would have a hard time getting to LC level in only 2 years.

If you really want to, I think it is possible to take the Russian exam as a native Irish student, but again its quite hard, even the alphabet has to be learned from scratch.