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Guidance & Counselling
Transition Year Career Guidance, 2010
Choosing Senior Cycle Subjects
Students usually study seven subjects for Leaving Certificate. English, Irish and maths are obligatory, except those who have a valid exemption from Irish. Students in Pobalscoil Neasain choose their four optional subjects from the list below.
Art
Home Economics
Geography
Engineering
Construction Studies
Business
Design and Communications Graphics
Economics
Biology
Accountancy
Physics
French
Chemistry
German
History
Making the Decision
Do
Take into account your own abilities and choose subjects for which you have an aptitude. Being good at something makes studying easier and allows you to achieve better grades.
Choose things you like. Doing well at a Leaving Certificate subject requires a considerable input of time, in class and at home. If you don’t like one of your subjects, no matter how useful, giving it this time will be very hard.
Be aware of the subject requirements for any career or college course you might be interested in. However remember that with a few exceptions ( such as a science subject for medical / science careers ) it is not necessary to have studied a subject at school to do it in college. For example you can become an accountant without studying accountancy or an engineer without doing engineering.
Get information from friends, older brothers and sisters etc about what subjects are like in senior cycle. But remember you have your own individual likes and dislikes and what suits them may not suit you. Take a look at their textbooks and ask yourself how interesting you find the topics.
Take into account Junior Cert grades and levels, DAT results, your career interest inventory quiz and your own way of learning.
Talk to teachers of the subjects. They will be speaking to classes and assemblies to inform you about their subjects at senior cycle but will also be glad to see individual students and answer their questions.
Don’t
Pick a subject because your friend is doing it.
Focus on the subjects suited to one career only. You may change your mind completely in the next two years !
Panic because you don’t know what you to be. Most transition year students have not decided on a career. Focus on choosing subjects at which you will do well and which leave the widest range of courses and careers open to you.
Still not sure ?
To keep the widest range of options open it is a good idea to choose a language and a science subject. This keeps most colleges and courses available to you.
5th Years
It obviously makes sense to get as much college information as possible together this year before the pressures of sixth year kick in. With that in mind UCD and NUI Maynooth both have events coming up which may kick start the process for you.
The UCD UniLife Summer School takes place between the 8 and 11 of June, on campus. The cost is 25 euro for one day and 50 euro for those subjects having two days of lectures.
Architecture 8 of June
Science 8 and 9 of June
History 9 of June
Law 9 of June
Engineering 9 and 10 of June
Business 10 of June
Computer Science 10 and 11of June
Application form and further information available from
NUIM University Days : Saturday 24 April
Saturday 26 June (programme to be decided)
NUI Maynooth’s university days provide sample lectures, tours, advice for prospective students, a talk for parents, application information for mature students etc. Further information on www.nuim.ie