Leaving Cert

Leaving Cert Subjects

Guide to Leaving Cert Subjects

Subject Choice for LC

Towards the end of Third Year (or Transition Year if you are taking it), students will be asked to choose which subjects they would like to study for their Leaving Cert.

First you must consider which Leaving Cert programme you will take. This will depend largely on what is offered in your school. Explore The Three Leaving Certs here.

There are usually more subject options available for Leaving Cert than Junior Cycle, which means you can focus your studies more on the areas you are interested in.

Your choice of subjects in the Leaving Cert may effect what courses or employment options are available to you after you leave school, so it is important to take the time to choose carefully.

Find out all you need to know about each subject here. 

Use the Menu on this page to explore all your options.

Nicola O'Higgins, Fishmonger

What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?

I left school before my Leaving Certificate,  which I would not advise. I worked hard at everything I did and constantly tried to up my game.

I would advise to never take no for an answer, to get your foot in the door and work your way to where you want to go. My son is now twenty and is in college and he got great advice from career guidance in school.

Ask me another question!
Maria O'Neill, Civil Engineer

What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?

In hindsight, I am happy to say I wouldn't have done anything differently to date! In my Junior Cert I did 9 subjects ; Maths, Irish, English, History, Geography, Science, Business Studies, French and Tech Graphics. I liked Languages and history the least. I won't lie, Maths, Geography, and Tech Graphics were the ones I enjoyed the most.

When I was choosing for my leaving Cert I still hadn't decided what I would do when I was finished. I was thinking of Engineering, Teaching or Physiotherapy. I wanted to leave my options open. To do physio you need a language (to get in to UCD) and 2 science subjects. I decided to do Maths, Irish, English, French, Geography, Physics and Chemistry for my leaving. That left all the options open.

I was good at Business Studies, but after looking at courses in college, I discovered you don't usually need a business subject to get into a business course. This is not the case for Science based courses. In 6th year I took up Applied Maths. Since I was doing Physics and Maths I had a good background for the subject. Twenty classes and just homework, and I got an honour. If anyone was to ask me if they should do it, if you like maths, its a great subject!

Ask me another question!
Nicole McGuire, Freelance Tour Guide

What subjects did you take in school and how have these influenced your career path?

In secondary school when it came to choosing subjects, I was fully convinced I'd be a nutritionist or a herbalist. I picked Chemistry, Biology, Home Economics and French. I loved all the subjects but I was very studious. When I look back I wish I didn't put so much pressure on myself and at the end of the day I've realised I should have picked subjects that I enjoyed thay would allow me to get the most points for e.g I was very good at art. The college system in Ireland is point based. I picked a science course originally (dropped out) and I realised the first year of college is getting everyone up to scratch so we all do chemistry, physics and biology so we are on the same page for 2nd year. Therefore there was no need to do all that heavy material for my leaving cert I could have afforded to pick a more light hearted topic.

I took a year out and I found that important to get some money under my belt for college to be comfortable also it allowed me to mature that bit more. I picked a college that would have had lectures max like 60 people I knew I wasn't a person that would be able to attend lectures with 100's of people.

Also there is so many back roads to where you want to go. When I got to first year there were people there who did PLC's to get into it. I just wish I didn't put so much stress on myself and enjoyed those years a little more.

Ask me another question!
Close
Close

Searching for...