Agricultural Science

agriculture Science

what is Agriculture science?

Leaving Certificate agricultural science involves the study of the science and technology underlying the principles and practices of agriculture. It aims to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes that promote the sustainability of agricultural resources, and places emphasis on the managed use of these resources. Plants and animal types associated with agriculture are studied, and investigations are undertaken into such aspects as soil, ecology, plant and animal physiology, farm crops, farming practices, genetics and microbiology.

Course Structure

Assessment

ORDINARY LEVEL

The learning outcomes that are presented in normal type apply at Ordinary level. Students engage with a broad range of knowledge, mainly factual in nature, but with some elements of abstraction or theory. Students at Ordinary level will be expected to demonstrate and use a moderate range of practical and cognitive skills and tools, select from a range of procedures, and apply known solutions to problems in both familiar and unfamiliar contexts.

HIGHER LEVEL

All learning outcomes, including those in bold type, apply at Higher level. Students engage with a broad range of knowledge including theoretical concepts and abstract thinking with significant depth in some areas. Students at Higher level will be expected to demonstrate and use a broad range of specialised skills and tools to evaluate and use information, to plan and develop investigative strategies, and to determine solutions to varied, unfamiliar problems, and to identify and apply skills and knowledge in a wide variety of both familiar and unfamiliar contexts.

Resources

https://www.studyclix.ie/resources/leaving-certificate/agricultural-science

Ag Science Notes

Ag Science Notes 2

Mr. White Ag Science Notes

The Famers Journal

Sustainability tackled in new Leaving Cert ag science syllabus... check out this article in the Farmers Journal

Check out podcast farmland podcast below...

Latest from UCD School of Agriculture & Food Science

How can students obtain a H1 grade in Ag Science?

4.3% of Agricultural Science students secured a H1/A1 (worth 100 CAO points) in the 2017 Leaving Certificate examination; an exceptional grade that requires time, effort and determination, the key factors to success that That’s Farming Journalist Catherina Cunnane knows all too well.

The LC Agricultural Science paper is made up of a project worth 25% while the remaining 75% of marks can be picked up in the written paper. The majority of the content covered in the written paper and required in the project over-lap, so with good attention to detail and a study smart approach you can breeze through the course.

Check out the official That’s Farming guide on how to rise to the top in LC Ag Science below!

Practise exam questions.

It’s as simple and straight-forward as that; the only way that you can truly prepare yourself for the exam paper is by practising sets of previous questions; it goes without saying. While you are only required to answer six questions in your actual Leaving Certificate exam, it is important that you attempt the other sections/topics too when preparing yourself for the examination.
Quite often, the set questions may have a part B or C that can force students to ponder, which can throw some of the high-end students off. My advice is to attempt all nine questions when revising, so that you can openly answer the required six questions on the day, leaving yourself with the choice and of course do a seventh question if you have time once you have checked your initial questions thoroughly.

Focus on the set questions that appear on the paper annually.

Q1 – Short Questions (60 marks) – Answer any 6/10 parts.
Q2- Soil (48 marks)
Q4- Experiments. (48 marks)
Q7 – Genetics (48 marks)
Q9 – Scientific Explanations (48 marks)
My advice is to have at least three of these sections prepared to the highest degree, four if possible. Some students find that the experiments and scientific explanations questions can be hard to prepare for, but by covering topics in detail, you should have adequate information to attempt the questions in the exam.
My number one recommendation is to work towards earning top marks in the short questions – you cover reams of information over the course of the two-years, so you should go into the exam knowing that you've sixty marks in the bag.

Spend time on your project.

The project is the easiest 25% of the exam and by spending time researching your chosen farm, the 100 marks can be easily achieved, or close enough to the top mark.
It is important to seek feedback and recommendations from your Agricultural Science teacher. Ensure that you source as much original content as possible; do not plagiarise material from books, the internet, fellow students, ect. Showing that you gained hands-on practical experience is paramount, even if that does mean taking a ‘selfie’ while dosing weanlings or silage feeding. My project was jam-packed with information and detailed descriptions, with all the required sections, samples and collections of photos were featured throughout.

Follow the official Marking Schemes.

My advice to students after checking my own Leaving Certificate paper, is to focus on Buzz-words, keywords and terms, not paragraphs.
Birth weights, slaughter weights, Live-weight gain, kill-out results, feeding space, air-space...learn them all; pop them on a flash card! The marking schemes are very strict when it comes to these figures, with very narrow ranges. These figures are typical Q1 material or can be part of a long question.

Create a Word Bank.

It is important to learn the differences between similar terms that can cause confusion for many students. For example ‘refractometer’ and ‘ butyrometer’, ‘top dressing’ and ‘dressing’, ‘steaming-up’ and ‘ram effect’. Students can often get mixed up with the deficiency diseases associated with Magesium and Calcium.

Read the Chief Examiner’s Report.

The last Chief Examiner’s Report was published in 2015 and is available on the SEC’s website here.
You can learn from the mistakes of other students and while it is important to know what you should do, it is equally as important to know what NOT to do! You will find all of those recommendations in that publication.

Keep up-to-date with Agricultural and Rural Affairs.

Although some of the content on the course may be ‘out of date’ a claim made by the majority of teachers of the LC Agricultural Science course, it still is important to cast an eye on Agricultural and Rural Affairs stories.
In 2017, a question referencing the Beef Data and Genomics Programme appeared on the paper, which incorporated related terms on the course – important characteristics when selecting heifers for a suckler enterprise, performance testing, progeny test. Also, Grassland and the Carbon Cycle appeared last year; two other widely broadcasted topics in 2017.

This isn't the first time they have featured a hot topic on the paper. For example, the removal of quotas and the change of location for the National Ploughing Championships were used to create questions for students.

Check out That's Farming from now right up until June 2018, for our special Agri-career focus feature. Catherina Cunnane will be looking at possible third-level courses and associated career paths.