Leaving Certificate Physics and Chemistry is a combined senior-cycle science course for students taking the integrated subject rather than the separate Physics or Chemistry syllabuses. It develops understanding across physical principles, chemical ideas and practical scientific work.
Students study the subject through calculation, explanation and experimental awareness. The course suits students who want a combined science route and who are prepared to connect ideas across both disciplines.
Curriculum Online states that Physics and Chemistry is assessed at Higher and Ordinary levels and that practical work by students is regarded as an integral part of the course. The current syllabus page does not publish a separate new assessment weighting structure.
Curriculum Online notes 2026 consultation work on a draft Physical Science specification, but as of May 24, 2026, no confirmed replacement specification or 2027 assessment structure has been published for the existing Physics and Chemistry subject.
The current official syllabus is organised through these numbered areas of study:
Displacement. Velocity. Acceleration. Mass. Newton’s laws of motion and gravitation. Conservation of momentum. Force. Weight. Coulomb’s law. Electric fields. Field strength and potential. Capacitors and capacitance.
Work. Energy. Kinetic and Potential Energy. Conservation of energy. Concept of temperature. Celsius Scale. Gas thermometer. Definition of gas scale. Absolute scale. Gas laws. General gas equation. Qualitative treatment of pressure and temperature on the basis of the kinetic theory.
Current electricity. Resistance. Heating effect of electric current. Magnetism and electromagnetism. Electrolysis. Atomic structure and radioactivity.
Wave motion. Sound. Light. Atomic chemistry and chemical reactions relevant to the combined syllabus.
Higher and Ordinary Level, with practical work treated as an integral part of the course.
Zr Academy offers Physics and Chemistry support in Dublin 2 and online for students who want clearer combined-science explanations and more confident exam preparation.
We use cookies to keep you securely signed in. See our Privacy Policy for details.
