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26From Leaving Certificate to Leaving Schoolcent for Irish). The same pattern is evident for Biology (93 per cent v. 53per cent) and Geography (80 per cent v. 44 per cent), with higherachievingstudents expressing greater interest in these subjects.Figure 2.2: Proportion of sixth year students who find the selectedsubjects interesting (those taking the subjects only)HistoryBiologyHome Ec.PEGeographyEnglishMathsFrenchGermanIrish0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90% interestingAmong sixth years, Biology, Home Economics and Maths are seen asthe most useful subjects (Figure 2.3), which is consistent with findingsfor students in fifth year. In general, the majority of sixth year studentsfind the specified subjects useful, with the exception of Irish which isdeemed useful by only four in ten students. For five of the ten specifiedsubjects, clear gender differences are evident in the perceived utility ofsubjects. Female students are more likely to consider Irish, Biology,Home Economics, French and Irish useful than male students (42 percent compared with 35 per cent for Irish; 84 per cent v. 71 per cent forBiology; 85 per cent v. 61 per cent for Home Economics; 71 per cent v.57 per cent for French; 44 per cent v. 37 per cent for Irish). As with subjectinterest, PE is the only subject which males are more likely to finduseful than female students (72 per cent v. 64 per cent). Finding Biologyuseful is closely related to prior achievement, with 97 per cent of the topJunior Certificate quintile finding it useful compared with 59 per cent of