O level Chemistry Preparation Tips
STUDY STRATEGIES AND TECHNIQUES
It is important to remember that there is no short cut to examination success. Hard work and commitment over a long period of time are the essential ingredients to success. It is good to be consistent and not do last minute work just before the exams. To get a distinction in chemistry, you have to start preparing now.
Organising your notes
It is important to organise your notes so that you can find whatever you need quickly. Do not write on odd scraps of paper. Either use notebooks or foolscap paper which are filed properly.
Start every topic on a fresh sheet of paper. Leave room for any additions you may wish to make later. Make sure that your notes are clearly written with striking headings. Identify important points by underlining or using a highlighter pen. If there are a number of points to be remembered, it is easier if they are in a numbered list.
In writing your notes it is acceptable to use abbreviations. These may be recognised abbreviations, e.g. temp., or your own abbreviations. You may also use chemical formulae such as Na instead of sodium in your notes. Never use abbreviations or formulae in writing your examination answers, except for ppt which stands for precipitate in the practical examination.
When making your notes ensure that all the detail is there, e. g. reagents, reaction conditions, likely observations and equations. State symbols usually need to be included in a chemical equation. Practise writing important chemical equations many times until you are familiar with writing them.
Pack your memory with short statements about a concept. For example, remember ‘low pH means high acidity’. You can use acronyms to remember a list of items, for example the metal reactivity series.
You can make the concept highly exaggerated so that you can remember them. For example, an acid turns blue litmus red. You can remember that vinegar, which is an acid, turns a blue T shirt to red. It becomes highly exaggerated and you can remember better.
Adding to your notes
Be prepared to add to your notes from information you gather outside your lessons. It is important that you read around the subject from teachers’ notes, textbooks and guide books. Read the topic being covered in texts written by different authors.
To summarise your notes, you can use mind maps, drawn with pens of different colours, to help you capture the links and important points of the different chapters.
REVISION TECHNIQUES
Serious revision should start at least twelve weeks before the examination. At this stage you should go through the appropriate examination syllabus and topics according to whether you feel you understand them or not. This should give you a realistic assessment of where you stand. A discussion with your teacher at this stage is useful. Find out how soon he/she is going to complete the course.
Diyide the topics that you do not understand into manageable sections of about 30-40 minutes work, e.g. alcohols, pH, electron arrangements. Then devise a plan to spend time on each section in turn. Planning a revision timetable is essential. Allocate time for each of your subjects but be reasonable - you will need to leave periods of time unaccounted for to award yourself the reward of a break, or to make up time lost due to illness, distractions, etc. In a day, try to revise different topics of different subjects. Reserve the moments when you are most alert to topics that are the most difficult. Try to remove distractions and spend less time on handphone, computers, TV and video once examinations draw near.
As you go through each section don't just scan the information. This kind of passive revision is not effective. You must make rough notes. Try to learn important definitions as you write them down. Write out an equation, turn the paper over and write it out from memory. Check there are no errors. Try to make your revision at this stage. Finally, try to summarise the main points from each section on a single piece of paper or a postcard. Keep these summaries as they are very useful for last-minute revision. Look at them regularly for the following few days to ensure that the information has sunk in. You need periodic revision of the topics to ensure that you have committed to your memory.
You should now be prepared to tackle past papers. This can highlight topics which are examined more frequently than others or in a certain way. However, be careful about trying to predict which topics will come up. There is no pattern in the topics covered from year to year. Looking at papers may also indicate certain topics that you should look at again. You may start with revising the tutorials and worksheets you have done in schools first. These are the most elementary and you can go on to O level Cambridge papers, followed by prelim exam papers. Prelim exam papers are usually more difficult than O level Cambridge papers. The top school prelim papers are usually more difficult and trickier than the neighbourhood schools.
In the final stage of revision try to go through the whole syllabus. Do not ignore certain sections and hope they will not come up. Check your knowledge of all the major definitions and facts.
FINAL PREPARATION
Do not spend too much time on last-minute revision. A one hour 45 minutes written paper is quite draining. Long hours spent revising at the last minute can make you over tired and lose you more marks than this revision would gain.
On the evening before the examination make sure you have all the equipment you need - pens, pencil, ruler, calculator, etc. The most important thing you can do is try to relax and get a good night's sleep.
On the day of exams, do the questions that you are most confident in. If a question is too difficult, skip it first and come back to it later. Good time management is essential. Watch your time and try to relax during the exams. If you have spare time, check your answers.
All the best in your chemistry course! Hope that you will enjoy learning chemistry.
It is important to remember that there is no short cut to examination success. Hard work and commitment over a long period of time are the essential ingredients to success. It is good to be consistent and not do last minute work just before the exams. To get a distinction in chemistry, you have to start preparing now.
Organising your notes
It is important to organise your notes so that you can find whatever you need quickly. Do not write on odd scraps of paper. Either use notebooks or foolscap paper which are filed properly.
Start every topic on a fresh sheet of paper. Leave room for any additions you may wish to make later. Make sure that your notes are clearly written with striking headings. Identify important points by underlining or using a highlighter pen. If there are a number of points to be remembered, it is easier if they are in a numbered list.
In writing your notes it is acceptable to use abbreviations. These may be recognised abbreviations, e.g. temp., or your own abbreviations. You may also use chemical formulae such as Na instead of sodium in your notes. Never use abbreviations or formulae in writing your examination answers, except for ppt which stands for precipitate in the practical examination.
When making your notes ensure that all the detail is there, e. g. reagents, reaction conditions, likely observations and equations. State symbols usually need to be included in a chemical equation. Practise writing important chemical equations many times until you are familiar with writing them.
Pack your memory with short statements about a concept. For example, remember ‘low pH means high acidity’. You can use acronyms to remember a list of items, for example the metal reactivity series.
You can make the concept highly exaggerated so that you can remember them. For example, an acid turns blue litmus red. You can remember that vinegar, which is an acid, turns a blue T shirt to red. It becomes highly exaggerated and you can remember better.
Adding to your notes
Be prepared to add to your notes from information you gather outside your lessons. It is important that you read around the subject from teachers’ notes, textbooks and guide books. Read the topic being covered in texts written by different authors.
To summarise your notes, you can use mind maps, drawn with pens of different colours, to help you capture the links and important points of the different chapters.
REVISION TECHNIQUES
Serious revision should start at least twelve weeks before the examination. At this stage you should go through the appropriate examination syllabus and topics according to whether you feel you understand them or not. This should give you a realistic assessment of where you stand. A discussion with your teacher at this stage is useful. Find out how soon he/she is going to complete the course.
Diyide the topics that you do not understand into manageable sections of about 30-40 minutes work, e.g. alcohols, pH, electron arrangements. Then devise a plan to spend time on each section in turn. Planning a revision timetable is essential. Allocate time for each of your subjects but be reasonable - you will need to leave periods of time unaccounted for to award yourself the reward of a break, or to make up time lost due to illness, distractions, etc. In a day, try to revise different topics of different subjects. Reserve the moments when you are most alert to topics that are the most difficult. Try to remove distractions and spend less time on handphone, computers, TV and video once examinations draw near.
As you go through each section don't just scan the information. This kind of passive revision is not effective. You must make rough notes. Try to learn important definitions as you write them down. Write out an equation, turn the paper over and write it out from memory. Check there are no errors. Try to make your revision at this stage. Finally, try to summarise the main points from each section on a single piece of paper or a postcard. Keep these summaries as they are very useful for last-minute revision. Look at them regularly for the following few days to ensure that the information has sunk in. You need periodic revision of the topics to ensure that you have committed to your memory.
You should now be prepared to tackle past papers. This can highlight topics which are examined more frequently than others or in a certain way. However, be careful about trying to predict which topics will come up. There is no pattern in the topics covered from year to year. Looking at papers may also indicate certain topics that you should look at again. You may start with revising the tutorials and worksheets you have done in schools first. These are the most elementary and you can go on to O level Cambridge papers, followed by prelim exam papers. Prelim exam papers are usually more difficult than O level Cambridge papers. The top school prelim papers are usually more difficult and trickier than the neighbourhood schools.
In the final stage of revision try to go through the whole syllabus. Do not ignore certain sections and hope they will not come up. Check your knowledge of all the major definitions and facts.
FINAL PREPARATION
Do not spend too much time on last-minute revision. A one hour 45 minutes written paper is quite draining. Long hours spent revising at the last minute can make you over tired and lose you more marks than this revision would gain.
On the evening before the examination make sure you have all the equipment you need - pens, pencil, ruler, calculator, etc. The most important thing you can do is try to relax and get a good night's sleep.
On the day of exams, do the questions that you are most confident in. If a question is too difficult, skip it first and come back to it later. Good time management is essential. Watch your time and try to relax during the exams. If you have spare time, check your answers.
All the best in your chemistry course! Hope that you will enjoy learning chemistry.
loved this tip of yours because i had a slight acidity problem and after trying this out it just vanished!this truly works.
ReplyDeleteThanks for share............
Acidity