Some parents wonder: “Is there still time for O Level or IP for my child to do well?” Anxious parents seek support from tuition centres every June holidays to get O-level or IP chemistry tuitions for their kids who did not do well for their mid-year exams.
These concerns are understood. After all, the GCE O Level or their IP exam is only four months away. Doing well for the O-Level or IP exam gives your child more choices for schools and courses to choose from to further their education.
Students must remain concentrated from now until the O Levels and follow the correct techniques to prepare themselves for the examination confidently. We propose the following to study for O level Chemistry:
Build up Strong Foundation of Basic Concepts
The root problem observed in students who were underperforming in the examination was their lack of comprehension of the basics of chemistry.
In the fundamental concepts, the degree of comprehension is far below average.
As students study for the O Level Pure Chemistry or IP Chemistry examination, following a topic-by-topic approach, creating a solid foundation is the key. Students must study and understand the underlying main principles o formula for each subject, before moving to the next subject.
In Chemistry, the subjects taught in Secondary three first need to be learned and mastered. For starters, students need to have an excellent understanding of basic topics such as Chemical Bonding, Writing Balanced Chemical & Ionic Equations, Acids & Bases, as well as Mole Calculations in Secondary 3. Compared to Physics and Biology, chemistry is a much more abstract science subject since almost every subject is interrelated to another subject, especially those discussed in Secondary 3 earlier.
Pay Attention to the Usage of Keywords in Structured Questions
How many of you tell your kids that they really pay attention in the classroom and that they should understand what their teachers teach? Their examination results, however, are dismay and they don’t understand why. This is because it is not necessary to only know the key concepts, i.e. “stories.” The examiners will mark them based on the right keywords or keyphrases written.
The answering of standardized questions with the relevant, precise, complete collection of keywords is one of the main challenges facing many chemistry students.
For example, “Graphite conducts electricity due to mobile electrons” may be the correct keyword for a question. Still, the common mistake made by many students is “Graphite conducts electricity due to mobile ions.”
Rote memorization is often the explanation for this mistake without really knowing the structural properties of graphite, and they appear to write the wrong keywords in the examination. As they have their basic concepts to back up their choice of keywords, A-Grade students can write the correct keywords. In addition to their application skills, Mastery of Chemistry involves strong foundations of basic concepts coupled with clear use of keywords.
