Learning chemistry is exciting, but it’s quite orthodox to catch a few murmurs with learners complaining about how challenging this subject can be. Perhaps they aren’t doing a few things right, which is typically the case. Getting good grades and making it to the top of the class is, however, feasible. But it takes an excellent strategy to learn and enjoy this subject.
Of course, this subject is quite intricate, even at the O-levels. The concepts can somewhat be tricky to comprehend and can seemingly make it an uphill task. However, this article offers the best tips to get good grades at school, regardless of how bad you think your child is at chemistry.
The Top Reason Students Do Fairly Average in Chemistry
Chemistry is a technical subject requiring a lot of time and dedication. But that’s somewhat contrary to what most students do. But it turns out the problem is usually on the learners’ side and never about the subject being too tricky to comprehend. Below are the top reasons your child may be terrible at chemistry.
The inability to think critically – It helps to be creative and think critically when dealing with chemistry; more like physics and math, chemistry involves solving complex puzzles based on pure fact and practice. A lazy mind will hardly find it possible to cruise through, and students who find it hard to rack their brains will see it as an uphill battle when dealing with chemistry.
Poor Reading Habit – Chemistry is a technical subject that requires a proper reading strategy. Unlike the humanities and social sciences, it’s pretty challenging memorizing the theory in chemistry since this subject has more complex terms and definitions that need more deep digging into—poor habits like reading while skipping back or unconscious re-focusing can only worsen things.
A Crooked Attitude – A lousy attitude towards chemistry is the worst, and a proper euphemist would be like erecting sturdy fences and barriers for knowledge. The worst part is that some students don’t even realize that they hate the subjects, mistaking this negativism with the issue being “tough” as it always is. Being a little cynical about chemistry can take a significant toll on the students’ ability to focus on the subject.
Poor Time Management in Exams – The chemistry practicals can be time demanding, and the theory is so constraining. Most students fail to keep time and present half-baked practical results, drastically affecting their performance. Moreover, being unable to keep time in the theory tests can also result in poor performance.
Not Answering Questions Appropriately – Essentially, examiners put learners’ abilities to comprehend chemistry through tests. However, while students may work twice harder to ace the chemistry grades, the thin line between them excelling or failing can be how they approach the questions and answer them in the tests. Knowing how to answer chemistry questions appropriately is critical for better end-term grades.
Other reasons for poor chemistry performance include overconfidence, complacency and relying on others for help during examinations. Some students opt for chemistry at the upper secondary level and later realize they aren’t passionate about it. But that said, what best can you do to get good grades in chemistry?
Best Tips and Strategies for Getting Good Grades In Chemistry
There’s a lot your child can do to be adept at chemistry and reflect that in their grades in class. That includes being competitive in class and showing that in the tests. Here are the best strategies your child can utilize to be good at chemistry.
Being Attentive in Class
Doing well in chemistry starts with being more attentive in class and grasping everything the teachers teach. Part of the reasons schools designate sufficient hours in the sciences is that they’re more practical and require time and effort to make learning more efficient.
Chemistry teachers have an in-depth understanding and mastery of the subject, and paying attention to what they have to say helps students understand better. They offer valuable tips on chemistry topics and make it easy to understand even the most challenging topics.
Better yet, you can also find a private tutor in Singapore to help your child brush on what they find challenging to fathom. Although that’s an effort denting your pockets a little bit, it’s worth a shot investing in your child’s education.
Asking for Clarifications Where They Don’t Understand
Understanding chemistry can be tricky since it uses complex jargon and somewhat alien terms like chemical formulas and reactions. Moreover, it involves making a few challenging calculations and precise measurements in the practicals, making it one of the touch technical O-level subjects.
However, the good thing is that regardless of its scary faces and toughness, passing this subject and acing the grades is quite a breeze if the concepts are clear enough. You might want to encourage your child to ask questions and class and seek clarifications on challenging topics to help them understand better.
Asking questions and seeking clarifications have their benefits. Such information is obtained in the brain better, and it’s easy to remember during tests. Besides, it makes learning more interactive and engaging, adding a much-needed enthusiasm and spark to learning chemistry.
Take Plenty of Notes From the Teachers
While listening to what teachers say is essential, taking notes enables a better understanding. But students shouldn’t only jot down everything they hear but the essential parts like equations and crucial points to review later.
Remember that chemistry involves lots of equations that need reading over more frequently before they get to the back of the brain. And for the most part, they aren’t ordinary and easy to grasp at a glance. Although teachers may offer these notes later in PDF or other electronic forms, writing them on paper helps students to understand the concepts better.
While taking notes, it’s essential that students organize them properly and logically. That helps avoid confusion and getting stuck later on when reviewing them. Moreover, it’d be much easier to recall if they follow a chronology and are neat and well organized.
Adequately Reviewing The Notes
While jotting down the notes is good, reviewing them makes them more helpful. It’d only be some leg work writing the points and tossing them away without reviewing them later, and it simply goes against common sense.
Passing chemistry isn’t much for learners who find it strenuous, dedicating their time to reviewing the notes they take in class. After all, class notes are where the essential points are and can help you understand the challenging topics better.
Being Adept With The Chemistry Practicals
Chemistry practicals are the core of the subject but one of the most challenging. They help learners be more familiar with the chemical process and lab reactions as part of the subject’s curriculum and tests. There, however, the most failed by most students since a vast majority aren’t usually keen enough.
However, it shouldn’t be surprised how easy they can be if students are more adept and pay close attention to what they learn. That means practising plentifully and listening to teachers during the sessions to be more familiar with the reactions and all chemical processes while in the lab.
Practicals invite numerous reactions, including excitement and disgruntlement. That speaks volumes about attitudes and perceptions on the subject among students. However, anyone better at the practicals has an incredible chance of doing better in the tests and getting good grades in chemistry.
Studying In Groups
Group studies come in handy when pursuing good grades in chemistry. They help equip students better and make learning more practical. But not every group study guarantees that, but a well-picked and goal-oriented one helps align the goals and facilitate the eventual goal of getting good grades in chemistry.
It’s all common sense that students help each other better, sometimes more than teachers would. More proficient students can help the rest who struggle better and make learning fun and exciting. It’s a better alternative to having a 1 to 1 home tuition in Singapore.
You may encourage your child to participate in group studies in school and be better at chemistry. This strategy helps boost their confidence in the subject and spark an interest when they feel like they can’t make it with better grades at the end of every term.
Taking Tougher Tasks And Topics In Bits
Chemistry topics can be a tough nut to crack for some students, and perhaps your child may struggle with a few. Getting the mole concepts at the back of the mind isn’t always a breeze, or nailing complex chemical reactions doesn’t always come easy.
The good thing is that they can still learn them despite being somewhat challenging, as long as they take them in a bit. If possible, you can get a 1-to-1 tutor to help them sharpen their wit at handling the most challenging topics. That’s possible because a private tutor can help them understand complex topics with a breeze.
Being More Critical In The Studies And Tests
Chemistry isn’t straightforward as other subjects and requires learners to be more critical when studying it. The chemical formulas and the principles used need a little digging into to understand them better than reading what’s only on the surface.
Most students fail to realize that chemistry is easy since they don’t bother racking their brains and combining creativity and critical thinking to find what’s deeply underlying. It similarly applies to the tests where examiners hardly make it easy for students and will try forcing them into thinking critically with less straightforward questions.
Avoiding Memorizing But Understanding
One mistake that most students make is that they fail to understand but memorize the concepts and principles in the subject. That’s compromising because, unlike other subjects, memorizing chemistry makes things harder in the future.
Maybe memorizing can work on the periodic table or being more familiar with the chemical formulas. But anything beyond that can be detrimental to students and often hurt their chances of getting good grades on tests.
If you’ve enrolled your child on private tuition in Singapore, it’d be much better since the tutor can help them understand the concepts better rather than memorize them. This strategy works in the short and long term when remembering concepts in the final GCE tests won’t be challenging.
Properly Answering Chemistry Questions In The Tests
It helps to understand the strategy for answering chemistry questions. As earlier mentioned, students must be more critical when studying and during the tests, and rightly so. However, there’s still more they can do to ace the tests and get better grades,
For instance, they can use more illustrations during the tests, organize their answers logically and be straightforward. That helps examiners get their points and facilitate marking and awarding them better grades.
Complex answers can hurt students’ chances of passing on chemistry even if they’re proficient enough and have studied hard all year long. It can be demoralizing and erode the interest altogether, making learning chemistry less fun.
Making Chemistry Fun And Nurturing Positivity
Learning chemistry is exciting, but it takes a deeper sense of reality to feel that. Not so many students think that way similarly because it’s already sunk in their brains that the subject can be tricky in every aspect.
Usually, the core reason for such perceptions is the lack of a proper foundation and mastery of the topics in the lower secondary levels. That’s more typical with students who don’t get proper nurturing as soon as the subject gets introduced to them. However, it gets better if you intervene as a parent and try changing this perception by enrolling them on any Singapore private tuition.
You can also make it fun by explaining the concepts interestingly to spark an interest. You also never know how fun it can be if you take them to any scientific lab and let them interact with the experts around there.
Conclusion
Learning chemistry is easy with the right mindset and interests students. However, it takes a little work to get grades in the subject. Having a proper strategy will help your child be better at chemistry in the long run and get the grades they long wish for, even more with your help as a parent.
