Top 3 problems when learning chemistry

After teaching for more than 300+ students in 89 schools over the last nine years, we have discovered several similarities about students who often struggled in Chemistry. In fact, these are common but deadly made by students who don’t know that they are making them. We had written several articles on overcoming the struggle with Chemistry and effective ways to study chemistry.

The vital step to solving this problem is to be AWARE of the problem caused by 89% of the students.

Problem 1: Memorising Textbook

Nobody wants to score D7, E8 or even F9 for Chemistry. Students want to do something for their revision. However, they do not know what the best and yet effective way to revise for Chemistry is. So, they ended up memorising their textbooks and hoping that what they have read would come out in their school tests/exams.

By reading the textbook and forcing your brain to absorb the information, students don’t know that this is probably the worst way of learning Chemistry.

Allow me to explain.

We are born with different senses. Ranging from seeing, hearing, tasting. By reading the textbook, this group of students only activate ‘one sense’, which is seeing. They are not making full use of the rest of their senses.

Problem 2: Rewriting Notes

The next common mistake we see in students is they like to rewrite their notes. Simply put, rewriting notes may be a better way compared to memorising textbooks. But, students who adopt such learning methods can’t score better than C6 or C5.

Why?

The main reason is that they are NOT applying the concepts learnt. There are a few levels of learning.

L1: Know the concept

L2: Understand the concept

L3: Apply the concept

Rewriting notes can enable the students to get to L1 or L2. But if your child would like to score L3 (B4 or better), he or she will need to start applying the concept.

Problem 3: Doing Last Minute Revision

Last but not the least, doing last minute revision. We’ve been through it. We know how everything else is important and we do not have priority for studying for exams unless the test is tomorrow.

Students know that doing last minute studying is very stressful. But what they don’t know is that there is a stress-free way of studying and preparing for exams. They can start preparing for it in school. If they can understand the chemistry concepts, and able to complete the homework promptly and clarify their doubts and do corrections accordingly. Preparing way before the exams will be one of the best ways to have the edge over the rest of her peers.

In conclusion, if your child is scoring D7, E8 or even F9, you might be considering getting some O level Chemistry tuition in Singapore for your child. But before doing so, just be aware of these three problems and stop your child from doing them if you see them doing these.

In our earlier post titled Top 4 ways to score for your O Level Chemistry Exam, we covered some of the ways to resolve these problems. If you would like your child to come in for a trial class and experience how is it like to study in a chemistry specialist centre, drop us a message at 9696 4881.