Why Your Child is Struggling in ‘O’ Level Chemistry?

Problem 1: Wrong Studying Method

Many students prepare for Chemistry by memorizing chemistry concepts. Alternatively, some students re-write the chemistry notes hoping that it can help them to retain more concepts.

By merely memorizing facts and ‘reproducing’ the same concepts in exams cannot give your child the ‘A’ in Chemistry.

WHY?

In the good old days, there are a lot of ‘RECALL’ questions tested.

Eg. Level 1 recall question, What is the chemistry concept behind solid becoming gas immediately?

Ans: Sublimation

However, Level 3 higher order thinking application questions are tested instead of ‘RECALL’ questions today.

E.g. Level 3 question,

The school can set a 200-word passage about sublimation. At the same time, they expect you to infer from the passage, PLUS, make use of your content knowledge to APPLY to the answer!

Using the information in table 1, Describe & Explain why the particles can transit from Solid to Gas?

Ans: 1 mark – Describing the sublimation process.
1 mark – explaining why they transit from Solid to Gas…
1 mark – able to identify the relationship between the passage and chemistry concept. <- most challenging part.

That’s where a little ‘RECALL’ from the students become coupled with the RIGHT answering technique, RIGHT keywords & RIGHT understanding to do this kind of question.

In fact, ‘A’ level concepts are usually used in the ‘passage’ to IP and O level students to differentiate the outstanding chemistry students!

So if your kids share that, ‘Mum/Dad, what’s covered in class and what’s tested in the test is very different! It seems like I didn’t learn it before!’ It is because of the above explained reason.

Problem 2: Simply doing the 10-year series cannot give your child (PURE Chem/IP students) the ‘A’s in exams!

WHY?

Because the kind of questions tested has evolved over the years. The higher order thinking application questions (L3) were only introduced these few years.

Therefore, the good old advice of ‘just do your TYS’ is not as effective these days. With the syllabus getting more and more challenging, students need to do more and more to meet the expectation of a more challenging curriculum!

The TYS contains a lot of L1, L2 questions. However, to get the ‘A’, your child needs to be exposed to the L3 higher order thinking application ins!

In AD, we have recommended resources for students. We help parents to save time searching and trying out different assessment books. Or worse, wasting your children’s time doing assessment books that are not relevant.

Problem 3: Implementing a “Science for the sake of grades” approach.

WHY?

Chemistry exam practicals and experiments. Without a clear understanding of reactions or interest in chemistry, it is impossible to do practical.

When parents enforce a strict hold on memorisation and letter grades from papers, the experiment and practical section of chemistry examinations are neglected. This section of the syllabus is as important as it can hold up to 20% of the total mark allocation.

Alternatively, subjects such as chemistry are easier to approach when students enjoy the learning process, practicals are a great opportunity for them to explore and try their hand at being a chemist. Some chemistry tuition classes are also unable to offer the experience of experiments due to the lack of space, regulations or equipment.

However, our specialised Chemistry Practical Lab will open the window of opportunity towards such problems and solve them effectively