Hl chemistry?

How do you find HL Chem?
Iam currently just began IB with HL Bio and Chem as I want to go to vet school in university :smile:

But i'm really worried that i won't do good in chem, my chem teacher told us that students who got a B (which i did) in their GCSES normally wouldn't get higher than a 5 in HL chem.

So i was just wondering how did you HL chem students find it? Was it really challenging?

thanks alot!

Reply 1

tassie8D

Original post by claudster

How do you find HL Chem?
Iam currently just began IB with HL Bio and Chem as I want to go to vet school in university :smile:

But i'm really worried that i won't do good in chem, my chem teacher told us that students who got a B (which i did) in their GCSES normally wouldn't get higher than a 5 in HL chem.

So i was just wondering how did you HL chem students find it? Was it really challenging?

thanks alot!

i did it.. got 4 the first time, retook and got 4 again... then did Alevel chemistry and got a high A.....not just because i had a bit more tutoring but because HL chem is a bitch... :smile:

Reply 2

momentalus

Yeah, above post sums up HL Chemistry - it is death. Yes, it may not be as hard as HL Maths or HL Physics, but it is infamous for being epically difficult. GCSE is a bad representation on what you might get in IB. You may have A* in GCSE but only a 3 in IB so do not think that GCSE pre-sets what you'll get in IB.

First of all, IB chem course has a mixture of theory and maths in it , I say it is 50/50 of both. So if you are good at maths but bad at memorizing stuff chem is not for you and vice verse if you are good at memorizing but bad at maths you'll only settle for mediocrity through out the course. Funny enough you'll learn most of the theory in SL chem and most maths in HL parts, exception is chapter 1.

Secondly having a good coursework and being prepared for paper 3 very well gives you easy(ish) 44% of the marks.

And finally, this is VERY important, DO NOT PROCRASTINATE . This will definitely result in low marks. Learn everything after a lesson, do not leave it till the last 12 weeks or so hoping that you will get everything in your head + you are doing biology at HL which requires epic memory and if you leave it till the end you are going to fail.

I got a high 6 in biology because I studied epically for last 8 weeks, but ignored chem and I got a high 4. So I'll need to resit cause I need to get a 6. Do not do this for yourself - competitive courses like vet and medicine do not like resits.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 3

Hellz_Bellz!

2

In order to succeed in HL chemistry, you really need to use your brain. A lot of the questions make you THINK, to the point where your brain is frying.

I agree with the above post: GCSE does not prepare you for it. GCSE prepares you for A level. IB is a whole new world.

Just do tons and tons of practise questions. In my opinion this is the best way to succeed in it. Learn the formulae better than your friends' names and you'll do well.

Reply 4

MAMDS1993

1

Don't sweat it! I'm breezing through chem never dropped to a 6 in my first year lets hope it stays that way, I find bio harder!!

Reply 5

tassie8D

Original post by MAMDS1993

Don't sweat it! I'm breezing through chem never dropped to a 6 in my first year lets hope it stays that way, I find bio harder!!

i was fine in first year too.. then it all went tits up when we did more higher stuff...

Reply 6

MAMDS1993

1

We're doing options now..done with all core!!

Reply 7

maxm93

hey .. im taking HL Chem HL Physics AND HL Maths
and trust me chemistry is the easiest out of those ...
Nothing is really mathematically challenging if you understand the work .. not just memorize it
my best advice is understand it and if you dont right away ask your teacher again because you cant let anything slip as it all tangles together.

Reply 8

MAMDS1993

1

Original post by maxm93

Don't take phy but I take Math at Higher level and its by far harder than chemistry! Most people find Bio easier than chem but I prefer numbers to reading so I find chem easier!! Math is the hardest out of the 3..but I managed a 7 in it in first yr..got a 6 in bio though!

Reply 9

FiniteMr

13

GCSE is remarkably different to IB. I worked a little for my GCSE and got A*, but still had to slog a huge amount for IB. I was revising from February to May, quite hard too, and it was mostly divided between the Chemistry/Maths, with Physics being a slightly lower priority. Success really depends on either:

1) Having excellent understanding of the course, something very few people have (definitely not myself).

or

2) Having done every past paper you can lay your filthy hands on, about three times each. That's how I got my 7.

and 3) Organisation. You need this whatever of 1) or 2) you have.

Summary is that whatever your chemical background, you'll Have 2 Organise (keke) your course - that's most important in my opinion.

Original post by momentalus

First of all, IB chem course has a mixture of theory and maths in it , I say it is 50/50 of both. So if you are good at maths but bad at memorizing stuff chem is not for you and vice verse if you are good at memorizing but bad at maths you'll only settle for mediocrity through out the course. Funny enough you'll learn most of the theory in SL chem and most maths in HL parts, exception is chapter 1.

What are you thinking of with this 50/50 split? I didn't learn any maths for chemistry, I thought it was just arithmetic. Of course Acids and Bases requires logarithmic work, but I found it to require more understanding of the chemistry than the maths for those questions.

Reply 10

momentalus

OK I am going to take this.
Maths based chapters/parts are: Chapter 1 (quantitative chemistry) , Chapter 2 (Atom - a part where you need to calculate the abundances)Chapters 5/15 (Enthalpy, Entropy and Hess's law calculation and Lattice enthalpy), Chapter 6/16 (Rate calculation and order of reaction calculation and of course Arrhenius constant) Chapter 17 (Equilibrium constant calculations), Chapter 18 (Kw calculations, pOH and pH, Ka and Kb, pKa and pKb conversion, buffer calculations, determining indicators) Chapter 9/19 (Redox equations, and the rest of 19 it was awful chapter).

So to summarize this, chapters 1,5,15,6,16,7,17,8,18,9,19 are heavily based on maths where as 2,12,3,13,4,14,10 and 20 are more theory and memory based.

I fully agree with you, you learn no pure maths in chemistry but you must understand and be able to apply equations and mathematical methods to solve some of the maths based questions. I just want to point out that arithmetic is a part of maths. =]

(Btw I do not count chapter 11 - there is no relevant chemistry in it) oh yeah just re-read your post congratulations on getting a 7

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 11

FiniteMr

13

Original post by momentalus

OK I am going to take this.
Maths based chapters/parts are: Chapter 1 (quantitative chemistry) , Chapter 2 (Atom - a part where you need to calculate the abundances)Chapters 5/15 (Enthalpy, Entropy and Hess's law calculation and Lattice enthalpy), Chapter 6/16 (Rate calculation and order of reaction calculation and of course Arrhenius constant) Chapter 17 (Equilibrium constant calculations), Chapter 18 (Kw calculations, pOH and pH, Ka and Kb, pKa and pKb conversion, buffer calculations, determining indicators) Chapter 9/19 (Redox equations, and the rest of 19 it was awful chapter).

So to summarize this, chapters 1,5,15,6,16,7,17,8,18,9,19 are heavily based on maths where as 2,12,3,13,4,14,10 and 20 are more theory and memory based.

I fully agree with you, you learn no pure maths in chemistry but you must understand and be able to apply equations and mathematical methods to solve some of the maths based questions. I just want to point out that arithmetic is a part of maths. =]

(Btw I do not count chapter 11 - there is no relevant chemistry in it) oh yeah just re-read your post congratulations on getting a 7

I found 1,5/15, 6/16, 17,9/19 as mostly chemistry. 18 I agree involves a fair amount of calculation, to the point where us HL maths folk were at an advantage in acids/bases, but then again one HL mathmo couldn't understand the concepts behind acids and bases, and so was unable to perform in this topic.

I suppose it's just that I wouldn't call arithmetic as maths, while others do.. to me, doing divisions and things in chapter 1 can't really be counted as maths. I suppose one approach (which I expect would be viable) is to concentrate a lot on the typical maths you do, to remember the chemistry behind it (i.e. memorizing c=n/v, memorizing the cycles, rate equation, equilibrium, etc). My personally strongest way was to learn ideas behind the chemistry, and work out any arithmetic as I went along.

Just remember that a maths student going into a HL chemistry exam will be completely lost, because although the test requires calculations, they're based on chemical knowledge!

And thank you :smile:

Reply 12

momentalus

Yeah I suppose HL maths helps you if you understand it, for me it was hell. After first coursework I lost all hope in humanity and IB.

http://davexrobb.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/disappointed1.jpg (this sums up my feelings towards HL maths)

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 13

FiniteMr

13

Original post by momentalus

Yeah I suppose HL maths helps you if you understand it, for me it was hell. After first coursework I lost all hope in humanity and IB.

http://davexrobb.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/disappointed1.jpg (this sums up my feelings towards HL maths)