How can I learn to recognise which calculations need to be used for a question?
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Original post by PerryPerry95
You answer the question with a "definitely"
yet go on to say new questions came up that had never come up before
New questions can come up as you say and trip you up in the exam. Learning the styles is not enough, you need to be confident with the syllabus so that you can work with the given information.
ahh right i see what type of questions you mean now and the technique of writing down the given info and working out which equations to use are less effective in this circumstance. You need to learn the equations well enough so that you can look at a question and know what info you can figure out and then go on to use that info in more equations. The information they give you can vary greatly so you just need to practice being able to see where you are going and not "fumbling around in the dark" for an answer.
yet go on to say new questions came up that had never come up before
New questions can come up as you say and trip you up in the exam. Learning the styles is not enough, you need to be confident with the syllabus so that you can work with the given information.
ahh right i see what type of questions you mean now and the technique of writing down the given info and working out which equations to use are less effective in this circumstance. You need to learn the equations well enough so that you can look at a question and know what info you can figure out and then go on to use that info in more equations. The information they give you can vary greatly so you just need to practice being able to see where you are going and not "fumbling around in the dark" for an answer.
I was confident with the syllabus! The stuff that came up wasn't in our syllabus! I found the whole text book easy towards the end of the year :L
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Original post by lauraMarieBrooks
I was confident with the syllabus! The stuff that came up wasn't in our syllabus! I found the whole text book easy towards the end of the year :L
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Im no expert in chemistry but its how i would do it, a good indicator that it is correct is that it fits the formula in the question nicely
Original post by PerryPerry95
Im no expert in chemistry but its how i would do it, a good indicator that it is correct is that it fits the formula in the question nicely
Thank you so much for all your help!
Original post by Limitless!
Hi
A way to do this is to do all of the past papers, because this way you will learn to recognise the questions and thus what you have to do for them. You must practise doing the calculations and to do this you can get a book called" Calculations in AS/A level chemistry" by Jim Clark. This book is brilliant and perfect for when you don't understand calculation in A level chemistry.
In conclusion:
1) Do all the calculation questions, even if you get them wrong, after a while of going back over it and reading around it, it will click.
2) Do all of the past papers available, maybe more than once.
3) Get that calculations book.
4) Practise practise practise!
Best of luck! If you have any other questions, fire em at me!
A way to do this is to do all of the past papers, because this way you will learn to recognise the questions and thus what you have to do for them. You must practise doing the calculations and to do this you can get a book called" Calculations in AS/A level chemistry" by Jim Clark. This book is brilliant and perfect for when you don't understand calculation in A level chemistry.
In conclusion:
1) Do all the calculation questions, even if you get them wrong, after a while of going back over it and reading around it, it will click.
2) Do all of the past papers available, maybe more than once.
3) Get that calculations book.
4) Practise practise practise!
Best of luck! If you have any other questions, fire em at me!
Thanks for your advice and for the book recommendation!
Original post by geor
Buy this book and you'll never look back:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Calculations-AS-A-Level-Chemistry/dp/0582411270/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388953486&sr=8-1&keywords=chemistry+calculations
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Calculations-AS-A-Level-Chemistry/dp/0582411270/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1388953486&sr=8-1&keywords=chemistry+calculations
Thanks for the recommendation!
Original post by geor
I'm sure it will, it has EVERYTHING, every single question they could possibly ask you in an example. Stuff that's not on my syllabus, even. It's a fantastic and really helpful book, I promise you won't be disappointed.
Sounds great
looking forward to getting startedOriginal post by geor
No problem! I hope you find it as useful as I have
What grade did you get using it? if you don't mind me asking
Original post by geor
Thanks and well done
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Original post by geor
Out of curiosity, how good would you say you are at maths, and do you think an A in chemistry is possible for someone, like me, who's very poor at maths?
I find it's usually pretty obvious.
I don't mean it in a bad way but if you look at the units of what you're giveN, you can usually just mindlessly apply formulae if you know them well enough.
I don't mean it in a bad way but if you look at the units of what you're giveN, you can usually just mindlessly apply formulae if you know them well enough.
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by keromedic
I find it's usually pretty obvious.
I don't mean it in a bad way but if you look at the units of what you're give, you can usually just mindlessly apply formulae if you know them well enough.
I don't mean it in a bad way but if you look at the units of what you're give, you can usually just mindlessly apply formulae if you know them well enough.
Good advice - but most people struggling have no idea what the units are
And I don't mean they don't know what are units of - say - wavelength. They have no idea wavelength HAS units.
Somehow I feel like hearing Butt-head saying "unit in science is like a... chapter in a book, uh huh, huh huh".
Original post by Borek
Good advice - but most people struggling have no idea what the units are
And I don't mean they don't know what are units of - say - wavelength. They have no idea wavelength HAS units.
Somehow I feel like hearing Butt-head saying "unit in science is like a... chapter in a book, uh huh, huh huh".
And I don't mean they don't know what are units of - say - wavelength. They have no idea wavelength HAS units.
Somehow I feel like hearing Butt-head saying "unit in science is like a... chapter in a book, uh huh, huh huh".
I suppose so. It's a shame not all science students have a strong maths background. If they did, I think such things would be obvious.
Like the mol/conc triangle that students learn is pretty obvious when you consider the Alevel chem definition of concentration. I think it's something like number of moles per unit of volume.
And those it makes sense that
I probably made little sense there. English is not my strong suit but hopefully I got the message across.
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