Revision

Robertpotter1999

My first chemistry exam is in just over a month away and im extremely worried because my revision is not working. Has anyone got any good techniques for revising chemistry. All i have been doing is constantly taking notes over and over doing exam questions

(edited 6 years ago)

Reply 1

Pigster

You should pay a lot of attention to exactly what you write.

Reply 2

Robertpotter1999

Original post by Pigster

You should pay a lot of attention to exactly what you write.

What do u mean?

Reply 3

thenextchemist

Original post by Robertpotter1999

What do u mean?

you said you're revision is working

Reply 4

Robertpotter1999

Original post by Bloom77

you said you're revision is working

Oh crap that is not what i meant thats also another thing i need to work on is not missing out words

Reply 5

Pigster

Original post by Robertpotter1999

Oh crap that is not what i meant thats also another thing i need to work on is not missing out words

Which is exactly what I meant.

Reply 6

username1973239

Original post by Robertpotter1999

1. LOOK AT THE SPECIFICATION.
It is important that you know everything you need to know before entering the exam.
2. LOOK AT MARK SCHEMES
Especially the most recent ones. This will give you an idea of what examiners are looking for in the exam.
3. GO OVER EXPERIMENTS
You will be tested on stuff like how to improve certain experiments etc.
4. USE VIDEOS TO HELP WITH REVISION
eg. Khan academy, snap revise etc. Make notes whilst watching.

Reply 7

Robertpotter1999

Original post by TSlayerr

Will those sites help me im doing Edexcel and its a weird spec

Reply 8

username1973239

Original post by Robertpotter1999

Will those sites help me im doing Edexcel and its a weird spec

It should be fine. Khan academy isn't exam board specific as it is targeted towards the American students. I usually pick topics that I struggle with and type the topic into the search box. Whilst watching it's extremely important to write notes.

For snap revise, they have exam board specific courses. It sucks that it costs £28 ish for 2 years, but I think its worth it.

Reply 9

Robertpotter1999

Original post by TSlayerr

It should be fine. Khan academy isn't exam board specific as it is targeted towards the American students. I usually pick topics that I struggle with and type the topic into the search box. Whilst watching it's extremely important to write notes.
For snap revise, they have exam board specific courses. It sucks that it costs £28 ish for 2 years, but I think its worth it.

Oh okay thank you!

Reply 10

alevels2k17

go over every point on the syllabus and make sure u know each one.. make notes using ur book (also use chemguide and chemrevise pdfs they helped me soo much) and watch youtube videos on the things u do not understand .. then when u feel ready start with pastpapers and time yourself.. write ur wrong questions on a paper/flashcards and keep going over them before every pastpaper session u do.. u will notice an improvement when doing pastpapers and will start getting As eventually .. dont worry u still have time!! one month is more than enough . good luck!

Reply 11

tony_dolby

Original post by Robertpotter1999

First, stay calm. Worrying about exams never helped anyone. Students struggle for a myriad of reasons, but chemistry is actually really easy. I was crap at school, but it came together later on at university.

Think about building a house. Your first start is the foundations. Without strong foundations in chemistry then doing endless exam papers won't help because under the stress of the exam your basic weakness will be exposed.

Learn your basic facts so that they become second nature. When you see CHO you should think 'aldehyde' . When you're asked about melting point you're thinking 'strong bonds' or 'weak bonds' - which bonds or forces are we breaking and why?

Calculations can score you a lot of marks - even if you're cr*p at maths. Find a technique that works for you and stick to it. Don't change your method ever! Balanced equation, calculate moles, concentrations, volumes in correct units etc. - these are all scoring for you.

Above all, as I said earlier, don't worry about it.

Reply 12

Robertpotter1999

Original post by tony_dolby

I know everyone says not to worry and everything but i got an A* in chemistry at GCSE and i know its a big jump and everything but ive never got higher than a C on a paper and i need a B to get into my uni so i am crapping myself

Reply 13

tony_dolby

Original post by Robertpotter1999

GCSE and A-level are a different ball game. Another analogy for you. Football managers tell their team in the FA Cup final to 'play the game and not the occasion'. The same is true with exams. Just do your best and the B will take care of itself.

A 'B' should be attainable with a completely secure knowledge of facts. How is your organic chemistry? In my experience that is a good earner in terms of marks. Learn your reagents and the various spectroscopic techniques.

Reply 14

tony_dolby

One more thing I have thought of. If you're getting a 'C' try and see how you are dropping marks. If you are consistently getting 2 out of 3 and 1 out of 2 then look at your exam technique. Make sure you are putting everything down that you need. Three mark answers require three correct points. If you can get 2 out of 3 then you kknow what you're talking about - make sure you put the icing on the cake.

If you are getting 5/5 on some questions and 0/3 on others, this is a knowledge problem. The same goes for 0/1 on basic knowledge questions. Every 'B' student must getting these basic questions right.

Reply 15

Robertpotter1999

Original post by tony_dolby

So with me its wierd because i find different thing easy and other hard from both orangic, inorganic and physical for example orangic functional groups i know easy! Kinetics and Equilibruim easy energetics easy.. but things like redox i cannot get my head around orangic synthesis i dont get.. i dont get how my brain works because i am all over the place my teacher even says i strange because im not better at one or the other which they usally find.

Reply 16

tony_dolby

You're probably nearly there. You must learn all the possible organic reactions (including reagents and reaction conditions). Have a really good look through the spec because they are difficult to find sometimes. Then you can make a large A3 poster and write down all the different functional groups and use arrows to show how to turn one into another. Haloalkanes can be placed in the centre because they are involved in loads of routes. You can also stick on the characteristic IR absorptions too so you can quickly recongise a functional group by shape and wavenumber. This will help you see the bigger picture.

Redox can be difficult. A lot of organic involves reduction so make sure you know that reduction is the gain of hydrogen as well as OILRIG (electrons). Be absolutely certain that you know what a reducing agent is. It does reducing. It donates hydrogen (often as hydride ions) or it donates electrons.

Electrons are always written on the left hand side of standard electrode potentials. Why?

The more negative the E° value, the more the equilibrium lies to the left.

The species on the right is being oxidised it is losing electrons and it is therefore trying to act as a reducing agent. The more negative the E° value, the more the equilibrium lies to the left and the species on the right is therefore a good reducing agent – it is good at giving electrons away.

The species on the left is being reduced – it is trying to act as an oxidising agent. The more positive the E° value, the more the equilibrium lies to the right and the better the species on the left is at receiving electrons – it is a better oxidising agent.

Because these questions are all about redox, a given chemical equation can be split into two half equations. Copper Oxide and Zinc makes Zinc Oxide and Copper. This overall reaction can be expressed as two half-equations; you should be able to do that. You can then calculate whether a reaction is feasible using the two relevant standard electrode potentials.

1) Select the half equation that you want to move to the right (in this case copper ions gain electrons and make copper)
2) Make this the right hand electrode (in your mind)
3) Select the half equation that you want to move to the left (in this case, zinc atoms lose electrons to make zinc ions.
4) Make this the left hand electrode (in your mind)

Then:

3) Perform the calculation e.m.f. = Right hand electrode - left hand electrode (in this case: +0.34- (-0.76)
4) If the answer is POSITIVE then reaction is feasible.

In this case, the answer is +1.1 V. So the reaction can occur.

Reply 17

username2108371

So:
Revising by writings notes and notes in a short space of time tends not to be very useful. This is because it won't stick in your head! You need to try something that will, such as speaking out loud, quizzing your friends etc. I used to quiz people a lot when i did GCSE and it helped a lot with science! I currently make videos to revise, and this is good too, such as this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGtgp5MonV4

Hope this helped!