ATAR Notes: Forum

VCE Stuff => VCE Science => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Chemistry => Topic started by: 34590 on October 23, 2010, 03:24:24 pm

Title: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: 34590 on October 23, 2010, 03:24:24 pm
I'm doing Unit 2 now but my teacher is constantly away on "Camp" leaving us clear as mud about most of the stuff!

So is it impossible to do well next year? Even if I work my ass off?   
   :-\
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Unit 3 Chem without 1/2 ?
Post by: MBBS on October 23, 2010, 03:26:07 pm
Getting a 30 means being in the top %50 in the state. If you work hard, of course it is.
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Unit 3 Chem without 1/2 ?
Post by: nbalakers24 on October 23, 2010, 03:26:39 pm
theres a few people that havent done 1/2 and get high scores .

its manageable, learn some of the coursework yourself, if you have trouble, search tutors in the board and get ahead in the summer holidays so you're ready once the school year starts.
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: sillysmile on October 23, 2010, 03:28:02 pm
it's definitely harder to do it this way.
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: 98.40_for_sure on October 23, 2010, 03:28:36 pm
A lot of the stuff learnt in unit 1/2 doesn't come up in 3/4. The only thing that i can think of is galvanic cells and how to use the e-series. Some formulas like pv=nrt, and conversion of units.
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: Russ on October 23, 2010, 03:30:32 pm
I did pretty badly in 1/2 chem and did well in 3/4 (something clicked about the content + teacher was better)

The 1/2 content is more just assumed knowledge, you'll have to revise things like stoich etc. to deal with the 3/4 content
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: HERculina on October 23, 2010, 04:36:01 pm
i forget... wat does getting over 40 mean. is it top 0.08% or 0.8% or 8% of the state? or am i no where near the right percentage?
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: iNerd on October 23, 2010, 04:49:44 pm
i forget... wat does getting over 40 mean. is it top 0.08% or 0.8% or 8% of the state? or am i no where near the right percentage?
40 - top 8%
45 - top 2%
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: Hutchoo on October 23, 2010, 05:02:52 pm
http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/faqs/vcecurrentstudents.html

Read up on VCAA etc  :o

2% of students will get a score on or above 45
9% of students will get a score on or above 40
26% of students will get a score on or above 35
53% of students will get a score on or above 30
78% of students will get a score on or above 25
93% of students will get a score on or above 20.
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: HERculina on October 23, 2010, 05:14:54 pm
ohhhh, hmm...i guess that's ok.
NO WAIT THATS HARD AS! :'(
aiyaiyaiyai
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: masonnnn on October 23, 2010, 05:56:55 pm
unit 1+2 our school had two classes. Our class had an incompetent teacher and because we were simply unable to learn properly all but about 4 of our class dropped it this year.
first few weeks of 3/4 got a proper understanding of pretty much the entirety of units 1+2 thanks to a good teacher. the beginning is very similar so it's easy to aslong as the teacher is good and you put work in.
went from no understanding last year to above average this year. a proper 1+2 grounding would definitely be helpful but it's not too hard without it
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: slothpomba on October 23, 2010, 06:39:06 pm
Probably wont be the easiest thing you've ever done but i think it can be done

However some of the 1/2 Stuff doesnt even show up in 3/4 (like metals) so you're not missing out entirely. They should do a revision thing at the start of unit 3 for a couple weeks but its not really meant for learning from scratch...so in that regard it wont be that bad...

I think it should be fine

Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: happyhappyland on October 23, 2010, 07:19:35 pm
get a tutor and learn all the relevant 1/2 stuff for 3/4 during summer holidays thats what i did
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: Greggler on October 24, 2010, 04:35:31 pm
it would be quite hard. 3/4 essentially builds on 1/2 as much as methods 3/4 builds on 1/2.

Your knowledge of stoich, acid bases, redox reactions all that jazz is heavily featured in 3/4. Really theres only two new things in unit 3 (spectroscopy ajnd biochemistry) and in unit 4 although it is mostly new, it is again, heavily calculation focused. However, if you work hard in unit 3, unit 4 is a lot easier.

Having said that, i completley disregarded chem last year, basically crammed the night before tests and im doing realtively fine so far this year. So a 30 would definately be achievable one would think; you'd just have to work extremely hard at the start of year to ensure that stoich calculations become almost second nature. Because if you get that down pact, thats basically 80% of exam questions nailed.
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: taiga on October 24, 2010, 04:37:44 pm
you will be fine, you just need to grasp onto the concepts quickly and you should be okay :D
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: Martoman on October 24, 2010, 09:15:16 pm
I guess me saying i didn't do 1/2 has no bearing here, but from what I understand from the textbook of 1-2 (which i read over this year) there is hardly anything relevant.
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: toshibaj on October 24, 2010, 10:19:49 pm
Too easy. I did absolutely nothing in year 11, including Chemistry Units 1 and 2, and I'm doing fine this year.

The only problem with ignoring year 11 is if you wanna go to med, the school does ATAR predictions based off your year 11 results.

That was bad for me.
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: stonecold on October 24, 2010, 10:24:05 pm
I guess me saying i didn't do 1/2 has no bearing here, but from what I understand from the textbook of 1-2 (which i read over this year) there is hardly anything relevant.

You're right.  You can make up for 1/2 in a single day by learning.
-Periodic table basics, atom structure, electron configurations, electronegativity etc.
-Stoichitometry/Equation writing
-Acid/Base chemistry
-Redox chemistry
-Ion charges, and if you feel like it, solubilities.

Year 11 chem = big waste of time. Especially Unit 1
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: happyhappyland on October 24, 2010, 10:40:29 pm
Too easy. I did absolutely nothing in year 11, including Chemistry Units 1 and 2, and I'm doing fine this year.

The only problem with ignoring year 11 is if you wanna go to med, the school does ATAR predictions based off your year 11 results.

That was bad for me.

No it isnt. What are you on about? My ATAR prediction was purely based on my year 12 sacs and mid year results; it had nothing to do with year 11. And yes I did apply for med. I failed year 11 english unit 2 and unit 1 chemistry yet my predicted was still 99.
Title: Re: Any Chance of getting a 30 in Chem without Unit 1/2 ?
Post by: nex on October 24, 2010, 11:34:32 pm
i'd agree with most people in this thread. i was failing unit 1 and 2 chem, but applied myself in unit 3 and managed an A+. hard work in unit 3 is much more important than doing units 1 and 2.