p

[Nobby]

i

[totaled]

I found that being ahead throughout the year, and doing a crapload of practise exams helped. I myself finished the course in the summer holidays, but I didn't find that knowing everything that early helped. what really helped was already knowing a topic pretty well when my teacher taught it, so it was only reinforced, and clarified when he taught it to me a second time (second to my initial learning in the holidays). So be ahead, especially in unit 3 where there is a LOT of content to cover.

Oh and do a heap of practise exams. ~ 20 if you're really hoping to be in the upper end.

[Nobby]

Right, so chem isn't so hard that you can't self teach it to yourself? Oh, and did you do Unit 4 over summer?

[totaled]

you ca nteach yourself, some stuff takes a while to understand, and yeah it would be good if you had someone to ask stuff (if you got stuck occassionally), but hte textbook does a great job of explaning stuff. What you want to do is initially expose yourself to the content, before learning it again, and again, so that you can fully understand the concepts. Cramming the concepts a month before CAN work, but if you're always ahead, you're likely to do a lot better given that your understanding is likely to be concrete.

And no I didn't do unit 4 over the summer

[Nobby]

Ah okay, sweet. Better hit up some chem instead of pissing around in the coming weeks

[BlueSky_3]

I do agree with Totaled's approach but be wary since this approach is only well suited for some and so its better to work out what kind plan works best for you and stick to it.

[totaled]

^ yep i totally agree. Figure out what works best for you

the only thing that i can emphasise is practise exams. no matter how you learn, you will learn the sorts of questions tha twil lbe gtested. it works particularly well in vce cos they always test the same things, they only test certain things, and more importantly, only test your understanding in a few, certain, and specific ways.

[Zebra]

you can take chem 3/4 in yr 11?

[pi]

you can take chem 3/4 in yr 11?

Yes, it is offered at many schools.

[ben_ess12]

checkpoints and neap books useful?

[totaled]

as a source of examination-styled questions, yes!

[Zebra]

you can take chem 3/4 in yr 11?

Yes, it is offered at many schools.

woah, serious? does that mean these kids take chem 1/2 in yr10?
shit... I was misinformed then..

Moderator action: removed real name, sorry for the inconvenience

[ben_ess12]

as a source of examination-styled questions, yes!

thanks you

[sahanc]

I think at this point, one of the most helpful things to slowly work through the questions in the first few chapters of the textbook (I used Heinemann Chemistry 2). Reason being, the summer holidays are the one time in the year where you can really work on your technique and method in approaching problems, since you don't have the time pressure having to keep up with your class or keep ahead. Since the actual calculations in Chemistry are actually quite simple, having a very methodical approach to these problems really does help to cut down on simple mistakes which can be really hard to iron out in the lead-up to exams. At the same time, it gives you a tried and tested way of approaching most problems, which should help you tackle more difficult worded problems which you might encounter in SACs and exams. In the beginning, the more steps shown the better - of course, this is something that you can learn to cut down on as you progress. My personal reccomendation would be to work through the first few chapters, highlighting any questions which you answer incorrectly and re-doing them until you obtain the correct answer. This will also expose you to the first few analytical techniques (Gravimetry and Volumetry), and hence you should also start to learn some of the key concepts explored during the semester. As for the later chapters, it would certainly be a good idea to take a look at the main ideas, but I don't think any heavy preparation is needed/advisable in the summer holidays.

Good luck

[Nobby]

Thanks fellas, also what's the best way to revise for SACs?