VCE Stuff > VCE Chemistry
Struggling so bad in vce Chem?
Snow Leopard:
Hi everyone,
I just want some advice for chem. I have really struggled with it this year but done okay because of the questions on sacs that cover theory.
So, this really backfired on me for the unit 2 exam where literally everything was calculations and i struggled to understand the question and the content it even related to. I basically failed this exam really badly. basicall hardly understood unit 1 and can say that i really don't understand unit 2.
This is mostly my fault, i know that since i really didn't do any of the textbook questions all year. I also can't say that chem is exactly my fav subject and i stopped taking notes in class in unit 2 cos apparently its better to just listen to the teacher. Also, my teacher presents stuff in a complicated way, but whatevs. (they will be the 3/4 teacher as well)
tldr: what should i do? do i have any hope of doing decently next year with this crappy basis? Should i just choose another subject which relies more on facts and memory rather than calculations ? (even though chem is a prereq for some courses i'm considering ike med but honestly can a srudent who doesn't enjoy chem even be a doctor. it'll be a literal struggle to get like above 95 atar let alone 99+)
btw: this was an actual fail like as in well below 50 percent at a school where sacs in 3/4 chem would probs scale down.
AAGlue:
--- Quote from: Snow Leopard on November 23, 2020, 06:19:47 pm ---Hi everyone,
I just want some advice for chem. I have really struggled with it this year but done okay because of the questions on sacs that cover theory.
So, this really backfired on me for the unit 2 exam where literally everything was calculations and i struggled to understand the question and the content it even related to. I basically failed this exam really badly. basicall hardly understood unit 1 and can say that i really don't understand unit 2.
This is mostly my fault, i know that since i really didn't do any of the textbook questions all year. I also can't say that chem is exactly my fav subject and i stopped taking notes in class in unit 2 cos apparently its better to just listen to the teacher. Also, my teacher presents stuff in a complicated way, but whatevs. (they will be the 3/4 teacher as well)
tldr: what should i do? do i have any hope of doing decently next year with this crappy basis? Should i just choose another subject which relies more on facts and memory rather than calculations ? (even though chem is a prereq for some courses i'm considering ike med but honestly can a srudent who doesn't enjoy chem even be a doctor. it'll be a literal struggle to get like above 95 atar let alone 99+)
btw: this was an actual fail like as in well below 50 percent at a school where sacs in 3/4 chem would probs scale down.
--- End quote ---
Did the chem 3/4 exam today and can say that it was 60% theory, 25% calculations and 15% something in between
And don’t worry U3 and U4 is actually more theory based than U1/2 imo
But I think the same goes for most subjects:
Textbooks Qs are kinda a waste of time, just keep doing practice exams and exam-style Qs (especially for the calc skillz)
Maybe choose bio if you really hate chem? Bio is like 100% theory :D
Snow Leopard:
--- Quote from: AAGlue on November 23, 2020, 06:24:03 pm ---Did the chem 3/4 exam today and can say that it was 60% theory, 25% calculations and 15% something in between
And don’t worry U3 and U4 is actually more theory based than U1/2 imo
But I think the same goes for most subjects:
Textbooks Qs are kinda a waste of time, just keep doing practice exams and exam-style Qs (especially for the calc skillz)
Maybe choose bio if you really hate chem? Bio is like 100% theory :D
--- End quote ---
Thanks, I'm doing bio next year anyways though. But isn't 1/2 chem the literal basis of 3/4? As in topics covered in 1/2 are assumed knowedge in 3/4?
AAGlue:
--- Quote from: Snow Leopard on November 23, 2020, 06:27:20 pm ---Thanks, I'm doing bio next year anyways though. But isn't 1/2 chem the literal basis of 3/4? As in topics covered in 1/2 are assumed knowedge in 3/4?
--- End quote ---
Nope literally 60% of U1/2 gets thrown out
40% is stuff like redox, organic chem, and stoich that carries over to U3/4
But unfortunately its the calculation skills that carry over :P
How about pyschology? Isnt it a theory-heavy subject?
keltingmeith:
--- Quote from: Snow Leopard on November 23, 2020, 06:27:20 pm ---Thanks, I'm doing bio next year anyways though. But isn't 1/2 chem the literal basis of 3/4? As in topics covered in 1/2 are assumed knowedge in 3/4?
--- End quote ---
A little bit, but not quite. It's worth noting - unit 3 will feel very, very, very mathsy. It will feel like just way too much maths. And you are going to have to back yourself up with that. But that the end of the day, unit 3 isn't all calculations - it's about 60:40, I'd say, in terms of calculations vs. concepts. Maybe even 70:30? Unit 4, however, is VERY concepts based, with basically no calculations whatsoever.
Unit 1/2 is a basis. All the skills are important. It's important you understand redox. It's important you can do stoichiometry calculations for any phase. It's important you understand solubility. It's important you understand how bonding happens. But these skills are important in the same way it's important you can add numbers together to do algebra, or that you know a bunch of different words when you try to write an essay. You're not being tested on redox, you're not being tested on calculations, they're just skills you need to know how to use to do the stuff you'll be asked about in 3/4.
It's worth noting: if you want to do med, you should still give chem a shot. It's not too late to turn it around and still get that 25 pre-req. Hell, IMO, it's not too late for you to pull it around and still get a 40, with the right mind-set. But if you don't do chem, then you lock yourself out of the chance. A bad ATAR can be recovered by an alternate pathway, a missing subject is harder to fix
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