before doing unit 3/4 chem...

[boysenberry]

Hi there! I'm doing year 12 Chemistry (units 3 and 4) next year. I'm wondering if its a good idea to review unit 1 and 2 work before undertaking units 3 and 4. I never did the textbook questions for unit 1, is it a good idea to quickly do all of these? Would this significantly help with Chemistry next year?

[Edmund]

Most of the stuff in 1/2 will be covered in 3/4 anyway (since you can take up Chemistry in Year 12). It's a good idea to go over the Year 11 stuff, as it will definitely help save you some time...

[shinny]

Actually, I don't think it is. Review all the stuff about ionic, covalent and metallic bonding because that forms the foundation for MANY things and having a sense of these concepts develops a Chemistry 'logic' in a way which helps you to understand and even derive many things found in Chemistry 3/4. I found a solid understanding of 1/2 really helped me later as I could understand things conceptually much easier, and didn't need to spend much time at all rote learning things. Secondly, make sure you understand stoic completely before you jump into 3/4. Oh, but one thing is to not worry about the different atom models and stuff. Even the quantum mechanics model isn't needed at all really (well, perhaps a VERY slight part in spectroscopy, but you can do fine without it I think).

[Potter]

I'm planning to cover the whole chem course over the next 10 days(ambitious, I know). But, I have a good grasp of many 3/4 concepts already so I believe it's possible.
Ofcoruse its a good idea to review units 3/4. It's best to work ahead of your school so you have plenty of time to revise. If you run into problems, I'm sure if you
make a post on VN you'll get help.
In regards to Unit 1... I think it's relevant in a sense of basics. Like shinny said, Unit 1 stuff is assumed knowledge in units 2/3/4.

All the best.

[appianway]

I'm probably not going to do that much over the holidays... I did 95% of the chemistry course in term 3, because I was bored with the 1/2 (I did a little bit before the Chemistry Olympiad, but not an excessive amount), but I think I'm going to wait to hear my teacher's explanations before going back to it. I don't have the time to cover the course again, and I'd like to concentrate enough to pick up lots of details whilst studying Chemistry next year (I tend to zone out if I'm too bored)...

[Vadnal]

So stoich / redox are the most important topics to understand before 3/4?

[Ilovemathsmeth]

Chem 3/4 does depend on a good foundation from units 1/2. However, there doesn't seem much point in spending valuable motivation levels covering 1/2 stuff. The stoichiometry, mole, acid-base, redox and gas laws will be very useful knowledge from units 1/2, but it will be covered in 3/4. Thus perhaps head straight into units 3/4. Or, you might just want to do 1/2 and not do anything for 3/4.

On the other hand - keep in mind that overworking during the Summer can sometimes have negative effects. It is possible to do well despite summer study if you are a consistent worker. I did zero work for Chem during the holidays, and really stressed out because I neglected it so much. I had a reasonably good understanding of units 1/2. I think this helped me keep focused and motivated throughout the year. I ended up with rank 1 =)

So, in a way it's also good to enjoy the holidays because you tend to burn out less quickly. In another way, I think I'd have saved myself a lot of stress around midyear exams and term holidays had I done some work for it over the Summer.

Unit 3 is VERY busy, and things will get very stressful. I found it especially so because I didn't finish the course over my holidays, and I'm used to doing so. You could complete unit 3 instead.