how hard/easy is it to get a good mark in chem?

[nemolala]

ok so..im just wondering how hard is it to get at least in the B-B+ range?

chems so long and hard and mentally tiring lol

i at least want in that range (being realistic- reaallllyyyyy dont want a C) anything above will be so awesome..

for the sacs we've done our teacher doesnt tell us the mark or anything so i dont really know where i stand

[Dr.Lecter]

not that hard

[cohen]

From last year's midyear Graded Assesment report, you need at least 112 (or 56) for at least a B+. (a B is at least 45.5)

If you want to look at how many marks you need for each grade, then I suggest you take a look at

Code: [Select]

http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/statistics/2010/midyear/vce_chemistry_ga1_10.pdf

I'm not sure if the scores are going to be changing, but aim as high as you can go

I've only done one VCAA practice exam, and they're actually relatively easy. Just work through checkpoints, do all the work your teacher sets you (and more ), and then once you feel you know the course well enough, start doing practice exams. This is what I've been doing, and it's worked well for me so far

[man0005]

you guys reckon tuition helps with chem?
like would kinda cover any gaps your teacher might miss...or would it be equally as effective to devote lots of time to self study (i.e. read ahead, buy checkpoints and start churning out exams)

[nemolala]

From last year's midyear Graded Assesment report, you need at least 112 (or 56) for at least a B+. (a B is at least 45.5)

If you want to look at how many marks you need for each grade, then I suggest you take a look at

Code: [Select]

http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce/statistics/2010/midyear/vce_chemistry_ga1_10.pdf

I'm not sure if the scores are going to be changing, but aim as high as you can go

I've only done one VCAA practice exam, and they're actually relatively easy. Just work through checkpoints, do all the work your teacher sets you (and more ), and then once you feel you know the course well enough, start doing practice exams. This is what I've been doing, and it's worked well for me so far

wow thanks for the encouragement this i what i will do
thanks!
good luck with studying

[nemolala]

@man0005: tbh i go tsfx and what we learn there is sooooooooooo much more than whats in the book or by teacher. honestly every time i go i learn some thing waaaay new despite the fact we have finished unit three

its weird how much is missed at school and our text books

so i do reckon that external help is better but also depends on who is teaching you. the teacher at tsfx is awesome

[cohen]

@man0005, I live in geelong, so I don't have access to any of the good tutoring places (Well, i could always travel up to melbourne, but i cant be bothered going on a train there and back).

So, I don't have a tutor, and I'm coping pretty well with chemistry so far. Whenever i feel like I'm stuck, I either look through Jack's notes for chemistry, or the TSFX notes (i bought these a while back ), or I just youtube it. Khanacademy has some great tutorials for science and maths, so they should be able to help you for stuff that you're stuck on (I can't remember seeing any spectroscopy or chromatography stuff in there though.)

[man0005]

@nemolala
oh really? can you give me an example? kinda worrying...

[luken93]

@man0005, Cohen, nemolala

Honestly, the best thing is to do practice exams, no way about it. I thought I knew a fair bit, but there is sooooo much more you will learn by doing practice exams. So get on em when you're ready, even if you don't do them, just read through them and you'll discover how much ISN'T in textbooks, but is all relevant.

[man0005]

which year exams have you started with luken?
cause ive been doing the very early ones i.e 1997-2000 and found theres alot of irrelevent stuff (e.g equilibrium things mentioned on other thread)

[luken93]

which year exams have you started with luken?
cause ive been doing the very early ones i.e 1997-2000 and found theres alot of irrelevent stuff (e.g equilibrium things mentioned on other thread)

I wouldn't do sub 2000 at all. Basically pointless unless you're looking for the stoich questions. There are plenty of the new study design exams around, so start with maybe VCAA 2008 to get a feel for it, then attempt NEAP/TSFX towards the end when you're confident.

[nemolala]

@man005: i didnt mean to worry you and luken 93 is right you will probs pick up on these through prac exams cause i did too

things like dilution factor isnt in our text book nor did we learn about yet it had questions about dilution factor. the fact that you call OH hydroxy as well wasnt something we learnt and when i was doing check points i came across naming a compound that had both a carboxy and hydroxy and was like wth?!?! how am i going to name this? and i learnt it through tsfx.

but personally it comes down to your own teacher i think mine was a bit too brief and i think shes been going through other things that affected the way she teaches cause she kinda like changed. so maybe your teacher isnt bypassing things as you'd think or like my case.


i think as well that the theory side of things go in more depth with tsfx compared to my book but i dont know how much that is relevant to our exam. if you want you probably should by those chem notes or somethin just so your getting info from a different source. and btw the notes given by tsfx is just a combination of all the other books out there for chem that are used so try reading up on nelson or other text books maybe if you feel something is too brief or you dont like the way its explained.

and dont worry it will come down to how well you know the content and its ok like luken said you will pick up more by doing exams. then just ask your teacher.

good luck

[nemolala]

one month and a couple of days left?!?!? damn its coming too fast.......i think i have a distorted sense of time

[luken93]

Yeah, our textbook is fairly summarised (StudyOn), and our teacher doesn't use anything AT ALL apart from this book. Furthermore, I think some of the things are more applying your knowledge more than anything - which is something they definitely do not teach from the textbook.
This is where the problem lies...

[Greatness]

Yep Luke is right imo. Do exam questions! When i started doing checkpoints i didnt even know how to approach a few questions, either because we hadnt learnt aobut it or it was a question that ive never seen before.
This is the best way to prepare for the exam, the more exam questions you do the less likely you will be thrown off by a question. Ive also noticed that they use a lot of similar question structures

Yeah, our textbook is fairly summarised (StudyOn), and our teacher doesn't use anything AT ALL apart from this book. Furthermore, I think some of the things are more applying your knowledge more than anything - which is something they definitely do not teach from the textbook.
This is where the problem lies...

I was planning to read that textbook... Do you reckon i should or is it a waste of time?