Help With Studying for Chemistry...

[sillymissrachel]

Last year (in 10th grade) I LOVED chemistry; furthermore, I was good at it, to the point that I considered HLing. It just made sense to me, and with a small amount of studying, I could easily understand (and ace) everything.

This year, not so much. I read and reread my notes, I go in during lunch at least twice a week to review things with my teacher, I do ALL of the homework, I study old tests, I've made flashcards, I've gotten old tests from my teacher to work through...and nothing seems to stick. It just doesn't make sense to me! I'm definitely planning on SLing, since I think that trying to HL would just be one huge frustration.

So, my question is: What tips do you all have in terms of learning chemistry? My teacher is the only IB Chemistry teacher at the school, and frankly, the regular/AP chem teacher at my school makes no sense whatsoever when he explains things. I've memorized to the point that I recite chemistry equations and facts in the shower, and yet I still can't seem to understand the why, no matter how many times my teacher explains it to me (ranging from the difference in reactions of Brønstead-Lowry vs Lewis acids/bases to chromatography), which then leads to my not being able to apply it to larger concepts. Which, as I'm sure you can imagine, is quite frustrating.

So, any ideas?

Edited April 1, 2011 by Rachel Rodgers

[kiwi.at.heart]

I find the best way for concept to stick is simply do as many practice questions as possible. Its all good knowing the content, but a lot of chemistry is applying it, which where practice is the only way you are going to improve with it. So ask you teacher for extra sources for questions, do all the questions in your textbook, look for questions online or wherever, the trick is simply practising applying your knowledge to questions.

[nuka]

Last year (in 10th grade) I LOVED chemistry; furthermore, I was good at it, to the point that I considered HLing. It just made sense to me, and with a small amount of studying, I could easily understand (and ace) everything.

This year, not so much. I read and reread my notes, I go in during lunch at least twice a week to review things with my teacher, I do ALL of the homework, I study old tests, I've made flashcards, I've gotten old tests from my teacher to work through...and nothing seems to stick. It just doesn't make sense to me! I'm definitely planning on SLing, since I think that trying to HL would just be one huge frustration.

So, my question is: What tips do you all have in terms of learning chemistry? My teacher is the only IB Chemistry teacher at the school, and frankly, the regular/AP chem teacher at my school makes no sense whatsoever when he explains things. I've memorized to the point that I recite chemistry equations and facts in the shower, and yet I still can't seem to understand the why, no matter how many times my teacher explains it to me (ranging from the difference in reactions of Brønstead-Lowry vs Lewis acids/bases to chromatography), which then leads to my not being able to apply it to larger concepts. Which, as I'm sure you can imagine, is quite frustrating.

So, any ideas?

that was the same for me when i was choosing what topics to do for the IB. i was brilliant at chem for the GCSE level, but then IB came along and almost destroyed my passion for chemistry.

what i did was to do practice papers, and understand the topic well. i made analogies, my own acronyms to remember things, and learnt the definitions. this helped when the calculations came along, because by remembering and understanding the theory, i was able to do the calculations not because the question was phrased the way i wanted it to be, but because i knew what i was doing.

teachers can only help so far. my teacher tried to explain, but her explanations didn't stick. i self-studied.

i did topics which i understood first. like, periodicity, redox and acids and bases are my favorite units. by doing well in them, because i understood them, it gave me a HUGE confidence boost, to look back at the initial but horrible units, like energetics, kinetics, and bonding, and understand them.

it's all about confidence. don't loose your cool.