Finding LC Chemistry Really Difficult!

ecila

Hi, Im in 5th yr at the moment and I'm finding chemistry really really difficult. I'm reasonably clever, all my other subjects are fine but I'm just finding chemistry extremely difficult. I got a D1 in the xmas exams (Ive never gone below a C1 in my life!! ) and I've only slightly improved in class tests but those are only on one or two chapters! especially the whole 'Mole' concept and all the calculations that go with it I just can't seem to do...

I'm not sure if it's my teacher or just me not grasping the subject (I think it's a bit of both)... also the thing is I can't drop it if I want to go on and do something sciency in uni. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to improve my grades? Are the revise wise any good for chem or should I just get grinds next year?

Any advice wuld be hugely appreciated!

Thanks

partyatmygaff

I'd recommend you to get grinds. LC Chemistry is tough unless you've got a great teacher.

As for the mole concept and calculations they are difficult at first but once you start to come to grips with the concept behind it all everything will sink it in to place and calculations should become a breeze. This may sound a bit off but i'd recommend you watch youtube videos explaining topics in the course as well. I found that very useful back in fifth year.

Patriciamc93

I would advise you to stay with it if you are sciency and maybe think about getting grinds if you can...... Maybe even just for the basics. In fifth year I found chem extrememely hard and the negative attitude of my teacher didn't help. Now I get the basics as in other sections it becomes clearer, things begin to click. Plus organic chemistry will be alot of just learning and that can be 3 or more questions on the paper. Also rates is another question which is really nice.

Also if your teacher is like my teacher they may give extremely hard tests! In the really exam there are about 10 marks which go to separareing a's from b's etc. But my teacher gives all separating questions which not only makes us feel like we are bad at chem but also gives a wrong perception of our ability and the real exam!

Chemistry really does begin to get nicer in 6th year!

Hope this helps

Sunny!!

as the above said it will get better in 6th year i guarantee:D i really really found it difficult, have an appaling teacher, but its after getting alot easier now just keep practising especially the mole stuff

ecila

Thanks everyone I'm so glad to hear it will get better because I'm stressing so much about it atm! And the worst part of it is that I'm afraid to study it because I have it in my head that I can't do it so I get even less study done for it than I should be doing!

I just need to get my head on straight and start revising! I think I might take a look on youtube for those videos as well

About the revise wise, is it worth getting does anyone know?

Sunny!!

ecila wrote: »

Thanks everyone I'm so glad to hear it will get better because I'm stressing so much about it atm! And the worst part of it is that I'm afraid to study it because I have it in my head that I can't do it so I get even less study done for it than I should be doing!

I just need to get my head on straight and start revising! I think I might take a look on youtube for those videos as well

About the revise wise, is it worth getting does anyone know?

i dont like revise wise for chemistry but thats me:D get the essentials little book absolutely brilliant it is, then rapid revision by declan kennedy and MOST IMPORTANTLY exam edge its called, has the solutions to all questions. pick a topic to study a week we say and do the exam questions over and over again, i found chemistry so hard i had to do an exam question about 20 times to know it, but at the end of the day i knew it off by heart so i didnt mind:D really dont stress too much about it

Patriciamc93

Sunny!! wrote: »

i dont like revise wise for chemistry but thats me:D get the essentials little book absolutely brilliant it is, then rapid revision by declan kennedy and MOST IMPORTANTLY exam edge its called, has the solutions to all questions. pick a topic to study a week we say and do the exam questions over and over again, i found chemistry so hard i had to do an exam question about 20 times to know it, but at the end of the day i knew it off by heart so i didnt mind:D really dont stress too much about it

Yep totally agree. And if you have chemistry live then the rapid revision is really really good.

Also for experiments -> http://chemistry.slss.ie/ch_mandatoryexperiments.html
they are really good but there can be just a little much info on the teacher notes but they are still amazing!

ecila

I'll definitely be getting that then, I have the Chemistry Live book so I'll get the rapid revision book then Thanks!

Dave1711

It was the bane of my life in secondary school,i really think its due to teachers though,i studied last year in college and a lot of the basics were 6th year stuff and when the lecturers re-explained them they just seemed to make sense.

But ya revision books i had 2,one for the experiments and one for the theory!

Victoria.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiVweBpjXJo

This guy is fantastic, watch a few of his videos and you've learnt more than you have in class for the last month. He has videos on every topic you encounter in lc chem and I found him extremely useful last year. I'm now studying science in college . Don't worry you'll make it.

Some concepts are just difficult to grasp in the beginning but as you continue on in the course everything seems to slot in and you see the relationship between the different sections of the course. Chemistry unfortunately can be one of those really frustrating subjects in which you can be completely lost for a long time and then all of a sudden everything becomes clear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ERfPN5JLX8&feature=channel_video_title

Look at a few of his videos too! He looks like Einstein and is just great!

Don't worry it gets better