Lc chemistry - self study

Tomas18

Hi everybody, so I need to do chemistry for my leaving cert as I want to do medicine so chemistry is a BIG advantage! The only problem is that this year there was enough interest in chemistry to start a class even though 7 people wanted it. So my question is what is the best book to buy to learn LC. chemistry on your own? and what would be a great revision book to go along with it? also for all the experiments, I hear sometimes an inspector comes around checking you have them done but it would be really hard for me to do them unless I begged the principal. so should I get an experiment book just for convenience? and I was also thinking about grind maybe on the weekend, good idea? Any other tips/ advice would be greatly appreciated!!
Thomas, Co. Louth

Coeurdepirate

Chemistry Live! and Rapid Revision Chemistry.

Good luck, it's a difficult subject!

partyatmygaff

Chemistry Live! is your best bet.

Grinds are a must and if I were you i'd find some way to at least see the experiments if not do them yourself. It's much easier to remember how to describe the correct way to accurately dilute a solution for example when you've done it yourself many times.

Neodymium

Ya "Chemistry Live!" is probably the most common chemistry book for the Leaving Cert so you should probably get that one. I use chemistry live, there is another book aswell "Understanding Chemistry" I'm not too sure how good this book is but maybe someone else might let you know.

For the experiments I'd say you would get away without doing them as inspectors I think as far as I know only come around to chemistry classes in schools, you don't get any marks for having the experiments written up like you do in the juniour cert. Just make sure that you know the experiments inside out, they are very important. Q1 in the L.C chemistry exam is for the experiments, you have to answer 2 out of the 3 questions here, also questions on the experiments creep up through the rest of the paper in most of the questions also.

I grind once a week would probably be a good idea. I do physics outside school and I go for a grind once a week and I find it helpful. I would especially recomend some grinds for chemistry as the course is fairly short but extremely indepth, probably more so than any of the other science subjects. There is alot of difficult concepts to be grasped and a good grind teacher would make these easier to understand.

Lastly I just launched a website this week called studyscience.ie I have all of my notes from physics, chemistry and biology. They are of extremely high quality in .pdf format for easy printing and reading. I have all the notes for the experiments for each subject with clear computer genterated diagrams. I also have all the exam papers and marking schemes for each of these subjects. I also have included many video tutorials explaining parts of the physics, chemistry and biology courses. I will be contiually be adding content to the website including more notes and videos as I go through sixth year. The website again is studyscience.ie

Slow Show

Neodymium wrote: »

Lastly I just launched a website this week called studyscience.ie I have all of my notes from physics, chemistry and biology. They are of extremely high quality in .pdf format for easy printing and reading. I have all the notes for the experiments for each subject with clear computer genterated diagrams. I also have all the exam papers and marking schemes for each of these subjects. I also have included many video tutorials explaining parts of the physics, chemistry and biology courses. I will be contiually be adding content to the website including more notes and videos as I go through sixth year. The website again is studyscience.ie

Souuuuuund, bookmarked for the next two years.

jumpguy

A lot of work, a lot of understanding, and it's one subject where a lot of teacher guidance is needed.

I hope I'm not being utterly pessimistic, but start considering the 6-year medicine course imo, unless you're willing to shell out a lot of money for grinds.

Tomas18

Wow thanks everybody for the replies. Keep em commin' :L special thanks to 'Neodymium' for that website, I'm sure you will be many peoples saviors.

Sunny!!

Chemistry live and rapid revision, you'll be able to understand a good bit, but I'd say you would have to consider grinds:)

dambarude

I really think you should get a grind, if not once a week, frequently enough. You could get through most of theory on your own, but a teacher would be very helpful for the calculations. Things like stochiometry and heats of reactions can be tricky enough, and you'd need a teacher to run questions by.

I did Chemistry as an extra subject, getting a grind once a week. I got an A1, but it required a fair bit of work in my own time. You need to be disciplined. If you like the subject it will help a lot.

Chemistry Live! explains the theory really well (almost too well, it's quite long), so it's a good buy. I never saw any of the experiments being performed, but my grinds teacher was able to describe the colours and smells of things for me (they ask daft questions on those sort of things to test if you have actually done it). It went totally against the principles of the curriculum, but it worked for me. All that said, if you could see the experiments being performed it would help a lot in remembering it.

Regarding inspectors, I was lucky that there was a chemistry class in my school (I couldn't join because of timetable issues). Apparently if an inspector was to come I was meant to disappear from Technical Drawing and appear in the chemistry class:rolleyes:. It never happened though.

On another note, predicaments like yours are going to happen more and more now due to cut back in teacher numbers. Schools may once have been able to run a class with just 7 pupils but that can't happen any more.

Any more questions, ask!

Tomas18

dambarude wrote: »

I really think you should get a grind, if not once a week, frequently enough. You could get through most of theory on your own, but a teacher would be very helpful for the calculations. Things like stochiometry and heats of reactions can be tricky enough, and you'd need a teacher to run questions by.

I did Chemistry as an extra subject, getting a grind once a week. I got an A1, but it required a fair bit of work in my own time. You need to be disciplined. If you like the subject it will help a lot.

Chemistry Live! explains the theory really well (almost too well, it's quite long), so it's a good buy. I never saw any of the experiments being performed, but my grinds teacher was able to describe the colours and smells of things for me (they ask daft questions on those sort of things to test if you have actually done it). It went totally against the principles of the curriculum, but it worked for me. All that said, if you could see the experiments being performed it would help a lot in remembering it.

Regarding inspectors, I was lucky that there was a chemistry class in my school (I couldn't join because of timetable issues). Apparently if an inspector was to come I was meant to disappear from Technical Drawing and appear in the chemistry class:rolleyes:. It never happened though.

On another note, predicaments like yours are going to happen more and more now due to cut back in teacher numbers. Schools may once have been able to run a class with just 7 pupils but that can't happen any more.

Any more questions, ask!

Hey thanks for that:) really appreciated it. Well done on getting an A1 btw:)how hard was it and how did you study it by yourself, like take a half hour every day and read and also use flash cards or stick its for learning the chemistry definitions? also how important was past exam papers and sample answers? thanks again!

dambarude

Tomas18 wrote: »

how hard was it and how did you study it by yourself, like take a half hour every day and read and also use flash cards or stick its for learning the chemistry definitions?

I didn't find it particularly difficult, but some people do. It depends on the person really.

I tried to read over everything at least once after doing it in the grind each week. Then I did exam questions. Then I'd try looking at it again. I didn't do anything too strenuous, but I kept well on top of it as I did it. I had a very good teacher who used to test me on defintions almost every week, (nothing formal, just out loud).

Definitions are very important in Chemistry, and they need to be 'word perfect', as my teacher drummed into me. Missing one word in a definition could lose you 3 marks.

Tomas18 wrote: »

also how important was past exam papers and sample answers?

Exam papers were very important, but more important again were the marking schemes at www.examinations.ie. I used to try the questions and then correct myself. Over time you begin to realise exactly how each question should be answered, as the same questions appear again and again. Chemistry has remained a very repetitive subject, with the same definitions coming up over and over again. You should strive to know the Organic Chemistry section inside out and backside over, because in many exams you could get 3/4/5 questions answered on it. It can be a confusing section, but if you go over it often enough it'll go in eventually.

All that said, I would stress that in many different subjects the usual trends and types of questions are being dropped, so I'd avoid focusing on exam papers alone.

mrboswell

Biology is considered the longest course with a lot to learn, but possibly the easiest to understand.

Physics and Chemistry are similar in the size of course with Physics probably having a higher content of Maths related questions. There are some concepts that you MUST understand in order to be successful.

In theory you must complete the mandatory experiments but you may not be likely to have someone knocking on your door.
Its very important to remember that the examiners are now looking for evidence of you actually completed the experiments yourself. this means the questioning will be associated directly to the experiment. Questions like - What colour?, What colour change? etc. Basically if you haven't carried out the experiment you are immediately at a disadvantage.

Chemistry Live and Understanding Chemistry are both fine and either can be better depending on the topic.

Best advice I can give you is that there is no substitute for hard work.