Leaving certificate chemistry is one of the hardest and most challenging exams. This paper tests a number of students' capabilities and skills, which can be intimidating for some students. However, when you know the top tricks for acing chemistry, you can reduce your stress and earn some success.
Here are the top tips and tricks for leaving certificate chemistry.
1. Study the experiments:
The experiments you've covered over the leaving certificate cycle can come up in the exams as questions. That's why it's essential that you know the titles of the experiments, how they work, and why it matters before sitting the paper.
2. Choose your questions wisely:
You do not have to answer every question on the chemistry exam. So spend a few minutes at the start of the exam to read through the different questions and choose the ones you think you can answer best. You can return to the questions you skipped if you have extra time in the end.
3. Prepare for long questions:
The long question sections make up a massive chunk of your overall grade. So study intensely on topics that are likely to come up here. Check out past exam papers online and test your knowledge to get comfortable asking these questions. The more times you practice these questions, the better you'll be at answering.
4. Keep track of time:
Many leaving certificate exams put students under pressure to complete all the work, and chemistry is no exception. So manage your time carefully. You want to spend only a short time on one answer if it stops you from answering other sections within the timeframe. A great way of keeping track of time is by allocating a certain amount of time per question.
5. Know the definitions:
Knowing all the formulas, facts, and definitions inside out is an easy way of picking up marks. These can come up in long questions or be short questions of their own. Either way, it's worth some marks. Knowing the little definitions can be the difference between a pass or fail.
6. Think before you start answering:
Read questions twice and decide on an answer before you start writing. You can even write a brief plan for your answer before you start. Taking the time to double-check the questions can prevent silly mistakes that come from rushing.
7. Master the required mathematics skills and techniques:
A large chunk of the chemistry exam is based on calculations. So practice the sums you've covered repeatedly until you can do them in your sleep. This allows you to rely on these skills to get a grade.
8. Check out chemistry predictions:
You can make educated guesses as to what will come up where in the chemistry exams for leaving certificate. You can do this by checking out patterns in the last exam papers and asking your teachers about what will come up in the test. Of course, you'll never know what will come up, so rely only a little on the predictions.