Chemistry is an essential subject as a pre-requisite for various science-related jobs out there and it’s always given the priority among the other sciences. It is a fundamental discipline that accounts for life at a molecular level; basically, it is an extremely fascinating subject. It is known for its abstract nature and complexity and it’s also a subject that is important to score well in the A levels. A level is one of the important checkpoints in the Singapore education system. If students perform well in A level chemistry, they will have great opportunities ahead of them. Fields related to chemistry has great career opportunities because of the increased demand for talents in that arena.
Source: thoughtco
So, let’s take a look at some effective ways to teach A level chemistry to students in order for them to excel in their examinations!
#1: PERSONALISED APPROACH
Tutoring one student will require a tutor to carefully analyse and comprehend the student’s learning pace, learning capacity, the way the student processes and internalises information, memory retention ability and many other areas of the student’s strengths and weaknesses. All this analysation then translates into a more customised teaching approach which will enable students to improve at a much faster rate.
A level chemistry examination questions are well-known for being challenging in nature and students may be unaware of how to approach questions, think critically and derive a solution. In order to break this cycle of confusion, a tutor has to guide and verbally explain why the student’s train of thought may not lead him or her to the answer, etc. Proper guidance is essential and that is one of the most important aspects.
#2: PROVIDING THE RESOURCES
The practice is of paramount importance in order to succeed. There is certainly more to the meaning of ‘practice’ then to just complete practice papers one after another. With every practice paper or assessment paper that students have completed, they have to do their due diligence, to assess and realise where and why they have made the mistakes they made. Practicing with purpose is what matters the most.
#3: EXAM TECHNIQUES
Studying well for an exam is half the battle won, but real success in achieving good grades depends on following the right exam techniques. The two most important exam techniques that A-level chemistry students have to master is being able to simplify large texts without missing the details, and the other is paying attention to questions requirements which will help students to arrive at the solution and be able to give concise explanations.
Students often make careless mistakes when they miss out important details in the question. It is important to use a pencil during the exam to annotate or draw small diagrams to channel attention to only important pieces of information which will guide in answering the questions. Simplifying pre-ambles will also save lots of time because students do not have to read and re-read the text to answer essay questions. All these useful techniques and strategies will be taught by tutors and in fact, they will guide students along the way and encourage them to try out different methods (to basically experiment and have fun learning this way!)
BOTTOM LINE
Though A-level chemistry is known to be challenging, it is not impossible to excel in it. Students need to be patient, persistent, hardworking and most importantly to not feel inhibited to ask questions and seek clarifications. Seeking the help of A-level chemistry tutor as soon as possible without letting doubts and problems snowball will be the best way to go about if a student’s aim is to progress at a good rate.