At the ‘O’ level, the study of chemistry requires students to retain and apply a large amount of content knowledge and a very particular set of skills.
Sheryl Ng, Subject Head of Secondary Science, breaks down essential information on ‘O’ Level Chemistry Paper Paper 2 and shares five key ways in which students can address this paper.
As a whole, 50 per cent of the overall ‘O’ Level Chemistry grade is included in Paper 2. Since the requirements of Paper 2 are high, and the duration given is relatively short for students to complete the paper, during the revision period, students have to strategize.
In order to score well, students need to:
- Understand their content well
- Time management exercise
- Identify with precision question types and requirements
- Responding with accuracy to each question
Essentially, learners need to have good knowledge of content and good exam skills. To tackle the ‘O’ Level Chemistry Paper 2, read on to explore these essential chemistry O level tuition tips.
Focus on Content
Students are required to show a strong understanding of scientific knowledge in the ‘O’ Level Chemistry syllabus. Both the scope and the depth of the curriculum mean that when revising and reviewing topical knowledge, students should use specific strategies.
1. Understand your Periodic Table
Teachers in secondary school will tell you that this is non-negotiable: learners need to know how to use the Periodic Table. Why?
There is a wealth of data in the Periodic Table that can help students solve questions across the whole of Paper 2.
While some information can be obtained directly from the Periodic Table, such as proton number, mass number, group number and period number, students can also deduce specific scientific data based on these data points.
2. Understand the connection between topics
Students are required in Paper 2 to use knowledge of more than one specific subject. Therefore to answer questions, learners should be
able to link several concepts across various topics. Strong content knowledge on fundamental topics would be an excellent way to prepare for such questions. The main essential topics to master are:
- Kinetic Theory of Particles
- Atomic Composition
- Changing Energy
- Equations
- Concept of Mole
Topics often tested in tandem include:
- Acids, Bases and Salts + Metals + Qualitative Analysis
- Elements, Compounds and Mixtures + Separation Techniques
- Periodic Table + Metals/Salts
- Metals + Reduction and Oxidation Reactions
- Electrolysis + Reduction and Oxidation Reactions
- Atomic Structure + Chemical Bonding
- Chemical Bonding + Periodic Table