Studyclix study guide`

Dmitri Mendeleev, the creator of the periodic table of elements, claimed that he saw the
very table he created in his dreams, after which he woke up and wrote it down. If only we
had such luck when it came to studying chemistry. Anyway, I at least hope this study guide
gives you some tips and tricks to navigate VCE Chemistry this year.

How to prepare for SACs

Your SACs for chemistry make up 40% of your final grade. You will have around 5 SACs
throughout the year which should cover much of the content you need to know. I suggest
you use your SAC preparation wisely as this will put less pressure on you during the exam
period.

Use the study design

To maximise your time use the study design, it tells you exactly what you need to know for
the course – nothing more, nothing less. Before going through a topic, I would get out my
study design and generate a list of questions based on the dot points. For example, for the
first dot point, one question may be - “define a fuel”. Therefore, when you’re in class or
learning on your own - you have primed yourself on what to look out for and you’ll be
filtering for only relevant information.

Make Summaries
A lot of you may view making summaries as a slow and tedious process which can be a
skipped to save time. I however found that notetaking was the single best way to
consolidate your learning onto a few pages. Your summary will act as an easy place you can
refer back to throughout the year, so make it neat and accessible. I used the questions I
made for the study design as a guide while making notes and answered them in my own
words. Using 2 or 3 resources throughout the year including: your teacher’s
notes/handouts, YouTube vids (the Tyler DeWitt channel is great) and your textbook will
stop you from being bogged down in the sea of resources out there. While creating your
summary I suggest you use.
 Headings & subheadings  Concise explanations
 Heaps of colour  Flowcharts & tables
 Detailed diagrams  Bolding and underlining
 Examples of calculations  Chemical equations

Do questions to increase confidence

You may ask how exactly do you measure confidence? I did this by answering questions.
This is an ACTIVE process which tests your ability to recall what you have learnt, aiding in
long term memory.
 I would go through the textbook questions but also check out the Studyclix quizzes.
 I would then prioritise the topics based on questions I had difficulty with and read
my notes, watch a video or go through the textbook until I said - “ohhh, I get it now”.
This will ensure you are filling in the gaps in your knowledge and prevent you from
repeating the same old mistakes.
Studyclix study guide`

How to revise for EXAMS

Know the data book inside and out
You should be familiar with the data booklet before you go into the exam. I consistently
used it throughout the year whether I was doing textbook or exam questions, faint rubbed
out workings and circles were riddled throughout by November. If you use it effectively
throughout the year, when exam time rolls around, you’ll know exactly where to find
everything.

Be familiar with your scientific calculator

Even though it may be easier for you to use your phone, laptop or graphics calculator, it’s
going to do you more harm than good when it comes to exam time. You should be using the
same scientific calculator you will use in the exam so that navigating it comes naturally
during the exam.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE EXAMS

You’ve probably heard about practice exams a million times by now, but let me tell you,
they are a godsend when you’re studying for the exam. At the end of the day, 60% of your
chem mark is going to be your exam result. So, what better way to study for this exam than
by doing exams yourself.
 I started doing practice exams a month out from the actual one which gave me
plenty of time to revise.
 Try and do them under timed conditions, so you are really simulating the exam
environment. Of course, it will be hard when you get started so give yourself some
leeway until you get settled into it.
 I recommend you do at least 10 practice exams starting with the recent VCAA
papers, followed by company ones and finally older VCAA papers.
Studyclix study guide`

REVIEW exams with sample answers and assessor’s report

Now, even though I suggested doing 10 or so exams before, I have to repeat the age-old
mantra “Quality OVER Quantity”
 Completing your exams is only part of the job! After each exam, I made sure to open
up the corresponding examination report which shows you exactly what the
assessors are looking for. There are also some handy tips, so it is a good idea to make
note of them.
 I would also mark my exams harshly (as examiners will surely do) so please don’t say
“I would’ve said that” if you haven’t. You’ll only be cheating yourself and won’t learn
anything from it.

Record Everything
I recorded every exam I did in a logbook. You can just create a spreadsheet or a table to fill
out like the one I’ve made below. This really helped to see my progression as the exam day
loomed closer and closer.
Date Exam Mark Notes
1. Mark scheme: THIS IS AN
INDICATION OF HOW MANY
SIGNIFICANT POINTS YOU NEED
TO MAKE!!!
2. Misreading the question:
underline key words when reading
the question and don’t move on
without reading the question
again
3. Silly calculation errors: Proof-read
2015 VCAA 87/93
DD/MM/YYYY your exam to pick up on these slip
Examination 94%
ups
4. Content mistake: ‘only catalysts
can lower the activation energy’.
Now write this in your notes in red
and review the concept.
5. Not answering the question:
though it is tempting to
regurgitate everything you know
on a concept, you need to be
specific to the question
I can’t stress enough how important it is to use the notes section to document your
mistakes. I’ve written the common types of mistakes and how to tackle them in the table.
Don’t worry, I was slapping my forehead a lot during this period too, but making mistakes
now will prevent you from making them during the exam!
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Exam DAY
How to approach the exam
 Use the reading time to get a feel for what topics are covered in the short answer.
Then start answering multiple choice questions in your head.
 Move on from multiple choice questions after 30 minutes.
 Spend until you have 10 or 15 minutes left on the clock on the short answer.
 Use the remaining time to check through your exam.

Multiple choice questions

The chemistry exam comes with 30 multiple choice questions which cover a wide array of
topics. Your best friend when it comes to MCQs is the process of elimination. Normally there
are 2 distracting options that you will cross off, so you essentially go from having a 1 in 4
chance to a 1 in 2 chance of picking the correct option! Just remember while you’re staring
at the question, scratching your head, the answer is staring right back at you so if worse
comes to worst make an educated guess.

Short answer questions

The short answer questions account for two thirds of your exam mark. I will go through a
few of the common types of questions below:
 Explanation questions
Please use dot points – I don’t know how many times I made those coloured in
circles of different shapes and sizes, but they proved very useful. It keeps your
answers succinct and to the point. As a general rule of thumb, I matched the number
of dot points to the number of available marks.
 Calculation questions
I implore you to show ALL of your working out. This will ensure you get all the marks
you deserve and clearly sets everything out to easily identify any errors if they come
up.
Significant figures are very important in the exam – know to write your answer to the
lowest number of significant figures used in the question. Also, don’t forget units!
 Experimental design
This is a section which a lot of students have trouble with. Before the exam make
sure that you have a basic understanding of what makes up an experiment and what
reliability and validity are:
 An independent variable (IV) is the variable the experimenter changes
 The dependent variable (DV) is what is measured - is dependent on the IV
 Controlled variables are variables that are kept constant to ensure that only
the IV is affecting the DV.
 Experiments with high validity test what they mean to test. Basically, the idea
that only the IV is influencing the DV.
 Experiments with high reliability have many results which are similar.
Studyclix study guide`

Final tips
Nag Use your teachers
Teachers are walking fountains of knowledge – having marked hundreds of SACs and exams,
they know what they’re talking about. I’d recommend you build a strong working
relationship with your teacher and ask questions when you need to - even if the question
may seem a bit silly, your teachers are there to help.

Help and be helped by your friends

Having study buddies is equally important, whether it is making a group chat or meeting up
once a week to go through concepts you are having difficulty with. I always found trying to
teach a concept to someone else to be the single best revision technique because you really
need to understand to make someone else understand too!

Try to understand
Don’t get me wrong, chemistry has a mountain of content to learn, but rote learning
everything will not do you any good. I really tried to wrap my head around all the theory so
that I built a solid foundation to approach exam questions. The one tip I can give you when
going through notes is to constantly question the concepts and ask “why?” at each step.

Enjoy Chemistry!
You don’t have to be a chemistry nerd to enjoy this subject. Chemistry is a truly fascinating
subject which opens your eyes to the world around you. I would put what you learn into
practice – do an experiment at home or go to a museum – chem doesn’t have to just stay in
the classroom. Having fun with this subject will result in you appreciating what you’re
learning, and this positive attitude will allow you to excel.