You’ll learn how to minimise your learning time and maximise your gain of knowledge
This is based on my experience teaching IGCSE chemistry for more than 18 years
I helped more 100s of students score A & A* in their final exams
Why IGCSE Chemistry? 🤔
to start with, chemistry IGCSE can be considered an easy science. I’d highly recommend taking chemistry if you're planning on taking one science subject for these reasons:
It is relatively short compared to IGCSE Biology
The questions are quite straightforward
Exams are predictable if you have solved past exam questions
It is actually getting easier with the new syllabus
Understanding 🤓
This is where everything starts, IGCSE requires a deep understanding of concepts
You have to find the right resources (exam board, syllabus year, full details)
it is hard to keep track of lectures unless you have notes that follow what is in the video
It is time-consuming to make your own notes and there are so much more details in textbooks that what you really need
Learning sciences has to be interactive, you’d never understand the experiments unless you do them or you observe how these experiments are done
When you understand the concept, it’d last longer in your mind, it is a one-year program so you really have to remember a lot
If you can simplify and explain the concept in your own words then you’re good to go
Memorising 📚
A large amount of marks in the IGCSE depends on recalling information sometimes you have to list temperature values or even colours
Everyone memorises in their own ways, you may make flashcards, rewrite the concept or make mindmaps
I recommend annotating the original notes/textbook you’re using, this way you’ll have one resource to study from
You have to minimise the time and maximise the gain
This step is a transition to the next step and it is not the aim so do not get stuck here, you’ll eventually memorise once you start solving in the next step
Reinforcing 🔖
This step is what really matters as long as you know how to solve exam questions then you’re good enough
This is the beauty of the IGCSE system as it offers plenty of past papers
Memorisation comes as you solve similar questions
Always start with classified questions related to the same topic
Be kind to yourself, start with open notes
It’d be such a waste of time if you solve without checking the answers
Mark schemes may not be very clear sometimes, so it’d be ideal if you have written answers to the questions
Highlight your mistakes, this will help you to improve
