As you come to your final year in NCEA there are three general topics within the science stream. These are chemistry, biology, and physics. Some schools offer other science subjects such as environmental science. The faithful three however are available in all schools and provide the foundations for you to go on to higher education.
Due to the range of content knowledge needed, once you pick a pathway in science it can be difficult to change to a different course later on in your education pathway. This is because these subjects require you to have learnt the knowledge from the year before. The same level of physics is not transferable to the same level of chemistry. There would be too many gaps, making a challenging subject even more difficult.
If you are an international student, there may be some differences in the way you have leant chemistry in your old school compared to your new school. There is no need to panic, the best thing to do is to speak to your chemistry teacher so they can help you identify any potential issues you may have in the course.
This complete guide to NCEA Level 3 Chemistry explains the chemistry syllabus, how to study for your internals and externals, the best way to approach chemistry questions, and the advantages of using past exam papers. It gives a brief summary of the different aspects of Level 3 Chemistry in the New Zealand education system. For more in-depth information, check out our different guides.
Demystifying the NCEA Level 3 Chemistry Syllabus
While this may be your final year within the NCEA system it may be the first time you may have seen the link between the New Zealand Curriculum and NCEA. For those who are not quite sure what these two things are, the New Zealand Curriculum is a document that informs educators what students need to be learning for each year they are in the New Zealand education system.
What is interesting about this document is that it does not explicitly state what content all students must learn but rather what skills they need to have. This makes it a rare and very modern guiding educational document. It also explains why sometimes you and someone who goes to a different school may not be learning the exact same thing at the same time.
The New Zealand Curriculum is skill based so there are certain things students are expected to be able to do at each level. In primary school, students do one level of the curriculum over two years, however, when they enter secondary school they are expected to do one level in one year.
This is why it is very important that students enter secondary school at the level required otherwise the progression of the work required becomes too much, as they are starting on the back foot and it makes it hard to catch up.
When you enter into NCEA, the National Certificate of Education is used to assess how much you have learnt. In regards to Chemistry, there are specific assessments where students must be taught certain content.
These assessments will either be completed internally (within class time and possibly in your own time) or externally (an exam at the end of the year in which all Chemistry students across New Zealand sit at the exact same time). For more information check out our guide that explains the Level 3 syllabus in more detail.
NCEA Level 3 Chemistry Study Guide
The level required to pass assessments is raised each year. In general, the difference between the Level 1 and Level 2 marking schedules is often considered to have the biggest jump. Within chemistry, having a strong understanding of the Level 2 syllabus is necessary in order to get a good grasp of the theories, concepts and ideas in Level 3.
Whether you are looking to gain higher qualifications within the domain of chemistry or not, it is always a great idea to learn how to study more efficiently. While our guide on how to study for Level 3 Chemistry may focus on one subject, the skills and study tips are transferable. So if you are also studying biology, physics, history or any other subject, you can use the same ideas to help improve your revision sessions.
When revising for internal assessments for chemistry there are elements of research, revision, writing and recording you will need to master. When it comes to research, note down where you got the information from and check its reliability.
Nothing like a bit of internet sleuthing to start you off in the right direction. Speak to your local librarian to help you find sources and you can use Google Scholar. Google Scholar is free to use and enables you to use a search engine that is good for simple searches across a wide range of scholarly literature databases.
As external exams require you to answer questions without any external help, they offer more credits and you need to prepare differently than for internal assessments. In order to succeed you need to have a wide range of strategies to help you remember a lot of information.
Re-reading your notes is a good start but you need to interact with them as well. That can be done through flip cards, creating bullet point notes and doing rapid-fire questions with friends. You want to build pathways in your brain to different bits of information. To make the pathways stronger you need to engage with the information on a regular basis.
Revision Tips: How to Tackle NCEA Level 3 Chemistry Exam Questions
Understanding what you have to do and how to do it are skills you are being tested on. Reading comprehension is about being unable to decode what is written, being able to make connections between the chemistry question and what you know, and your ability to think deeply about what you have read and understood of the topic related to the question.
These are not skills we are born with but things we must learn. A big part of reading comprehension is vocabulary knowledge and text comprehension. You have to know what the word means as well as understand the meaning when placed in a certain context. Across many languages, including English, words can change meaning depending on the words around it for example the word peer; the article was peer reviewed, and I really want to peer into that well.
The word has completely changed its meaning due to the context of the sentence. Within science, whether that be biology, chemistry or physics, you need to have vocabulary knowledge otherwise you will come across words you don’t know or misunderstand their meaning.
This is where our guide on NCEA Level 3 chemistry questions can help as it gives you tips and strategies to learn the skill of breaking down questions. When you break down questions into sections it also enables you to make sure you have answered the question entirely, especially for merit and excellence questions which can be pretty wordy sometimes.
NCEA Level 3 Chemistry Past Papers
One part of understanding NCEA is understanding the marking schedule. You don’t need to try to guess what the examiners are looking for as the marking schedule is very clear. It can just be a little tricky understanding the keywords if you haven’t had much experience at decoding them.
Past exam papers can be incredibly helpful for two main reasons, you can use them to revise and you can use them to understand the marking schedule better. Each of the three exam papers uses similar keywords but how you demonstrate your knowledge is different. This is because the topics are not the same. However, the structure of how you respond to the questions for each topic often overlaps.
Our guide on NCEA Level 3 Chemistry past papers explains where to find them, what to look out for and the best way to use them. It also examines some of the differences between achieved, merit and excellence across the three exam assessments. This can be very helpful when looking to improve your grade.
More help with NCEA Level 3 Chemistry
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