Before starting your NCEA Chemistry Level 2 exam preparation, you should have a general overview of the whole process. Take a moment and try to take a look at the big picture. An overview of the process will help you to understand in advance all the goals that you need to accomplish. By understanding each part of the process, you will be able to develop a study plan. For all students, a good study plan is recommended. But a study plan takes time. A good study plan should be made early in your studies. Regularly, a study plan should be designed at the beginning of the year. Before your chemistry lessons, before the achievement of your midterm goals, and before the final exam, students should start to understand the details of the process.
This study plan should consider the necessary time to study, but also a specific analysis of the exam questions. Let's check the kind of questions that will appear on the exam. Students should be aware that an NCEA Chemistry Level 2 exam question may contain multiple parts. It is not about questions and answers, only. Students must be able to relate their knowledge. They must also be able to use all their mental skills. In the exam they will have to draw, write the argument that seems right to them, justify statements and do arithmetic calculations, which should include all the operation steps. As you can see it is not possible to answer a question randomly. Students must know the answer and write it down in the exam.
Understanding the NCEA Chemistry Level 2 Examination
The first thing to keep in mind is that you will be faced with several goals during the year that you will have to overcome. All of these goals will give you credits that you will be able to accumulate. It is very important that you keep these credits in mind because the more credits you have, the better your final score will be. Chemistry level 2 may have between four to ten goals, and for each goal there will be a certain amount of credits. Let's revisit an exam question from a previous exam. This is a kind of question that could appear in the future exam. It is a question in which students will have to choose one option and justify their answer. The question is: "When solid calcium chloride, CaCl2(s), reacts with water, the temperature increases" Circle the term that best describes this reaction. The question then gives two alternatives: a) endothermic or b) exothermic. Students must choose one option, circle it and justify their answer by writing the argument for their choice.
The next question will be related to the previous question. It asks about the same concept: "When a person sweats, water is lost from the body by evaporation. This is an endothermic process." This evaporation speeds up when a person exercises. Explain why evaporation of water in sweat from the body is endothermic and why exercise increases this evaporation. This question repeats the same topic as the previous question. But an example is given related to a specific real-life process: the reaction that occurs when we sweat. This relationship between the student's knowledge and empirical experience will be present in many questions of the exam. It is very important that students can connect their intellectual world with events that happen to them in real life.
Let's go back to the evaluations and the credits you could earn. There exist different kinds of goals. Some might include a formal writing challenge (for example, a written job application) and other goals might be about how to write and submit a paper. Some of these goals will be assessed during the year and others at the end of the school year. Credits will always be cumulative. The more credits students get, the better their final score will be. Once credits are earned, they last for life. Students can keep a record of their credits and they are able to check at any time how many credits they have accumulated.
How to start studying chemistry
If you already understand how all parts of the NCEA Chemistry Level 2 exam work, the next thing to do is to begin studying for your exam. First of all, you need to review the content. Studying chemistry may seem complex. But nothing is that complex if you use the right study techniques. Let's begin by reviewing the topics that the exam will include. Topics such as shapes of molecules and bond angles, properties of metallic solids, etc. They could appear in some of the exam questions, as we have seen. All of these topics involve some kind of difficulty. However, as mentioned, nothing is that difficult if it is properly understood through the right study methods and the understanding of the type of questions that will be part of the exam. Because the amount of topics can become overwhelming, consider making a study guide for yourself.
This first step is taken by the teacher inside the classroom. Good chemistry teachers are challenged to make students' learning possible. A laboratory demonstration can be very effective. When students personally witness how the components react is when meaningful learning takes place in the classroom. This is why chemistry lessons are so important. A good chemistry lesson can show the student how changes in nature happen. Some of these changes are imperceptible in our everyday lives. But if they are performed in a laboratory the magic appears. Magic that nature does not show us, but that exists. The true passion for chemistry is achieved through these experiments. These are the experiments that show the true essence of chemistry.
Once students begin to give chemistry the importance it has in their learning, study becomes easier and meaningful. In questions such as the following, students will have to apply all their more practical knowledge. That knowledge that is learned in the lab lessons. "Draw the Lewis structure (electron dot diagram) for the following molecules and name their forms." In order for you to answer you must fill in the blanks on a chart that will be shown under the same question. Students will have to use all their visual memory skills to draw the shapes of the molecules, but they must also be accurate and include all the chemical data that must be in the drawing. But the answer does not end here. Then students must justify their answer and every decision they make in the making of their image
The importance of study techniques
Study techniques are essential. Students should be taught these techniques at an early age. The use of these methods can make students' learning process more manageable. Successful study skills are based on order, consistency, and habit building, which allow children to achieve their goals successfully. In order to study for the chemistry exam properly we are able to use different study methods. As mentioned before, it is very important to start studying in advance. A good study plan requires some time. Students should begin studying early in the year. Students should study every day. Studying one hour a day should be enough time to learn all the content that will be delivered during the year.
It is well known that the information we hear is not completely retained by our brains. In fact, only a small portion of it is incorporated as part of our knowledge. That is why it is so important to review the topic so we can understand it properly. Studying polymers and reactions is not easy. Students should be able to analyze the content and divide up all the topics involved. Think of it as demystifying the exam's syllabus. To make a summary is a good method of study. When we make a summary we can write down on paper what we have understood. The good thing about the summary is that everything we write is written in our own words. In a way we are translating and writing it the way we understood it. This is a very good method of study because when we write down on paper a much higher portion of the information is absorbed by our brain.
But what should we do if we still have a lot of doubts and we have already completed all our lessons? Some students usually turn to their peers to answer the questions that may arise during their study. That is why study groups are so useful. Usually, in a study group students can solve most of their doubts. There are many different types of students in these groups. Some of them are more advanced. More advanced students are the ones who usually clarify the doubts of the rest of the students. Thanks to this help, students' knowledge becomes more equal and everyone can continue growing in their learning. One of the best study methods is teaching. When students teach each other what they have learned, the information becomes more deeply rooted in their brains. This is also why it is so useful to be part of a study group, because everyone in these groups benefits from mutual teaching.
What should we do the days before the exam?
The best thing students can do the days before the exam is to stop studying. It is recommended to rest and forget about the final exam for a while. Young people who studied throughout the year, met their goals and got their credits, should be calm. Remember to sleep well and relax. Exercising can be very useful. Exercising releases endorphins, a hormone that makes you feel better and calms your aches, pains and negative emotions. In addition, exercise contributes to good blood circulation, so your brain will be able to function better and be better prepared for your NCEA Chemistry Level 2 exam.
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