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A deep dive into the strategies that actually work.

There has been a surprising amount of research into how we learn.   We know what works and what doesn’t, and we also know that most students waste way too much time trying to learn new things badly!

One of the best aspects of Chemistry A level is that you get to do lots of practical work 😎.  

Analysing unknown compounds, carrying out titrations, designing kinetics experiments, synthesising and purifying organic substances all help to develop your manipulative, observation and critical thinking skills.

But …  you know there was a BUT coming …  questions on even the most simple of practical techniques are always very poorly answered!

I know, you’re studying Chemistry not English Lit but the one thing that sets A* grade students apart from the rest is that they write well thought-out answers using key language, a skill that the examiners’ reports comment on EVERY year.

And yet how often do you focus on this in class?  

The good news is that it is a skill that everyone can master and the secret comes in three parts …

when your answer is in fact just your working out …

This is without doubt the most frustrating thing examiners see when marking students’ answers.  

The student understands the content and has done all the hard detective work or completed the calculations but then fails to answer the question!