Scoring 1A in SPM Chemistry
Malaysia Students
Forum
http://groups.google.com/group/Malaysia-Students/browse_thread/thread/208cf7ef5b92b7f1
(powered by Google Groups) so I write this post with the hope that Lix
and other readers will benefit from it. I assume her to be a form 5
student this year since she mentioned the word 'Kimia' in her post.
For your information, form five year 2006 is the last batch of
secondary school students studying Science and Mathematics subjects in
Malay.
Let me start this post with my own experience in SPM Chemistry from
grade 4C to 1A. Last year, I scored 4C in Chemistry in my mid year
examination. I didn't even know how to write a correct chemical
equation. I started worrying that I might get bad result in SPM
Chemistry. From that moment, I studied very hard and finally scored 1A
in SPM Chemistry. You should start revising each and every chapter in
the syllabus now. How? Follow these tips:
* Master basic but important concepts
* Memorize important facts and processes
* Practise past-year SPM papers
* Practise all trial papers
Master basic but important concepts - You must at least know how to
write correct chemical equation, do simple calculation and understand
basic chemical concept likes Mole Concept. Note that there are only a
few types of calculations in Chemistry compared to Physics so please
master all the calculations. Try to learn them yourselves reading the
reference books first. If you really couldn't understand them, you
should seek help from your class or tuition teacher.
Memorize important facts and processes - Memorize the colours of
chemical substances, understand the salt preparation process... It
works effectively although some might argue that memorizing facts is
the wrong way of learning. I personally agree that you can surely get a
1A in SPM Chemistry if you could memorize all the facts. However, I
strongly recommend you to understand each concept and fact before you
start memorizing them. Learning Chemistry becomes more exciting and
enjoyable using this method.
Practise past-year SPM papers - Past-year SPM questions will repeat
from time to time because of the limited scope covered in SPM Chemistry
syllabus. This is no secret that most SPM candidates realize it.
Practice makes perfect. Try every question and learn from your
mistakes. For essay questions, get the marking schema from your
teachers so that you can see how the marks are allocated and which
points or keywords deserve full mark, etc. Learning from the essay
marking schemas is a highly effective method!
Practise all trial papers - After SPM trial examinations, try to get
other states' SPM trial papers and practise them. Try Maktab Rendah
Sains Mara (MRSM) SPM trial papers too! You can either exchange SPM
trial papers with your friends from other states or get them online
through certain websites. I was lucky because my Chemistry teacher
collected other states' SPM trial papers for us last year. Sometimes,
one or more exact or similar questions will come out in the actual SPM
Chemistry paper. SPM question leaks do happen every year.
In conclusion, you have to study and understand every chapter
carefully. Believe me, you won get 1A if you have read only a few
topics and focus on only certain chemical concepts. Like it or not,
read-understand-memorize all topics is the only way to guarantee a 1A
in SPM Chemistry.