KaraNari Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Hi, I am going to be diving head first into chemistry when I return to university this year and I have only taken it once before in grade 11. Are there any tips that any one has that would help me learn quicker/better/etc? Advice? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tacrolimus Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Uhh... Get the main idea. Always. Never try to memorize anything specifically (unless it has to be memorized). It never turns out good for exams. Inorganic chemistry is a kind of course where the exam is so different from your notes. Organic is different. There is a lot more memorization involved, in my opinion. But if you get the main concept, you will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaraNari Posted July 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Awesome, thanks! Obviously, that seems pretty important! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gametime24 Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Make sure you brush up on your math skills, depending on your university and how they teach, calc might be needed, if not, make sure you are comfortable solving and rearranging equations, dealing with logs and exponents and ratios, etc. I'm doing my honours in chem, so if you have any more questions now, or anything during the year, feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to help! Hi, I am going to be diving head first into chemistry when I return to university this year and I have only taken it once before in grade 11. Are there any tips that any one has that would help me learn quicker/better/etc? Advice? Thanks! Edit: I'm actually tutoring someone right now that has been out of highschool for 10 years and wants to try and get an A in intro chemistry and physics when september comes, so whenever they say something was useful, I'll try and relay it back into this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phosgenic Posted July 26, 2012 Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Yes. Ensure that you first have a good grasp of the material through lectures and supplementing with your textbook (depending on how your course is organized). Then try ALL of the problems. Look at the solution after you do each one and see where you went wrong, or went right but had a different method in which case the solution may have been more efficient. The biggest piece of advice I can give you is similar to the above poster, do not try to memorize things or to calculate things mindlessly (start jabbing keys and plugging numbers into formulae without asking yourself certain questions about what the problem is asking you for). Chemistry in first year is mainly calculations, but they likely will not be like in high school where you've seen the exact same problems in your homework. All of the things you've done will be there, but it will feel like you've never seen them before because they will switch things up to try and trick you. Do not be fazed. With each specific step in the calculation ask yourself "what am I doing here", "why am I doing this", "what is my endgoal/ what am I trying to solve". Do not kick things under the carpet and say "oh yea I know what I'm doing, I get this" EVER. Always question yourself and ask what this means, why is this important, what's the point of this, where is this taking me. Focus on the meaning behind the things you learn and you will be fine. Of course this doesn't mean you can avoid memorizing things as some things just need to be memorized, but you know what I mean I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaraNari Posted July 26, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 26, 2012 Make sure you brush up on your math skills, depending on your university and how they teach, calc might be needed, if not, make sure you are comfortable solving and rearranging equations, dealing with logs and exponents and ratios, etc. I'm doing my honours in chem, so if you have any more questions now, or anything during the year, feel free to PM me and I'll do my best to help! Edit: I'm actually tutoring someone right now that has been out of highschool for 10 years and wants to try and get an A in intro chemistry and physics when september comes, so whenever they say something was useful, I'll try and relay it back into this thread. Ah yes, good old math...definitely need to brush up on that!! I am not terrible at math, just a bit slower at doing it. But thank you so much for wanting to help, I will definitely keep you in mind if I need help and no one around me seems to get it! Yes. Ensure that you first have a good grasp of the material through lectures and supplementing with your textbook (depending on how your course is organized). Then try ALL of the problems. Look at the solution after you do each one and see where you went wrong, or went right but had a different method in which case the solution may have been more efficient. The biggest piece of advice I can give you is similar to the above poster, do not try to memorize things or to calculate things mindlessly (start jabbing keys and plugging numbers into formulae without asking yourself certain questions about what the problem is asking you for). Chemistry in first year is mainly calculations, but they likely will not be like in high school where you've seen the exact same problems in your homework. All of the things you've done will be there, but it will feel like you've never seen them before because they will switch things up to try and trick you. Do not be fazed. With each specific step in the calculation ask yourself "what am I doing here", "why am I doing this", "what is my endgoal/ what am I trying to solve". Do not kick things under the carpet and say "oh yea I know what I'm doing, I get this" EVER. Always question yourself and ask what this means, why is this important, what's the point of this, where is this taking me. Focus on the meaning behind the things you learn and you will be fine. Of course this doesn't mean you can avoid memorizing things as some things just need to be memorized, but you know what I mean I hope. Ahh, I know what you mean! I hate calculations so asking myself why I am doing something will definitely help me out! Thanks for your advice, very useful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaganS Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 I'd recommend to think about what you're reading when you're reading the textbook, and to make personal connection to what you're reading. This help me memorize and understand all of the concepts I study. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KaraNari Posted July 29, 2012 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 I'd recommend to think about what you're reading when you're reading the textbook, and to make personal connection to what you're reading. This help me memorize and understand all of the concepts I study. Awesome, thanks for the tips! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GaganS Posted July 29, 2012 Report Share Posted July 29, 2012 Awesome, thanks for the tips! No problem! You should check out this video series; there are some more tips on how to learn efficiently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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