Chemistry Study Tips

Chemistry Study Tips Studying chemistry can be stressful and feel overwhelming. There is no magic formula for learning chemistry, but you can develop an effective strategy for success. Whether youre in middle school, high school or college, these simple steps will get you on the right track. Basically it involves not getting behind, doing your own work, and not psyching yourself out: Dont procrastinate!Cramming does not equal learning. If you wait until the night before a test to start studying you will suffer, your grades will suffer, etc. Chemistry problems take time to work. Chemistry concepts take time to master.Dont ProcrastinateIts worth repeating! In chemistry you build from one concept onto the next. You need a solid knowledge base to progress.Try Flash CardsHey, they are used in elementary and primary school because FLASHCARDS WORK. Some of the information gets learned while making the cards and the rest can be learned during practice. You get to switch around the order in which you view topics, which is something most notebooks dont provide. Get some index cards and give it a try!Try a HighlighterUse it judiciously. The goal is not to turn your book or notes fluorescent. Most texts already have important concepts in bold typeface. Unless your teacher is very unusual, he or she will almost always mention likely test questions, answers, and concepts. High light them! Some teachers take questions from a test bank, but those who write their own are usually keeping a mental tally of concepts while teaching. Use MnemonicsWhat you are doing here is taking the first letters of words in a sequence you are trying to memorize and making a phrase from them to serve as a memory aid. Example: the sequence of the first few elements in the periodic table H, He, Li, Be, B, C, N, O, F, Ne could be (well, the one that came to my mind was actually dirty, which is easier to remember) Hi Henry, Lookin Big, Bad, Certainly Nasty, Old Friend - Not! Ok, it isnt great literature. One popular mnemonic device is for metric prefixes: Kilo- Hecto- Deca- Meter (liter, gram) deci- centi- milli- Kangaroos Hopping Down Mountains Drinking Chocolate Milk. Also, such phrases are even easier to memorize if you put them to music.  Work the ProblemsYou work through the example problem in the book or in class just fine. Great! That doesnt mean you understand how to apply the formulas when the conditions or wording changes. Its vital to work problems. I know it seems like a good idea to divide problem sets with classmates or to put down answers from the back of the book when youre short on time, but you truly need to work those problems to practice the skills you need for tests and beyond. Know Your TextDo you have a glossary? Answers to problems in the back? Self-quizzes? Appendices full of useful information? Find that out sooner rather than later. Learn your way around your text. Use the glossary. You cant communicate about a subject without learning the terminology.