am i too dumb for chemistry? (1 Viewer)

[symio]

hey, just wondering if chemistry is suitable for me since i always received bad marks for it in year 10 and didn't have an interest in it due to lack of studying (EDIT: never completing given homework etc..) and not ever concentrating during class lessons. i recently became curious in health/science pathway and would like to explore jobs such as pharmacist or health scientist along the other career possibility of business field.. since health courses require chemistry as pre-req, im thinking of choosing chemistry. (current subjects: eng ext, maths ext, modern his, eco, business studies, bio) maybe switch w modern?????

do i still have a chance to build my chemistry knowledge even though i absolutely do not understand anything and sucked at years 9-10? will i catch up and understand the content if i study hard? chemistry is stressful but i feel like i can try.....

also i suck at practicals.

(btw: if anyone is from my "subject dilemma" or other threads, i have finally decided not to do visual arts. although it seemed tempting, i realised the reality of not being able to get good HSC marks and on top of that it doesn't lead to good career paths due to limitations, and im not even experienced with art since i haven't done it in years 9 or 10. overall, i decided to choose the best for me to acquire good results and have mercy for my future career path. art is good enough as a hobby.)

sorry for being so indecisive and dragging this out so much. i just need some honest/helpful advice since none of the people i know are in the same situation as me.. :// all my friends have specific areas which they excel at eg. music or art...and the only thing im remotely good at is english or maths. makes me feel shitty considering i don't fall into any of the extra curricular sectors. i can only pray my eng and maths stays top...

thanks for any comments or advice. feel free to message me privately too; i really need some pointers.

 

[Drongoski]

Just do it. It will also help your Bio, I guess. And open up many options at uni.

 

[jazz519]

If you are going down pharmacist route you are actually going to do a lot of chemistry, and not just the first year uni courses. So if you don’t have an interest in chemistry maybe rethink that.

But yes if you want to do any health science you should do chemistry. They teach everything from the base anyways in year 11 so if you are willing to put in the effort there, year 10 etc won't matter that much

 

[dasfas]

Nah fam, if you're motivated, you'll pull through.

It's all practice and knowing the most efficient methods to learn content. If you learn from your mistakes every time and are methodical about it, there's no reason for you not to get a band 6

 

[Drdusk]

hey, just wondering if chemistry is suitable for me since i always received bad marks for it in year 10 and didn't have an interest in it due to lack of studying (EDIT: never completing given homework etc..) and not ever concentrating during class lessons. i recently became curious in health/science pathway and would like to explore jobs such as pharmacist or health scientist along the other career possibility of business field.. since health courses require chemistry as pre-req, im thinking of choosing chemistry. (current subjects: eng ext, maths ext, modern his, eco, business studies, bio) maybe switch w modern?????

do i still have a chance to build my chemistry knowledge even though i absolutely do not understand anything and sucked at years 9-10? will i catch up and understand the content if i study hard? chemistry is stressful but i feel like i can try.....

also i suck at practicals.

(btw: if anyone is from my "subject dilemma" or other threads, i have finally decided not to do visual arts. although it seemed tempting, i realised the reality of not being able to get good HSC marks and on top of that it doesn't lead to good career paths due to limitations, and im not even experienced with art since i haven't done it in years 9 or 10. overall, i decided to choose the best for me to acquire good results and have mercy for my future career path. art is good enough as a hobby.)

sorry for being so indecisive and dragging this out so much. i just need some honest/helpful advice since none of the people i know are in the same situation as me.. :// all my friends have specific areas which they excel at eg. music or art...and the only thing im remotely good at is english or maths. makes me feel shitty considering i don't fall into any of the extra curricular sectors. i can only pray my eng and maths stays top...

thanks for any comments or advice. feel free to message me privately too; i really need some pointers.

You'll be fine. As long as now you actually do study and do the homework you will do fine. You may need to get some extra help from your teacher if you don't get a concept because you don't have that knowledge from year 10 but yeah there's nothing stopping you from doing well aside from thinking you can't.

 

[symio]

You'll be fine. As long as now you actually do study and do the homework you will do fine. You may need to get some extra help from your teacher if you don't get a concept because you don't have that knowledge from year 10 but yeah there's nothing stopping you from doing well aside from thinking you can't.

thanks. i'll think about it and look at some resources. by the way, how are the practical hsc exams for chemistry? it is one of the biggest reasons stopping me from choosing it since i suck. at. practicals.

 

[Drdusk]

thanks. i'll think about it and look at some resources. by the way, how are the practical hsc exams for chemistry? it is one of the biggest reasons stopping me from choosing it since i suck. at. practicals.

What part of practicals are you not that good at? I know for me it was definitely writing up the reports.

There definitely ways to get better at the prac part of practicals and the best way is to make sure you truly understand the content because memorizing it may cut it for an exam but not for a prac!

For the reports it's literally a set thing you need to do every time. For e.g. in your conclusion you must restate the aim and summarize the results (I think) etc. Once you find out exactly what to write the actual report becomes trivial. So I encourage you to ask your teacher what to write for each section so when you do have a prac you know what you need to do.

 

[symio]

What part of practicals are you not that good at? I know for me it was definitely writing up the reports.

There definitely ways to get better at the prac part of practicals and the best way is to make sure you truly understand the content because memorizing it may cut it for an exam but not for a prac!

For the reports it's literally a set thing you need to do every time. For e.g. in your conclusion you must restate the aim and summarize the results (I think) etc. Once you find out exactly what to write the actual report becomes trivial. So I encourage you to ask your teacher what to write for each section so when you do have a prac you know what you need to do.

for me it's not really about the report part but actually PERFORMING the experiments. im scared i'll mess it up for hsc

 

[dasfas]

for me it's not really about the report part but actually PERFORMING the experiments. im scared i'll mess it up for hsc

It may vary from school to school but for mine, we had only ONE assessable experiment. For the prac report, you'll have tons of practice that they'll be a breeze by the end.

 

[brent012]

If you are considering pharmacy, i'd recommend chemistry. That will cover the assumed knowledge/prereqs you need, and help get over your fear of prac assessments.

It may vary from school to school but for mine, we had only ONE assessable experiment. For the prac report, you'll have tons of practice that they'll be a breeze by the end.

It was the same at my school iirc, either 1 or 2 and the weighting wasn't too high.

We had to redo a practical we'd done earlier that semester, so you'd just revise all the pracs you'd done and everyone would be (doing a pretty good job at) speculating/narrowing down what prac it could be based on the logistical requirements lol.

 

[Drdusk]

for me it's not really about the report part but actually PERFORMING the experiments. im scared i'll mess it up for hsc

Yeah honestly what dasfal said.

Performing experiments can definitely be really scary at first especially for Chem which probably has the 'hardest' pracs out of the Sciences, but really you'll be fine. There's no point in being so scared about it because it's not actually that hard imo.

 

[jazz519]

Best way to get good at pracs is by doing them. So when you do pracs at school in groups, try not to just sit back and watch but actively engage in as many of the techniques as you can. Further on this when you are doing the pracs don't just mindlessly follow the steps but ask yourself or teacher or research on why you are doing a specific thing. If you do that then the pracs will be easy. None of the practicals in year 11 or 12 chemistry are particularly hard, just follow the method and be careful when doing things such as checking parallax errors and you will be fine

 

[Etho_x]

hey, just wondering if chemistry is suitable for me since i always received bad marks for it in year 10 and didn't have an interest in it due to lack of studying (EDIT: never completing given homework etc..) and not ever concentrating during class lessons. i recently became curious in health/science pathway and would like to explore jobs such as pharmacist or health scientist along the other career possibility of business field.. since health courses require chemistry as pre-req, im thinking of choosing chemistry. (current subjects: eng ext, maths ext, modern his, eco, business studies, bio) maybe switch w modern?????

do i still have a chance to build my chemistry knowledge even though i absolutely do not understand anything and sucked at years 9-10? will i catch up and understand the content if i study hard? chemistry is stressful but i feel like i can try.....

also i suck at practicals.

(btw: if anyone is from my "subject dilemma" or other threads, i have finally decided not to do visual arts. although it seemed tempting, i realised the reality of not being able to get good HSC marks and on top of that it doesn't lead to good career paths due to limitations, and im not even experienced with art since i haven't done it in years 9 or 10. overall, i decided to choose the best for me to acquire good results and have mercy for my future career path. art is good enough as a hobby.)

sorry for being so indecisive and dragging this out so much. i just need some honest/helpful advice since none of the people i know are in the same situation as me.. :// all my friends have specific areas which they excel at eg. music or art...and the only thing im remotely good at is english or maths. makes me feel shitty considering i don't fall into any of the extra curricular sectors. i can only pray my eng and maths stays top...

thanks for any comments or advice. feel free to message me privately too; i really need some pointers.

If I were you, honestly swap Chemistry with Modern History. As Drongoski mentioned above, there may be instances where Chemistry and Biology go hand in hand (eg. Biochemistry). A student taking both Chemistry and Biology, as opposed to a student just taking Biology, may gain a slight advantage over their peers due to knowledge from both courses.

Don't let your marks in Year 10 demotivate you! Year 7-10 is a foundational building block to the subjects you want to branch out to in Year 11 and 12. May I share an embarrassing story - in Year 9 (I know it's not Year 10 but this situation could happen), I was originally in the 5.3 Math course. For my Term 1 and Term 2 test, I scored 44% and 40%, respectively, and in my half-yearly report, it averaged out to 42%. For someone who wasn't good at math at the time, of course, it was quite demotivating to receive such marks, but I never really tried. In Term 3 and Term 4, I dropped down to 5.2 and ended up with 70% for my yearly report. Still not a great mark. During my summer break last year, I spent my whole 6 weeks cramming 5.3 concepts from Year 9. Because of this, I developed a strong study regimen and my marks had significantly improved in Year 10. I was in a non-mainstream school for the majority of this year so I had to do 5.1 (I aced all the 5.1 tests), but I did 5.3 past papers for Year 10 and my marks usually ranged from 85%-100%. My point is, compromising holidays for the extra study is beneficial in the long run. So for your circumstance, definitely revise your basic Year 7-10 Chemistry concepts over the holidays if you're considering picking up the course; it'll help in the long run. And don't feel demotivated because of your marks in previous years! If you're motivated enough, I'm sure you'll do well in the senior years. There's plenty of time for redemption.

 

[_Anonymous]

I'd say keep Chemistry. I severely disliked Chemistry back in Year 10 as I found it difficult at the time. However, I found it very enjoyable and quite rewarding during Y11/12 and by the end of my HSC, it was my second best subject. You'll have plenty of time to build up your knowledge over the next two years although I'd recommend revising through the core basics of Chemistry (valence shells, ionic/covalent bonding and other Y10 knowledge) over the summer holidays just to ensure Y11 isn't a pain (go through Khan Academy if needed). You'll definitely need Chemistry if you pursue pharmacy.

Good luck!

 

[symio]

I'd say keep Chemistry. I severely disliked Chemistry back in Year 10 as I found it difficult at the time. However, I found it very enjoyable and quite rewarding during Y11/12 and by the end of my HSC, it was my second best subject. You'll have plenty of time to build up your knowledge over the next two years although I'd recommend revising through the core basics of Chemistry (valence shells, ionic/covalent bonding and other Y10 knowledge) over the summer holidays just to ensure Y11 isn't a pain (go through Khan Academy if needed). You'll definitely need Chemistry if you pursue pharmacy.

Good luck!

thanks for the advice! just hope me choosing chemistry over modern won't end up to be a mistake..i will try hard for it even though i failed so bad this year..

by the way, how is economics for hsc? how did you find the content and any tips for studying? thanks

 

[_Anonymous]

I really enjoyed Economics (particularly Y12 Economics). If you follow current affairs on the Australian and global economy, you’ll enjoy Eco. It’s very content heavy and some topics you’ll dislike more than others but the best way to study for Eco is to keep up to date facts (RBA’s cash rate, inflation, unemployment rate, Economic growth, etc) and know why these trends are the way they are; eg. what caused the RBA to lower the cash rate? You’ll be writing a lot of essays over the two years and usually it’s talking about what the issue is, back up with stats, trends of this issue, why the trend is occurring, what policies are used to promote/combat these trends, etc.

I’ve simplified this quite a lot but tl;dr, keep up to date stats, rote learn the boring stuff but know why something is done (policy changes, etc) and hand in practice essays to get feedback on structure.

Hope this helped.

 

[symio]

No you are not too dumb for chemistry! (Waffle ahead - thank g00dness that english is over!)

I was in a similar situation to you, actually. My teachers for science in year 7-10 were not very good and I didn't even get access to a digital textbook until I snuck it off a library computer lol! However, I decided to try in chemistry in year 10 and despite stuffing up the practical exam with only 60% or something (no thanks to the dodgy equipment), got into year 11 chemistry. (My school ran plenty of classes for 3u maths, 3u eng, bio, chem, and not too many for the other subjects.) I had to do a lot of catching up especially in first term of year 11 as I didn't have much prior knowledge, but eventually I have received a band 6 in chemistry and ended up enjoying the subject with a passion (kudos to my great teachers too!) (the year 7-10 science teachers can be hit or miss, or it's just the school I went to. I think it's because they have to teach all sciences from year 7-10 at least, so I had a physics teacher for biology once. But they luckily don't tend to do that for year 11-12)

Practicals aren't that bad at all. I used to hate them because it was so awkward (I wasn't a very good student until mid year 12, was treated like a joke) but eventually I did them alone (successfully) because my teachers were accommodating of the family issues I had at the time. Eventually I enjoyed them as it's always fun to watch colour changes from precipitation reactions, and also reinforce theory. I enjoyed learning chemistry as it's very relevant to daily life and helps me understand how the world works (sorry that may sound cheesy). Also in my year 11 and 12 chemistry, no practicals themselves were assessable (although a depth study was worth 40% in year 11 and 30% in year 12 which focuses on report writing more than the performing of the experiment itself) You should know the theory behind how the practicals work, because they do come up in your trial hsc and even the actual hsc.

If you eventually decide to do chemistry, try to get your friends to help you with proof reading depth studies (practical and detailed research report). That was my weak point because there are so many technicalities and different teachers will say different things (some, like mine, will play by the rules, while others will leak a little more to their classes). I only got 75% in my depth study (weighted 30%... screwed up my school rank even though I got 93% in my trial weighted 30% too)

[unrelated to chemistry, but you sound very stressed so here is some random advice and hope]

I saw you are doing 3u maths. I recommend to do 4u maths if you can handle maths, as it will make your 3u maths almost effortless even if you don't eventually get a band 6 in 4u (like me lol I got 87 rip but 96 in 3u hahaha even with crappy internal ranking). If you plan to do 4u maths, be aware that the textbook is not as much of your friend as it is in 3u. The problems in 3u are fairly predictable and the kinds you will see in cambridge textbook etc (apart from the very hard ones). But in 4u, they can throw so many different kinds of problems at you, so learn the theory out of the textbook and do maybe 1/5 to 1/3 of the questions in it (some of each kind) and then do LOTS OF PAST PAPERS (Find them online eg search thsconline, sorry can't put links in here for some reason, or I can send you some organised by topic for your in-school assessments or if targeting a weak point is needed. I did hsc in 2019 so it's old syllabus) I wish I did lots of past papers for 4u rip - instead I spent too much time mastering the techniques of the textbook and didn't do enough past papers...

Also the principals and year coordinators etc will want you to pick subjects that they think you will get a band 6 in. If you're not set on doing the subjects they force you onto, resist them as hard as you can (until they pull immovable technicalities out of their ass, in which case accept them with a fake smile and end the fight).

At least you still have some friends left. I drastically cut down my social life in the process and lost a lot of my friends in year 12 because I needed to pick up the pace with studying. I was a bad student, hated english and did terrible in it, even bludged year 11 because I thought I had a shot at my 'dream'...I was so immature back then lol. My english teacher had a clear vendetta against me and had the audacity to give me 50% for my first assessment task in year 12. But my hard work (and my english tutor who literally saved my life, I might have done a drastic decision if my english marks kept on dropping as you can't drop the subject itself) paid off in the end as I got 89 (extremely close to band 6) for advanced english, and a 98+ atar (only needed 97+ for the courses I wanted lel)

wow thanks for ur very detailed response! I will definitely take this into account and I’m sure I’ll do chemistry even though I’m terrible at it...think it’ll be relevant to my future and plus the scaling is good too so why not.

What subjects did you do in year 11-12? also if you don’t mind maybe I’ll message u privately for more guidance with chem or maths sometime .. (you seem to be sure of what you’re doing) thanks again!

 

[symio]

Got 45% in y12 trials (9/32 people passed), teacher was very bad due to not being able to teach the new syllabus and I didn't study mod 7 nor 8 for trials. HSC I got 83, I know I could've studied way more for it, it was after all the most interesting subject I had.

wish i could find chem interesting one day!

 

[gudetamago]

Pharmacy has a LOT of chemistry in it. But don't worry, if you're really passionate about a career in health sciences and in particular pharm, then it shouldn't be too hard to come to terms with Chemistry and learn to not only understand concepts faster/better but also enjoy studying it. You have an end goal that you're willing to work towards. I was in the same boat as you in Year 11 because my marks were atrocious, but I decided to keep the subject for my HSC since I was also passionate about a career in allied health, and it ended up becoming my absolute favourite subject. Ended the year with a first ranking internally and a 95 in the exam. As cliche as it sounds, don't give up!!

In the worst case scenario that chemistry is just not the subject for you, maybe consider other health science careers that are less intense on chem-related topics. Health/business is such a broad area to work in, so you're bound to find something that will catch your eye and spark your interest!

 

[symio]

Pharmacy has a LOT of chemistry in it. But don't worry, if you're really passionate about a career in health sciences and in particular pharm, then it shouldn't be too hard to come to terms with Chemistry and learn to not only understand concepts faster/better but also enjoy studying it. You have an end goal that you're willing to work towards. I was in the same boat as you in Year 11 because my marks were atrocious, but I decided to keep the subject for my HSC since I was also passionate about a career in allied health, and it ended up becoming my absolute favourite subject. Ended the year with a first ranking internally and a 95 in the exam. As cliche as it sounds, don't give up!!

In the worst case scenario that chemistry is just not the subject for you, maybe consider other health science careers that are less intense on chem-related topics. Health/business is such a broad area to work in, so you're bound to find something that will catch your eye and spark your interest!

thanks for the advice! it really gave me some more hope lol
by the way, what subjects did you do for year 11?