• Question: What advice would you give to someone studying chemistry ?

    Asked by anon-199468 to Sylvia, Sumit, Martin, Kate, Bryony, Aryanne on 7 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Sumit Konar

      Sumit Konar answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      Try to memorise less and instead try to understand basic principles more. Try to find as many examples as possible for one type of chemical reaction. Ask your parents to buy chemitry models as your birthday gift and build the molecule you are currently studying. Internet is great but try to read books (if you like reading) by different authors. Always ask your teacher for help. No question is stupid question. I wish you all the best.

    • Photo: Sylvia Soldatou

      Sylvia Soldatou answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      i think I would say teh same to anyone regardless of what they want to study:

      To enjoy it! To ask questions when you don’t understand something and don’t be scared to do so!

    • Photo: Martin McCoustra

      Martin McCoustra answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      Both of my colleagues make good points…

      The first… enjoy it… is probably the most important. Don’t do chemistry simple because you are good at it, you need to enjoy doing it otherwise when things get tough you will find it hard to be motivated.

      The second… don’t memorize but learn and understand… To many student come into first year and find that much of the material they are doing repeats their Advanced Higher or A Level. They get bored and switch off. When second year comes around and they encounter at lot of new material they’ve forgotten how to learn and understand and switch back to memorizing stuff. It doesn’t work!

    • Photo: Kate McGonagle

      Kate McGonagle answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      Never be embarrassed to ask a question if you don’t understand something, it’s most likely that someone else is thinking the same thing and too afraid to ask. I wasn’t very good at this at school, now I’m older I ask a lot more questions and it often leads to discussions. I think that’s the best way to figure something out and understand it in you own mind, talk it out!

    • Photo: Bryony Hockin

      Bryony Hockin answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      I would say first of all, enjoy it! Chemistry is so fun! I would also say don’t be afraid to ask questions, it won’t make you sound stupid – it’s actually better to ask questions if you don’t understand something 🙂 Find a way to study that makes chemistry easier to understand for you, I agree with Sumit that building molecule models is often really helpful. Chemistry is all about understanding, not about memorising information and spitting it out again. I would also say don’t give up! Sometimes chemistry is difficult, and you have to put a lot of thought into understanding it, and that can be hard, but once you understand it, it’s a great feeling.

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