Every year, come time for students to choose their High School Certificate (HSC) subjects, message boards are flooded with questions. Subjects like "What's the easiest HSC?" and "Does anyone have any tips for HSC Maths?" dominate; other notes are more helpful.
Some point to revision resources while others offer support and encouragement.
Combing through assorted responses reveals a trend. It seems that some savvy students answer "Is HSC Chemistry hard?" with "Anything is hard if you don't know how to go about it.". Such responses don't sound understanding, supportive or encouraging but they're a good solution to your worries.
That bit of wisdom should nudge you to change how you think about 'easy' and 'hard'.
This article takes that idea further. We want to understand HSC Chemistry particulars first, and then, talk about how developing the right mindset will moot the 'easy/hard' debate. Finally, we'll lay out a practical solution to make your HSC Chemistry course and exam challenging but not frightening.
HSC Chemistry Overhaul
Wherever they're administered, standardised exams face heavy criticism. Students find them boring and repetitive; they believe that those exams have far too much sway over their lives and future.
Educators resent the idea that students' exam performances should reflect their teaching abilities. Parents protest 'teaching to the test'; they want students to learn new information, not test answers.
In fact, everyone is frustrated with the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) but these exams aren't going away. Nor are HSC exams, but the New South Wales Educational Standards Authority (NESA) has taken the initiative for change.
They've revamped the physics and chemistry exams (among others) to bring them more in line with university-level science studies.
In 2018, education experts rewrote the Chemistry and Physics exams to focus on the science's theoretical aspects. The new editions debuted in 2019 with mixed results.
Candidates had more calculations and reasoning to do, which put less emphasis on recalling and recording facts. The new paper kept roughly the same format; just under half of the questions are multiple-choice.
But even the multiple-choice questions called for the student to apply their chemistry knowledge. Candidates tend to breeze right through this part of their exams because everyone knows this type of question's secrets. Two given responses are obviously incorrect.
Then, even if the student doesn't know the right answer, they still stand a 50% chance of guessing correctly.
The new exam doesn't allow test-takers to use that strategy. You will have to calculate or reason out most of the problems to arrive at the correct response. Your memory for facts isn't the best tool at your disposal where this exam is concerned. You have to understand your subject to get high marks.
To prove that point, you only need to look at HSC Chemistry past papers. The exam booklet's last four pages contain lists of data and information you will use during your exam. It's rather unusual for an exam board to provide test takers with a cheat sheet but their doing so is meant to discourage memorising all those formulae.
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Is HSC Chemistry Hard?
Describing anything in any terms is subjective because what's difficult for one person might be child's play for another. Besides, 'hard' is such an imprecise word! Concrete is usually described as hard, but so is stale bread and they're vastly different materials. Bread might crumble under the slightest pressure but poorly mixed concrete might, too.
So we need to leave 'hard', 'difficult' and other such adjectives behind us to look at this exam from a different angle. For me, being years out of school, a quick read through the exam shows me I would flounder even though Chemistry was one of my best subjects.
For you, thick in your studies and actively working with the information you need to score well, there's less of a chance that you'll do poorly.
It wouldn't help you if "Study hard and you'll be fine!" were all this article had to offer. Instead, let's try taking the focus off of defining the exam and putting it on students' abilities. Are students up to the challenge or do they find it daunting?
That's the question that matters.
You'll find its best answer by understanding your subject and connecting every new piece of information to a topic you've already mastered. Keeping your course syllabus handy is the best way to connect HSC Chemistry concepts. For instance, going over the HSC Chemistry data sheet, you'll note that page three doesn't apply to your Year 12 syllabus.
You should also note that a lot of data sheet information comes from Modules 5, 6 and 8.
Pay special attention to your syllabus' vocabulary because they give you a clue as to the type of response the examiners expect. You'll find keywords like 'Identify', 'Discuss' and 'Assess' sprinkled throughout; they will also feature on your exam.
For instance, an 'identify' task calls for a short response, maybe just naming an element or action. By contrast, an 'Assess' question calls for a more detailed response.
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HSC Chemistry Revision
By now, you should have gotten the idea that your HSC Chemistry exam calls for you to apply your chemistry knowledge. That makes it pointless to spend much of your revision time memorising chemistry facts. It's much better that you work with the knowledge you have and connect concepts across your syllabus.
Mind maps work best to organise information and establish connections. You might draw one mind map for each syllabus dot point and populate the maps as your progress through your course. Then, come revision time, you have a visual guide to related concepts at your disposal.
Flashcards are another trusty revision tool but because HSC Chemistry doesn't demand lots of memorising, they are not the best resource you could draw on. Likewise, it's not a good idea to organise information by study module. Modules 5 and 6 present the best reason for that. The first study module covers equilibrium and acid reactions but the next unit also covers acid reactions.
As you draw your mind maps and establish informational ties, don't forget to correlate everything with exam past papers and your data sheet. You'll need as complete a view of everything you learned in class as possible to score well on your HSC Chemistry exams. Once you have everything mapped out, you can plan your studies and begin revising in earnest.
Taking charge of your HSC Chemistry studies dispels the need to wonder or worry if the course is difficult. It's all just information, after all, much like all of your other courses. What matters is how you approach your subject material and what you do with it.
We've come pretty far on that last point; now, let's finish off with some prime study tips.
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HSC Chemistry Best Practices
If you've gone through your study materials - your syllabus, course materials and past papers, you know this subject is maths-heavy. You'll have many variables to plug in and many equations to resolve. So, like anyone on their way to success, you should practise the skills you'll need until you can ply them with no effort.
Some people like to play Sudoku or KenKen because it helps them develop and strengthen reasoning skills and logical thinking. Such players often report that the more puzzles they do, the less time it takes to solve each one. Even more challenging grids don't seem quite as daunting once their brains are trained in that brand of logic. Crossword puzzles have the same effect.
Following their examples, you should work through as many chemistry equations as possible. These exercises are not about boring you to tears and in no way are the same as rote memorisation.
You'll be training your brain to execute a sequence of steps so that, come time to sit exams, you'll proceed through every equation with hardly a groan.
NESA gave you a helping hand by listing the most important equations on the first page of your HSC Chemistry data sheet. But those formulae are not the only ones you will need throughout your course or on your exam. So rely on your mind maps to compile equations you learn throughout your course and work them as often as you can.
When you're that familiar with such a crucial exam component, you'll have no need to wonder how difficult this course is.
You should have noticed by now that memorising information will not serve you well. Understanding and internalising information will be far more effective. Why chemical reactions happen and what makes them happen matters far more than the list of chemicals that may react.
Once you grasp these concepts, you'll be ready to face any chemistry exam.
Your Year 11 introduction to HSC Chemistry might have been a lot to take. You got your first taste of working scientifically - observing experiments, processing data and/or information, and writing reports. That methodology was meant to instil the skills outlined in this article, skills that will serve you well on your exam.
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