O Level Chemistry

IN-DEPTH UNDERSTANDING & INTEGRATIONConcepts between Chemistry chapters are often related, and students are required to link several concepts across different topics to answer questions. For instance, Acids, Bases and Salts is often tested together with Metals and Qualitative Analysis. Unfortunately, most students do not possess the required level of mastery and many fall back to the conventional route of trying to memorise content. This often results in misconceptions that snowball into other chapters, affecting the student’s ability to grasp the full concept and thus unable to effectively apply into examination questions. The key foundational topics that every student should master include the following:

• Chemical Equations
• Chemical Bonding
• Energy Changes
• Redox
• Mole Concept

CONSISTENT PRACTICE AND EXPOSURE TO APPLICATION QUESTIONSMost students spend too much time studying and too little time practicing. While remembering contents and facts are crucial, the ability to analyse questions and a proper thought process are what gets students the grades. However, when faced with overwhelming amount of content, students prioritise their time in trying to remember facts, and end up with insufficient time to acquire skills and techniques to tackle exam-grade questions.

CONSTANT REVIEW AND FEEDBACK FROM TEACHERS / TUTORSDoing well in Chemistry requires different skill set, such as precision of keywords in explanation questions, the use of correct method for calculation questions, and proper presentation of answers. Often, students write lengthy answers but are not hitting what the examiners are looking for. As such, constant review and feedback from teachers / tutors are valuable to pin point the weakness of students and to provide guidance on how the students can improve before the next exams.

Application-Based Teaching To Strengthen Concepts      Students often adopt the PUMP strategy when studying:

• Practice higher-order questions
• Understand concepts
• Memorise content
• Practice fundamental and recall-based questions

However, this process requires a long period of time in order for it to be successful. Here at Making Sense, tutors blend teaching with application, not only teaching students syllabus content but also explaining how examiners set questions. By breaking down this complex concept, students are trained to better analyse question types and develop a proper thought process. Adopting this teaching method allows students to better understand concepts and be able to produce concise answers suited to the requirements of different question types.

Comprehensive Chemistry Resources                  We strive to develop top-quality teaching materials that are perhaps more comprehensive than the top schools. Every year, we invest a huge amount of time into reviewing and enhancing our materials. Questions selected are hand-picked from various schools all around Singapore, exposing our students to different question types with varying levels of difficulty. Materials provided include:

• Concise notes
• Power summaries
• Effective worked examples
• Quick tests questions

Most students can easily score an ‘A’ in their O Level Chemistry examinations just using our materials.

Exposure To Higher-Order Thinking O-Level Chemistry Questions By exposing our students to higher-order thinking questions, our tutors are able to engage in multiple brainstorming sessions, hold intense discussions and review tons of examination scripts to scout for the latest trends to popular questions. Resources that are designed for IP schools are also brought forward to our O Level students, giving them a more in-depth understanding of the chemistry concepts taught in class.With the strong belief of “The more students get stuck in our tuition class, the less they will get stuck in exams”, we believe that exposing our students to challenging questions in class will allow them to improve in a short period of time and be able to answer future examination with ease.

Key Focus On Exam Skills And Answering TechniqueIn every chapter, there is always a fixed set of standard questions that are commonly tested. No matter how hardworking a student may be, if keywords are not present in the answer, the possibility of scoring Distinction is lowered significantly. At Making Sense, our tutors coach our students to adopt a step-by-step analysis of different question types, helping them to develop a proper thought process before answering. This will also allow students to identify keywords and common mistakes made during examination. With 80% of curriculum time spent on higher-order thinking questions, students are trained to apply concepts in unfamiliar contexts. This will also stretch their thinking as they are more flexible in application and reinforces their understanding of concepts.

Have The Peace of Mind. You Are Working With The Best in The IndustryAs featured in Channel NewsAsia and The Straits Times, thousands of O Level and IP Chemistry students have secured their Distinction with us. Making Sense is habitually associated as the nation’s leading O Level and IP Chemistry tuition specialist. With lessons ranging from Sec 3 to JC 2, parents and students alike are confident that we have everything well-planned for them. Our teaching methodology has proven to be successful as supported by our high Distinction rates.