GCE A/L Q and A - 01

I thought of starting a new series of posts to answer the questions some of the A/L students emailed me / commented on the posts. Today I selected five recent questions you guys asked me. If you guys have anymore questions email (ruviperera780@gmail.com) me or DM me on instagram(ruviash). Keep in mind that there is nothing called stupid questions. So don't hesitate to ask me anything.
  01. How many times should we practice past papers?

Actually I can't say this number of times. Usually for physics we can see a recurring nature of MCQs. Actually they test if we know the concepts in depth. There's actually no meaning of doing the same thing over and over again because we will eventually have all the answers memorized instead of getting a grasp of the concept. What I recommend is first thoroughly understand concepts (I will make a future post about exactly how to do that) and then use past papers to check if you have understood the concept well. Also don't forget to mark the answers as per the method in the marking scheme. So you will know how much you score if you have answered it the way you thought is right. And then check why you lost some points and try to write answers accordingly the next time. when you do a handful amount of questions this way you will automatically tuned to write answers to get a nearly perfect score. Also for MCQs I recommend to take a separate book and write the method you got the answer and then if it's wrong write the correct method with a different coloured pen. That way it will help you clarify how you got the answer even if you check it after few months. 

02. How to schedule time for each subject?

Lets be honest here. We all have a favorite subject and a one we hate right? So when we don't feel like studying we should start with a one we like and then move onto the topics/ subjects we don't like because no matter how much we hate still we will have to face to the exam. Actually how to study is a broad topic which also I will cover in upcoming weeks. So stay tuned guys.

03. How to approach Organic Chemistry?

Organic Chemistry contributes to a lot of marks in the Chemistry and honestly my favourite. Okay now you guys are like " Seriously??? With all those equations to memorize?". Well I didn't just studied those. You will remember them with practice. And exactly how to do that? Well I came across a book named Kabanika Pariwarthana Pahasuwen" (actually chemistry teacher in my school recommended it) and I never regret buying that tiny booklet which saved my life. I did the book 3 times before the exam. It contains few equations at the beginning and some exercises using those equations. In the next chapter it has some more equations and then there are activities which includes equations from both chapters. So eventually when I was given a reactants and a product solving it was a matter of seconds. (Just trust me here I even did a synthesis with 18 steps). What I'm stressing here is that if you want to be good at organic chemistry practice is the key and you will be a pro in a day. 

04. How did you manage Inorganic Chemistry?

For this I used lots of coloured pens. I took a piece of paper and wrote all the equations and used coloured pens to write chemical name according to its colour. And then I took some past papers and tried to untangle the mess. Because my equations were colour coded it was easy and in no time I memorized all the equations. Once again kids.. Practice is the key (Okay I know you hate this phrase already, but I can't stress this enough coz to get an A we need to get perfect scores for organic and inorganic chemistry)

05. What is your idea about redoing A/L examination?

Well I did A/Ls only once (in 2014 in maths stream) coz I get to go to my dream university and follow the degree I love (Nuclear Medicine). If you are following your dream and you couldn't do it from the first time yeah why not. Make sure you are confident and committed to studies. Think about the reasons for not being able to score upto your expectation and get the courage to overcome those. Work with the target in your head ALL THE TIME. Don't get distracted by anything and make your parents proud. Good Luck!!!

Well that is it for today. If you have any more questions feel free to ask. Also you can find all the articles I wrote about A/Ls by clicking here. Have a nice day kids and get the maximum use of quarantine time!!!

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