Science Exhibitions Day 1

Congrat guys!!

The exhibition is very fantastic! Out of the Universe I might say! (bodek lebih-lebih tak boleh ke dapat gula-gula? ) Big claps!!!!

So at last, for Chemistry we end up doing something different but quite enjoyable. The dancing colour in milk and volcano eruption was cool! Another experiment is about...

MINERALS IN YOUR DRINKING WATER

What do you drink anyway? Is it just simple HtwoO or something else? What turn the lights on? Hmm...Let us find out from our Prof. Erny and Prof. Sharm!!

So...to those who never been there yet...BE THERE!
To those who wanna be there again...YOU ARE INVITED!

Enjoy The Science and Mathematics' Week!

Good Luck In Exam!!

To everyone, the exam this time will be harder than ever. So be prepared.Don't do last minutes study...ok! So...here are the tips for you.

We will cover this topic in the exam.

          Form 4     -      Every chapter

          Form 5     -      Chapter 1     Rate of Reaction

                                 Chapter 2      Carbon Compounds

                                 Chapter 3      Oxidation and Reduction

Please read those topics and don't you ever skip anything....try every question in the excercise book that we agreed to used and maybe you will amaze with the result that you'll get.

Good Luck and have fun exploring the excercise...(sonang jo tu)

Science Exhibitions First List

Hello there,

So here are the exhibition that the Chemist of SMK Tasek Utara 2 had bravely wanted badly to show to everyone during the Science and Mathematics Week. Sit tight and wait to enjoy the colourful and wonderful world of Chemistry...(Ha..Ha..Ha..Evil Laugh)

Volcano Eruption
Everyone would be able to see the real eruption of volcano and explore deep inside it and experience the unforgetable experience of seing it erupt in front of your very eyes!

Fun Time With Milk and Colour
See the colours dancing in milk that you drink daily and explore the secret that make it dance to the musics. So everyone...let's Tango!

Float.. And Float.. And Float..
What float? Vanilla float? Strawberry float? Pepsi float? Seems like so delicious!! But actually, you can't eat it! You just look and hmm... imagine the taste.

Colourful Thornless Rose
Last time I used to give special name to myself... Just like you do.. My name is Princessa Charissimma , the blue thornless rose... And now after 10 years ( waa!!! old already lah!) i can make one myself! Actually they will make it for Pengetua. Not me. ;( x kesah la... janji ada kan! :)

Good luck everyone! you can do it!

Opening for Science and Mathematics Week(Wassup!)

Hey guys...What's happening! What to do now?

Wow! Can't Wait For The Class Today!

Hollo there!

Can't wait for the class today. We are going to demonstrate the exciting experiment lead by groups that will perform during the Science and Mathematics Week. Finally!

Izzat (real name of coz) did told me this morning that he had add up a few more things to the elephant toothpaste's experiment that is fail at the very beginning... and guess what! It works!! Thank God! You guys now had started thinking the way Einstein did!

All I hope you don't blew up anything so that you could stay a lil' bit longer to win the Noble Prize one day in the future. Amin!

One more thing... you guys are so quiet in this blog...Common guys...Say something! I feel lonely speaking to myself here! Somebody....Please!!!SPEAK TO ME!ME!Me!me!(echoing...)

Your beloved crazyboutchem

Opening for Science and Mathematics Week

Thanks to 5 Hibiscus students for a good appetizer for our school Science and Mathematics Week...The program will be postponed to 20.04.2011. Good job everyone though you guys don't start anything yet accept for the plan...Always remember "One who fail to plan, plan to fail" (How about it is not one, but two or three?hehe..)

I would like to applause to you guys who willingly come up with brilliant idea towards our Science Exhibition!Great Job guys..but great job is not a great one unless you've done it well..So Good Luck guys!!Would love to see the results!

Adios Amigos...

News For You Guys (5 Hibiscus)

Please finish your homework this weekend coz I'm goin to ask 'bout it next week in class.

Past year question Paper 2 2005
Past year question Paper 3 2005

Do the one that you've learn only but if you dare...do every single question there....ok!

God won't leave U blind folded forever. So don't give up!

Your beloved crazyboutchem

Scoring 1A in SPM Chemistry-A True Story

A reader, Lix asked how to score in SPM Chemistry at Malaysia Students Forum (powered by Google Groups) so I write this post with the hope that Lix and other readers will benefit from it. I assume her to be a form 5 student this year since she mentioned the word ‘Kimia’ in her post. For your information, form five year 2006 is the last batch of secondary school students studying Science and Mathematics subjects in Malay.

Let me start this post with my own experience in SPM Chemistry from grade 4C to 1A. Last year, I scored 4C in Chemistry in my mid year examination. I didn’t even know how to write a correct chemical equation. I started worrying that I might get bad result in SPM Chemistry. From that moment, I studied very hard and finally scored 1A in SPM Chemistry. You should start revising each and every chapter in the syllabus now. How? Follow these tips:

Master basic but important concepts

Memorize important facts and processes

Practise past-year SPM papers

Practise all trial papers

Master basic but important concepts – You must at least know how to write correct chemical equation, do simple calculation and understand basic chemical concept likes Mole Concept. Note that there are only a few types of calculations in Chemistry compared to Physics so please master all the calculations. Try to learn them yourselves reading the reference books first. If you really couldn’t understand them, you should seek help from your class or tuition teacher.

Memorize important facts and processes – Memorize the colours of chemical substances, understand the salt preparation process… It works effectively although some might argue that memorizing facts is the wrong way of learning. I personally agree that you can surely get a 1A in SPM Chemistry if you could memorize all the facts. However, I strongly recommend you to understand each concept and fact before you start memorizing them. Learning Chemistry becomes more exciting and enjoyable using this method.

Practise past-year SPM papers – Past-year SPM questions will repeat from time to time because of the limited scope covered in SPM Chemistry syllabus. This is no secret that most SPM candidates realize it. Practice makes perfect. Try every question and learn from your mistakes. For essay questions, get the marking schema from your teachers so that you can see how the marks are allocated and which points or keywords deserve full mark, etc. Learning from the essay marking schemas is a highly effective method!

Practise all trial papers – After SPM trial examinations, try to get other states’ SPM trial papers and practise them. Try Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) SPM trial papers too! You can either exchange SPM trial papers with your friends from other states or get them online through certain websites. I was lucky because my Chemistry teacher collected other states’ SPM trial papers for us last year. Sometimes, one or more exact or similar questions will come out in the actual SPM Chemistry paper. SPM question leaks do happen every year.

In conclusion, you have to study and understand every chapter carefully. Believe me, you won get 1A if you have read only a few topics and focus on only certain chemical concepts. Like it or not, read-understand-memorize all topics is the only way to guarantee a 1A in SPM Chemistry.

Update: There is a very useful message posted by a reader at Malaysia Students Forum, sharing his/her personal experience on the topic 'How to Score Well in SPM Chemistry’. It is certainly worth a good read!

BooNBoX wrote,

You know what, there's an old legend in secondary school. Normally you hear this story when you are about to enter Form 4.

"Bio, Physics, Chemistry... the difference between these three pure science subjects is that, all three require different brain usage in a different percentage... In Biology, where you need 75% of MEMORIZING skill and 25% UNDERSTANDING of your text. Mean while for Physics, it's the other way round where you need only 25% MEMORIZING skill (my friend derives the formulae other than memorizes it!!) and 75% understanding. Chemistry is some way in the middle and should be the easy for all ... ... you need half memory and half understanding, i.e. you are not only memorize the formulae and concept, you need to apply them as well ..."

To be honest, for the first monthly test in my chemistry, i was about to fail ... ... i did even know how to get the numbers of atoms in a mole of oxygen gas ... ... becoz I couldn't see the concept and i did understand it... i could not imagine the concept... so.. the most important thing is .. YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND AND ACCEPT THE CONCEPT...

then... you learn the basic, how to balance an equation... this is the most basic AND useful skill in chemistry... even in STPM, sometimes you really scratching your head til bleeding but still couldn't figure out the meaning and the question... all you need to do is to balance the equation and you will get the concept for that particular situation/condition... then you are half way to the answer...

the question is .. HOW TO LEARN TO BALANCE THE EQUATION ?? well... ... this is different for every individual... it's more or less like Maths... ... someone good in Maths (and understand what is Maths) could normally do better in balancing the equation... ... just take it as a simple Maths equation and maybe you will get a clearer picture ... ... break the molecules into simple element... ... ... take it simple and think simple .. then it will be...

HOW TO SCORE OK (WELL MAYBE) IN CHEMISTRY ... the most important key is ... ... go through every chapter and learn the basic concept... then... understand its concept but doing some practice questions ... ... doing questions will let you know how to apply this concept ... ...

e.g. : you study about thermochemistry... you know it's about heat produced/asorbed in a chemical reaction... ... but you won't be able to do the questions if you never done it before ... ... becoz you don't know how to apply the concept !

With the concepts in your mind... you should be able to do most questions ... but ... what if you want to do ALL QUESTIONS ??

HOW TO SCORE WELL IN CHEMISTRY then comes in your memorizing skill ... ... you need to memorize examples... ... you need to memorize the colours of elements... ... formulae... ...

you probably know about daniel cell... how to draw the cell and know which way the current going around the circuit... ... but if the question ask you to give an example ??? what if the questions asking you to build an experiment to know what element contain in an unknown substances ??

so to score very well, you will need this.

that's all i wanted to tell you all based on my personal experience. Some might feel not comfortable with my way, I understand that becoz i believe every individual got its own way to excel. Hopefully you can benefits the best from my opinion other than following it blindly.

Labels: Chemistry, Chong, SPM

Taken from Malaysia Students

Techniques of Answering Questions (SPM CHEMISTRY)-Finale

Paper 3

1.       This paper consists of 1 or 2 structured questions and 1 question for planning of experiment.

2.       You have to answer all questions in 1 hour 30 minutes.

3.       Try to complete the structured question(s) in 45 minutes and question for planning of an experiment in 45 minutes.

4.       In structured questions, students must be able to :

·         Make observation

·         Make inference

·         Identify variables

·         Construct hypothesis

·         Make classification based on the characteristics

·         Give an operational definition based on the experiment

·         Read and record instrument readings based on the diagram

·         Construct a table to record data/ Plot a graph using provided data

·         Interpret  data from the graph/ observation / table

·         Do wise prediction based on the graph / table

·         Relate the experiment with daily activities

5.       In the question for planning of experiment, students are required to study a situation or a given task.

6.       Based on the situation or the given task, students are required to plan an experiment to investigate the situation or given task.

7.       The answer should include:

·         Problem statement / aim

·         Hypothesis

·         List all the variables

·         List of materials and apparatus

(Draw the set up of apparatus to help you in procedure as well as list of materials and apparatus)

·         Procedure

·         Tabulation of data

So... Let us start our first assignment now!!!

Techniques of Answering Questions (SPM CHEMISTRY)-Second Episode

Paper 2

This paper consists of sections A, B and C, Students are required to answer the questions in 2 hours 30 minutes.

Section A

1.       Section A consists of 6 structured questions with the total marks of 60.

2.       Students are advised to answer all the structured questions in Section A in 90 minutes.

3.       Read the questions carefully and look out for vital words-state, name, describe, explain, calculate, etc to understand what the question wants. Answer the questions in the space provided in the question paper. The spaces provided and the marks allocated are good indicators to the length of answer required.

4.       For the questions involving calculation, show all the steps with correct units. This can be done by writing the formulae and substitute the formulae with correct values to get the answer with correct units.

5.       For the question that involves the drawing of set up of apparatus, it should be functional with correct labeling.

Section B and C

1.       Section B and C consist of 4 essay questions with the total marks of 40.

2.       Students are required to answer one question in Section B and one question in Section C. Try to complete each question in 30 minutes.

3.       Read through all questions and choose the questions which you feel most confident. Remember “one point one mark”. Make smart guess for the points based on the marks allocated. Clearly displayed calculations, proper statement of formulae, well-learnt definitions and labelled diagrams will help you to score well.

4.       It is advisible to include equations, labelled diagrams, graphs, tables to further elaborate your points.

5.   Answers are written in papers provided by Malaysia Examination Syndicate.

Wa!! So easy to score!

Techniques of Answering Questions (SPM CHEMISTRY)

Paper 1

1.       This paper consist of 50 objective questions to be answered in 1 hour 15 minutes.

2.       Students need to answer all the questions.

3.       Students have an average of 1.5 minutes for each question.

4.       It is advisable to read through all the alternative answers before answering. Eliminate the distracters (wrong answers).

5.       On the first time through, answer the questions you know well. For the questions you are not sure, leave it first.

6.       On the second time through, answer the questions that you have left.

7.       On the third run through, tackle though about which you are really uncertain. If necessary, make an intelligent guess.

8.       Then check through your work if you still have time.

Good Luck and All The Best!! Gambate Amigos!

Tips For Chemistry Exam

Command Word	Description	Example
Define	Write a concise statement to say what something is or means.	Example: Define the meaning of cation. Suggested Answer: Ion that is attracted to the cathode.
State	Write a short, concise answer/fact without explaination.	Example: State one use of PVC. Suggested Answer: To manufacture water pipe.
List	Give a number of points in a list. Each point might only be a single word or a short phrase or sentence.	Example: List three raw materials needed in the Contact process. Suggested Answer: Oxygen, sulphur, oleum.
Determine	The answer cannot be measured directly but is obtained by calculation or perhaps, by taking a reading from the graph.	Example: Determine the heat of combustion for alcohol with 5 carbon atoms per unit molecule.
Explain	Give reasons for the observation/ happening.	Example: Explain why small marble chips have a higher rate of reaction. Suggested  Answer: Small marble chips have a larger total surface area. Frequency of collision between H+ ion and CO32- ion in the solid calcium carbonate increases. Frequency of effective collision also increases.
Predict or deduce	Deduce an answer from information in the question or from an earlier answer. You are not expected to produce an answer from memory.	Example: Element X is lower than potassium in Group 1. Predict the reactivity of element X. Suggested Answer: The reactivity of element X is higher than potassium.
Describe	Write in full and systematically, what has been carried out, observed or deduced and with diagram of apparatus used.	Example: Describe how ethanol can be produced by fermentation in the laboratory. Suggested Answer: Your answer should contain the following: #Simple diagram of the apparatus #One or two sentences saying what you should do, including : -Material used(i.e. sugar, yeast, water) -Conditions(i.e. leave in a warm place for a few days; plug the flask so that the air cannot get in) -Equation (if you know it is) or at least mention that glucose decomposes into ethanol and carbon dioxide)
Compare and contrast	Give the differences and similarities between two terms/phenomena	Example: Compare and contrast between hexane and hexene. Suggested Answer: #Both hexane and hexene are colourless liquids. #Complete combustion of hexene and hexane produce carbon dioxide and water. #Hexene undergoes addition reaction, hexane undergoes substitution reaction. #Hexene is an unsaturated hydrocarbon, hexane is a saturated hydrocarbon.

At last!!!

Assalamualaikum and a very good morning. So this is my first post. Hope not the last! LOL!
Dedicate this blog to my beloved students, class of 2011... and others who really love the colourful world of chemistry... Here goes...