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Topic: Reason for error  (Read 13800 times)

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Offline Sophia7X

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Re: Reason for error
« Reply #15 on: May 04, 2012, 10:20:45 PM »
That's really nice! The two AP chem teachers at my school are always willing to help. I think I've spent at least 20 hours total of my teacher's time, asking endless questions after school. I didn't want to bother him TOO MUCH, so I tried to figure out many of the problems on my own... I'll say, a few of these problems took me hours to solve but I felt quite accomplished when I solved them on my own. :)
 
The types of problems I usually get wrong are the random facts (for example, this year asked what was a Grignard's reagant and what types of batteries are rechargeable; I had no idea). Guess the only way I can get these types of problems correct is to expose myself to even more chemistry. Also, stupid mistakes grrr... I just don't know where my brain was when I chose NH3 over CH3NH2 as a stronger base. Or when I forgot to convert atm to mmHg, and I even underlined the units the question wanted, haha.
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Offline Olympiad_Tutor

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Re: Reason for error
« Reply #16 on: May 04, 2012, 10:54:57 PM »
Sophia, you can certainly improve a lot in 1 year.

Analyze why you made those mistakes. Time pressure? Test anxiety?  Work out a strategy to deal with those.  Have you taken practice tests under timed conditions?

What my fellow Olympian Cheese said is certainly true.  A tutor can help.  I know examples where a tutor/teacher probably made significant difference for several students.

On the other hand, I never had a tutor and it worked out fine in the end.  I definitely got many more bruises that way but it was a great learning experience.
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Offline Sophia7X

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Re: Reason for error
« Reply #17 on: May 04, 2012, 11:14:14 PM »
I don't know where I could get a tutor for this, but I think my teacher is sufficient. He's pretty dedicated, never refused me once when I asked him for help. Without him, I probably would have scored a 35 or something.


I need to learn my basic organic mechanisms as well, I think this year was the first year they included mechanisms in the free response, looks like they're starting to incorporating more advanced organic chemistry. Also will be working through Atkin's Chemical Principles over the summer.


And yes, I've taken them under timed conditions. Time was not a problem for me. It could be test anxiety but I didn't feel nervous, and I did pretty well on the local exam (with only one dumb mistake compared to 6 on this one).
Maybe my brain just wasn't present at that time... Next time I need to make sure I'm really really careful.





Could someone show me how to do #19, this was one of the problems I got wrong... I keep getting C??
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Offline cheese (MSW)

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Re: Reason for error
« Reply #18 on: May 04, 2012, 11:25:51 PM »
I am afraid AP teachers (whoever they are: I'm the product of a different system) may
not be up to the task.  They are teachers and by definition may have an MSc at best.  You need teachers
that are the brightest of the bright namely a PhD or soon to be a PhD.  Professors of the future,
to train you to think outside the box.  And whoever says that this can't be done is mistaken!
I should have added the grad student that tutored me was from probably the best school for
chemistry in the world at the time.  And yes I passed that University's rigorous written and oral
exams and did my BSc there.  (Hint: I had Wilkinson as one of my professors.)
So, go out and buy yourself Geoff Raynor-Canham's Descriptive Chemistry 5th ed and start reading
and learning.  Grignard rgnts and batteries are all in there.  (Dr R-C, "Geoff" was in the year
ahead of mine!)  ;)
I am a great believer at struggling for hours on problems: helps the neurons to make shorter connections.
Not many students then or, especially, now do that.
If you had spent just two min of the Mg3N2 problem you would have had (perhaps!) time to check those units.
Always look at your answer to see that it make sense.  If your calc density is 4.12×10^22 g cm^-3
you have probable forgotten Mr Avogadro's const (could be a neutron star?).  Know Li has a density of 0.53 and Os 22.6
 g cm^-3 so any density outside these values is wrong. etc etc
Practice, practice, practice -until it becomes second nature and from which comes confidence,
and nerves of steel.  And above all, have fun!!
best wishes.
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Offline cheese (MSW)

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Re: Reason for error
« Reply #19 on: May 05, 2012, 02:18:55 AM »
Do you have a link to these Chem Olympics Exams?
Before embarrassing myself by making a claim on how well I would do on such an exam
I had better see one first! :).
(I would hope 58-60/60 in 8/10th of the time?)
How would your teacher score on the exam?
Tell me what Qu 19 is and I will answer it.
As you can gather I am not an Olympian. Olympians were the rookies in my system.
I took them to their BSc and PhDs.  This is why I have a licence to tease Ch_Olympiad_Winner ;D
And for those of you that don't think they need a coach go watch Chariots of Fire about
probably the last guy (Scottish Christian) who won a Au medal (24 Olympics) without a
professional coach.
We are in it for the Au aren't we?  I suspect you may have a special gift Sophia (you
have done a lot by yourself) so try and convince your parents to pay for a tutor.
Grad students are use to working for a pittance!
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Offline Olympiad_Tutor

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Re: Reason for error
« Reply #20 on: May 05, 2012, 06:02:49 AM »
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Offline Sophia7X

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Re: Reason for error
« Reply #21 on: May 05, 2012, 10:40:21 AM »
Oh oops, forgot to provide a link!
#19 on the 2012 National test please.
http://portal.acs.org/portal/PublicWebSite/education/students/highschool/olympiad/pastexams/CNBP_029887

I think I recognize my error, that I cannot use the Cp of ice with an initial of temperature of > 0° C but I can't figure out how to set up the problem.


@cheese
Well, on the past exams I did for practice I scored from 45 to 58, 53 being the average. So I believe my teacher can do better, he's a smart guy.

Normally on these tests, I miss one calculation problem and 3-5 "trivia" questions. The rest of my errors are generally because I made a dumb mistake or I fell into a trick.

Anyway, I'll probably bug my teacher about doing the labs next year. I thought I had good enough lab experience so I didn't prepare for the lab portion. I spent a little too much time on one of the lab problems, and when I started the second one I only had 30 minutes left. Did not complete one of the 2 labs... Darn, I'm seriously the slowest titrator ever XD
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