December 2008 | SimpleChemConcepts

Monthly Archives: December 2008

SimpleChemConcepts.com – Supporter of ECO Friendly Living

Written on December 11, 2008 by sean in Chemistry Phenomenon

I saw a very nice looking ads in the local newspaper several days back and would like to share with you.

It is based on the theme ECO-FRIENDLY LIVING and shows several ways to live more ecologically friendly to our globe our universe.

SimpleChemConcepts.com is a strong supporter of ecological environmental protection and i would like to invite our reader to support the same cause.

In the image above, it shows you several ways to use less energy and protect the environment.

What a good educational advert!

Check it out and implement them ok?

Hmm. perhaps my future Mastery Workshops and Revision Intensive Bootcamps should be conducted in the open air under daylight conditions? maybe we can conduct it in the open field?

Any comments from you? I would love to hear from you….

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Why Am I Providing So Much Chemistry Tips, Strategies & Phenomenons

Written on December 10, 2008 by sean in Chemistry Phenomenon

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Very interestingly, i received a couple of emails from parents and 2 educators asking me why i am sharing so much Chemistry Tips & Strategies to do well in Chemistry Exams. Some even questioned me why i spend so much personal time and large amount of effort to purposely find Chemistry Phenomenons and share on this chemistry blogsite.

Being the author of this blogsite, perhaps i should tell you a little bit about starting this blog. Many of students and parents that have joined my mastery workshops and intensive bootcamps have heard of this before.

Being a Chemistry blogsite, we are a strong believer of Science (including Physics, Biology, Life Science, Geography, Geologists-related, etc) being put into proper correct use in human kind.

The mission of this website is to touch as many lives as possible in the field of Chemistry, and help them to generate a huge interest in Chemistry (and other Sciences) so that they have more flexibility and options in their life.

In fact, Chemistry is all around us and it does not mean that you should know nothing about Chemistry Concepts even if you want to be a businessman when you grow up. I always tell some of my student (whose dreams is to be a successful businessman) that nobody go to a business dinner and sign contracts right away.

Before the contract is signed, there is always talks about economy, hobbies, etc..You can use chemistry concepts to talk about things related to our daily lives and impress your business associates. Same like any other jobs and careers..

If you want to know more about me, you can go to ABOUT ME to read more.

Until the next post..take care..

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O Level Chemistry Essential Concepts Revision Workshop – Post Analysis Series – Part 2

Written on December 9, 2008 by sean in Chemistry Coaching, Chemistry Notes & Tips

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Today, we are going to cover another common mistakes made by 90% of the students year-after-year, that has been observed in the recent Chemistry Revision Workshop as well as similarly documented in the “Up Your Chemistry Grades Now!”.

The following question test students on the familiarisation of Periodic Table and how elements are arranged.

Question:

Many of the students would casually and quickly select the answers as (A), which is the incorrect answer.

The question shows diagrams/charts which aims to psychologically affect us to choose the wrong answer. Many students chose answer (A) because they learned in school and books before that “Elements in the Periodic Table are arranged in the order of increasing atomic number, which corresponds to the increasing proton number”! There is nothing wrong with the definition above.

The only problem is that students did not spend some time understanding the charts given:
It is “number of outer shell electrons” plotted against “proton number” for 1st 12 elements in the Periodic Table.

If you realised the axes of the charts, then you will work out your answer to be (B) instead.

If you still do not get the answer as (B), the following Periodic Table showing Electronic Configurations will certainly help you in your understanding.

(click image to see clearer)

PS: Let me know if you need more assistance and clarification on this question. Leave me a comment right below.

Stay Tuned to Part 3 of the “Common Errors in Chemistry Concepts made by Students” mini series.

Until then….

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O Level Chemistry Essential Concepts Revision Workshop – Post Analysis Series – Part 1

Written on December 8, 2008 by sean in Chemistry Coaching, Chemistry Guidebooks, Chemistry Notes & Tips, Exam Strategies

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During the O Level Chemistry Essential Concepts Revision Workshop, i had observed that many of the participants will make common mistakes in certain types of questions. It is not 1-2 students, but more than 50% of them will make these common mistakes. Many of these questions are in fact discussed and presented in my chemistry book “Up Your Chemistry Grades Now!”.

For the next 1 week, i will blogpost about some of the common errors that are made by these group of revision workshop participants, so that everyone is aware of it, and can avoid it in Chemistry Exams. This mini series will be known as “Common Errors in Chemistry Concepts made by Students”.

Check out the question below for the 1st misconceptions that many students made:

Question:

Explain the following observation:

“Solid sodium chloride does not conduct an electric current but a solution of sodium chloride in water is a good conductor.” (2 marks)

Common Mistake made by students:

“Sodium chloride in solid state cannot conduct electricity but when they are dissolve in water, there are free moving electrons that can carry charges and thus conduct electricity.” – student’s answer

Comments on the common mistakes made:

Many students made the mistake by mentioning that sodium chloride conducts electricity when they are dissolved in water, because there are free moving electrons. They must have learned that electricity flows due to free moving electrons in wires/circuits.

This is NOT true for ionic compounds such as sodium chloride.

Ionic compounds conducts electricity when they are in aqueous state (dissolved in water), because of the FREE MOVING IONS, not electrons.

Water molecules are able to overcome the strong electrostatic forces of attraction between the positive and negative ions, such that the ions are free moving and can carry charges around.

Hope this explanation is clear to you.

Drop me a comment on how you find this blogpost discussion.

PS: More of such “Common Mistakes Made by Students in Chemistry Exams” are documented in “Up Your Chemistry Grades Now!” chemistry guidebook.

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O Level Chemistry Essential Concepts Revision Workshop – Students’ Comments

Written on December 7, 2008 by sean in Announcement, Chemistry Coaching, Exam Strategies

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Many of my peers (from secondary schools, Singapore Polytechnic and NUS Applied Chemistry & Chemistry) as well as Scientists, Researchers, Deans/Head of Depts in Universities as well managers/specialists from MNCs always asked me why i chose Chemistry Coaching as a career, since i have so much opportunities and recommendations to join the Research Arenas and Industrial entities in Singapore.

I believed it all boils down to:

Passion in Chemistry
Wanting to help others solve problems where they themselves can’t find solutions
Seeing people happy and feeling motivated
Helping students to have flexibility to choose what they want as a career in near future

In the O Level Essential Concepts Revision Workshop, the following comments were received from students @ the end of the programmes:

“I have definitely benefitted from this programme and have understood more concepts in Chemistry than before. Although 4 hours is pretty long and tiring, I am satisfied with my achievement at the end of the workshop. Sean has made his lessons really lively and enjoyable for me, and I’ll definitely recommend him to several of my classmates. Thank you. ”

Melissa Lim, Methodist Girl’s School (MGS)

“Flip-charts are very helpful with regards to recall of concepts. The workshop was very effective. Mr Chua was very clear and concise in his explanations of Chemistry Concepts, especially helpful with the Equation Writing & Mole Calculations. Mr Chua has made Chemistry easier to understand with his analogies and more concrete/logical reasoning in chemistry questions. Overall, it was a very conducive and productive use of time.”

Lee Jiayu Sherri, Methodist Girl’s School (MGS)

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O Level Chemistry Essential Concepts Revision Workshop – Graduation Photos

Written on December 6, 2008 by sean in Announcement, Chemistry Coaching

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Update: Read about what the workshop participants said about their experience.

To follow up on the last blogpost where i mentioned about the successful completion of the O Level Chemistry Essential Concepts Revision Workshop, check out the selective photos that were taken during the 16hrs of intensive coaching and mastery learning:

Graduation Group Photo on last day of workshop

Focused Learning in a motivating enviroment

Students participating in Accelerated Learning Techniques

High Energy Coaching..only your passion and energy can help students to break their barriers effectively

more photos to be shared later when we download them….

Stay tuned for their thoughts on this Chemistry Revision Workshop..in the next blogpost

PS: If you have missed the Chemistry Revision Workshop (in Dec 2008) and would like to join our future programmes, please fill up your enquiry HERE

Thank you.

“How You Do Something, Is How You Do Everything!”

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O Level Chemistry Essential Concepts Revision Workshop – Successful Completion

Written on December 5, 2008 by sean in Announcement, Chemistry Coaching

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Hi everyone,

It has been a while since my last blogpost. You must be wondering where did i go..

In case you are not aware, i was busy with conducting the “O” Level Chemistry Essential Concepts Revision Workshop in Singapore for a group of students for the past 1 week.

There are a total of 14 committed students that have attended this revision workshop:

13 local students (12 of them doing GCE O Level syllabus while 1 doing ICGSE syllabus)
1 International student (flown in specially from beautiful Mauritius for this chemistry workshop)

Using Accelerated Learning Techniques, Focused Learning & my 4A’s Chemistry Concepts Coaching Methodologies, these committed group of students were taught comprehensively on the following Essential Chemistry Concepts in 16 hours:

Atomic Structure
Ionic Bonding
Covalent Bonding
Metallic Bonding
Structural Properties due to Bondings
Writing Equations (Chemical and Ionic)
Mole Concepts (all the formulas you need to know)
Chemical Calculations (solving Problem Sums in Chemistry)
Acids and Its Properties
Bases and Its Properties

During the 16 hours of intensive and focus coaching, i realized that there are some “errors” or “mistakes” that students always made, over and over again. This is even when you ask them to try out a similar question an hour later. All these – i call them “Common Errors that 90% of the Chemistry students always made”. It is important for Chemistry students to know of all these common errors, so that they are aware of it, and can avoid it. And all these “errors observed” in fact forms the basis and backbone of my new Chemistry Book “Up Your Chemistry Grades Now!”. Many of the “common errors” that i indicated and shared in the book, had re-surfaced numerous times in this 16hrs revision workshop. And it is not 1- 2 students that made those “common errors”, but about 50% of them!!!!

Alright, in the next blogpost, i will share with you some of the pictures that were taken in the Chemistry revision workshop, as well as some of the “common errors in Chemistry Concepts” that was observed during the Chemistry Workshop.

PS: If you have missed the O Level Chemistry Essential Concepts Revision Workshop, and would like to find out more about our Chemistry Programmes starting in Jan 2009, please click the link below:

>> Chemistry Ultimate Leap Programme

Until next time,

Sean

Master Trainer

Author “Up Your Chemistry Grades Now!”

“How You Do Something, Is How You Do Everything!”

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