CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES AND SUGGESTED REMEDIES
The candidates showed weaknesses in the following areas;
- definitions of concepts/statement of chemical laws;
- naming of organic compounds;
- periodic trends in the properties of elements;
- laboratory preparation of chlorine;
- methods of collection of gases/reasons for usage of named methods;
- definition of Dalton’s law of partial pressure;
- definition of galvanic cells;
- definition of relative atomic mass;
- calculation of the vapour density of a diatomic gas.
The following remedies were however suggested:
- extensive preparation for the exam;
- adequate coverage of the syllabus;
- use of appropriate technical language to answer questions;
- identifying the requirements of each question;
- improvement on candidates’ study habits;
- exposure of teachers to seminars and workshops to improve their teaching methods.