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.