CANDIDATES’ WEAKNESSES AND SUGGESTED REMEDIES

The weaknesses associated with the candidates’ performance include:

• majority of the candidates could not explain why dilute HCl could not be used to provide acidic medium in the titrations involving KMnO4;
• majority of the candidates were not familiar with dilution law;
• few candidates could differentiate between Al3+ / Zn2+ and Pb2+ / Ca2+ using white gelatinous ppt.;
• majority of the candidates were not familiar with redox titration.

The following remedies were however suggested:

• teaching of volumetric analysis should not be limited to acid-base titration only, but extended to redox titration;
• candidates should be familiar to the examination syllabus;
• candidates should improve on their study habit.