Candidate's Weakness with Suggested Remedies

Candidates’ weaknesses in the paper were evident in the following areas:

• majority of the candidates did not adhere to the instructions;
• inability to differentiate between molar mass and relative atomic mass;
• application of wrong unit;
• inability to calculate mass concentration of solution;
• inability to identify colours;
• some candidates wrote clear solution instead of colourless solution;
• application of theoretical approach to practical questions;
• majority of the candidates carried out qualitative analysis on solid samples.

THE FOLLOWING REMEDIES WERE SUGGESTED FOR OVERCOMING THE WEAKNESSES

Candidates should:

• understand the demands of the questions before responding to them;
• improve on their communication skills;
• be familiar with the examination syllabus;
• learn how to write and balance chemical equations correctly;
• learn how to write IUPAC names of compounds correctly;
• improve on their study habit;
• qualified teachers should be allowed to teach the subject.