Why do students get poorer grades in chemistry than in physics and mathematics?

Introduction

Chemistry is a challenging subject for many students. So, any science students tell about the difficulties of chemistry. Local or international curriculum both cases are true. Since I have little idea of the local and international curriculum of chemistry. In both cases, students are scared about it. The local curriculum of chemistry (Bangladesh) is more difficult because huge information has to memorize. But the international curriculum is more understanding.

Different types of international Curriculums

Different types of international curricula, I have faced. They are IB, British, and American curricula. I have a little bit idea about the college-level chemistry curriculum. So I want to discuss the college-level curriculum.

Firstly, for the college-level curriculum, IB is a celled IB diploma. It is a very rich curriculum but the number of students is small throughout the world. Secondly, in the British curriculum, it is called the International Advanced Subsidiary (AS) and Advanced (A) level. This is a modular method of education. The British column is divided into three main parts. Edexcel (Pearson), Cambridge, and AQA. This is the most popular international curriculum. Thirdly, the American international curriculum at the college-level or pre-university level is called Advanced Placements (AP).

But in any curriculum students get a poorer grade in chemistry than in physics or mathematics.

To find a solution to the above problem, I have researched a lot. I have found many answers from different sources. I have taken answers from people of different levels and different curricula.

Martin Pollard, MS Mechanical Engineering & Physics, University of California, Berkeley has written in Quora–

“This happened to me. I first went to college to major in biology. I had to take chemistry along with that. Freshman chemistry was easy. I was in the top of my class of about 300 students. Then during sophomore year I took Organic Chemistry. I kept getting C’s and telling myself that I would just study harder which I did but at the end of the year I was still a straight C student in organic chemistry. After my sophomore year I transferred to UC Berkeley. I then took physical chemistry and the same thing . . . a C.

And also took quantitative chemistry and failed. In the end, the only thing I could attribute my poor performance was that chemistry required too much memorization of details. For example: an organic chemistry reaction might require a catalyst and I couldn’t remember the catalyst. It was very demoralizing but also a good learning experience about myself and what I could or couldn’t do in spite of my efforts.

Mark Harder, the Polymath, who lives in Oregon has written in Quora-

“To study physics successfully, you need to understand some math and how to use it to solve physics problems. In chemistry, you need to know how to apply math and physics to understand chemistry. Chemistry requires a fair amount of memorization. That’s because you can’t derive all of its properties from a few laws like you can in basic physics. Organic chemistry requires a lot more memorization. If that isn’t enough, take a course in biochemistry someday. ”

Phillip Lee, a Student mentioned in Quora-

“Good question. One reason why chemistry is hard is because most teachers don’t go over why some equations work. They usually explain what molecules and atoms do but never give the framework for the actual mathematical proof of why it works. In most physics classes, they usually proof most of these equations which is why it is easier to understand. All of this is pretty much from my experience but I could be wrong. Also, don’t give up on chemistry because of what I’ve said. Chemistry’s a good class. As long as you can relate it to some physics principles I’d say you’re going above and beyond.”

David Simpson, Ph.D. Physics & Mathematics answer in Quora-

“I think I fall into this category. I understand math and physics just fine — there are some basic principles, and you build upon those to understand things. When you go to solve a problem, you fall back on those basic principles and work out a solution. I never quite “got” chemistry, though. When I mix chemical A with chemical B, what happens? What compounds are formed? Is there a reaction at all? I never quite understood what basic principles, if any, would allow you to predict the outcome of a chemical reaction.”

Nauman Saleem, MS Engineering & Electrical and Electronics Engineering, quoted-

“Maths and Physics are very much interrelated fields so if anyone is good in one of these field is automatically good in other field. But chemistry is entirely different field, about structure and composition of atom molecules etc, which is always hard to understand (at least for me.)”

Per Dip Rimal, a student wrote in Quora-

“You may find fun in chemistry if you are a great experimentalist. And if you are a lover of maths and physics you are more logical and seek for concrete principles for description of anything. A student may have problem with chemical reactions, so having clear understanding about atomic physics and thermodynamics before studying the reactions might invite fun with chemistry too.”

My observation

My own observation is different than others. According to my observation- chemistry is a material science. So, lots of information have to know is true. But I don’t agree with the word memorization. You have to understand the chemistry topics. The learner gets less interest in chemistry than in physics or mathematics. Therefore, they give less effort to this subject.

If you love the topic of chemistry automatically you will be good at chemistry. But chemistry is more practical than theoretical. So, you have to perform all the practical work on all the topics. Every learner has a different learning methodology. We have to teach our students to their own learning methods. The teachers will discover it. If a learner gets the lesson of his method, which he/she likes, then chemistry will be easy for him/her. As a result, the score of chemistry will be good. This is possible when the learning method is STEM-based and customized.

Conclusion

To get customized learning facilities for the chemistry of any curriculum you can communicate with Catadu.com. It has both face-to-face and online education programs. Here you get customized learning for any curriculum like IB diploma, Edexcel IA Level, Cambridge IA Level, AQA International A level, and American AP chemistry curriculum.

To read more blogs about Catadu, you can go to catadu.com/blog.

If want you can explore the leat posts: