Year 11 chemistry - DD struggling!

[goldendog]

I’m at a loss with how to help DD. She was pushed into taking triple science (a mistake) but muddles by reasonably well with physics and biology. Chemistry is not going well however. It just doesn’t seem to stick. I’ve enrolled her on Tassomai but that seems to just highlight her deficiencies rather than helping her to learn. Does anyone have any ideas of how I can help DD please? She just seems to think there’s too much to learn and is overwhelmed.
Mocks are looming in 3 weeks and she is now in panic mode!

No advice really sorry. Is their no chemistry revision sites/links on the school website. How can she do mocks in 3 weeks given the schools have not been given a date to go back?

If you are on Facebook the local Facebook pages are invaluable for looking for a local tutor. They can tutor on Zoom.

I would look for a tutor. I really struggled with Chemistry A level. I ended up with an E (compared to As and Bs in my other subjects) because I just hot in a total muddle with it. I am sure if I had a tutor who could explain things differently to my teacher/take things slower, I would have done much better. I don't think doing extra work on my own/with online resources would have made much difference.

Thanks for your thoughts. The mocks are online after half term.
It’s hard to explain but I think DD gets in a panic because she thinks she can’t do it. So it’s a self fulfilling prophecy. Maybe a tutor is the way forward. It’s sad that she seems so defeated by it. School tries to help with support sessions once a week after school but it doesn’t seem to be enough to make any inroads.

My dd is y13 and I had to hire a tutor to get her confidence levels up again. She tells the tutor what she wants to cover before the lesson. The tutor sends over exam questions about that topic which dd does before the lesson then during the lesson they discuss. Exam technique is very important in science so it's important to know how to demonstrate your knowledge to get the mark.

Has she watched this guy?

https://youtube.com/c/Freesciencelessons

Seneca learning is good (and free) for bite sized learning.

The freesciencelessons chap on YouTube covers all the content too.

Malmesbury science YouTube has all the practicals.

I'm a chemistry teacher, and really recommend 'boxer's shorts' lessons on YouTube. They're by a head of science called Adam boxer. He uploads resources you can print in the comments to the videos so that you can work alongside the video and tells you when to pause to do the questions etc. They're really good!

Online mocks surely that is an opportunity for children to cheat? Whats to stop elder siblings, mum or dad completing the papers or looking up the answers in certain subjects?

I would get a tutor. I have had several from MyTutor and they have really helped. DD2 got a 4 in GCSE English mocks and after tutoring got a grade 6.

She needs a tutor to help her with both the course content and her confidence

DS also found Seneca helpful.

I agree with getting a tutor since confidence is the biggest factor. We’ve had to go this route with DD for the same reason although for a different subject. Having one-to-one guidance and encouragement will make a huge difference and obviously isn’t something you can get from watching videos (although all these suggestions are great, and I’m partly commenting to bookmark them for DD!)

Choose your tutor on the basis of who you think will be the best fit for addressing a lack of confidence.