and then my luck ran out…

all that can be said to describe chemistry is eughh…..

My relationship with the subject went the way of an unstable nucleus today,breaking down with the emission of any knowledge I may ever have had of chemistry. Don’t get me wrong,I loved chemistry and still do but it’s kinda like the way you still ‘love’ your dog after it chews up your phone.

The mixture of topics on the paper was KERRAZY and there were so many finicky little questions that my teacher tells me most of her ilk don’t even cover because it’s so pointless unless you’re in college or something. In short…NO FAIR SEC!!!!

I kind of abandoned water over the course of the last few days since I knew there was no way I could possibly learn it but on readin through the paper I sorta had to concede defeat and try question 1 which I subsequently abandoned half way through, quite the way to spend 40 minutes.. Question 2 wasn’t sooo bad except wtf is the iupac name for glycerol?? I called it dihyroxyl propanol or something strange along those lines…at  least the examiner can admire my many interpretations of its structure..: / Question 3 wasn’t that bad either, graph didn’t go my way though,I wasted loads of time plotting a graph of concentration versus time instead of rate. All in all experiments probabley weren’t entirely awful if I had studied water but they definitely weren’t as predictable or as straightforward as I think they usually are.

I only just managed to get 8 short questions answered since I didn’t know the case studies or sewage treatment. THANK YOU to whoever saw fit to steal my workbook so I couldn’t study industrial or atmospheric,you’re just such a swell person! I think i’m gonna erect a statue to you around the time of the results,cos you’re just that good…. I didn’t even attempt question 5 since I am not good with names of scientists and their theories(if it isn’t highlighted in a little green box declan kennedy then How am i supposd to learn it???). Question 6 was more my style but the questions they asked were so complicated and precise. Like what was up with that 17:83 thing?? were they asking for heptane or 2,2,4 trimethylpentane? then the heat of reaction was oddly short and simple,confusing question…. Q7 took me AGES because for some reason I couldn’t comprehend the concept of a vessel which was more the 1L of capacity,in the end i disregarded it and pretended like it didn’t matter bcause i’d already wasted enough time and having 40 minutes to do three questions is not generally a good thing…

I had to power through question 8 and just hope for the best but reading over it I don’t know how I didn’t get stuck there too. The only thing I remember is getting a really low ph for the methyl orange..like around 2 or something,I assume that’s wrong based on the concentration..? Question 10 wasn’t awful since I was expecting those experiments in the first three questions. THen there was the car crash that was question 11…..I completely bullcrapped my way through part (a) since I had absolutely no clue of part (c) and I was rapidly running out of time and options. The only question I’m sure I know I didn’t do too bad in was (b) of 11 since I knew radiation backwards and it was more common sense then actual complicated radioisotopial-beta-giegarmuller-ish stuff. Why of why did radiation have to be with electricity?? I might have actually done better in my scattered attempt at question 1 then I did in question 11 since I definitely got 0 for p (a), oh well..it’s not like chemistry is a minimum subject requirement for my first choice or anything…

Oh well…that’s that anyway,now I best be off and see to the mass murder of brain cells which usually marks the end of exams and what not.

Hpat results next monday,woo….

8 thoughts on “and then my luck ran out…”

  1. I got 2 for the pH of methyl orange as well, I tried it a few different times and it always came out that way so I just gave up and left it…
    Was not happy with that paper at all, easily the most frustrating one I’ve sat this year.

  2. IUPAC Name of Glycerol: propan-1,2,3-triol …

    Yeah, I think I put 123 tripropanol instead, hopefully I’ll get the marks… It’s okay, I feel your pain.. more than likely have to repeat after today’s result and our teacher hopped loads of stuff too that I only covered in grinds. In short: raaaargh during it. Hahaha Industrial use for hydrogen? Making airships. And balloons. I kid you not.

    Do you think you got the C3 requirement anyway?

  3. I’m a repeat (btw it ain’t so bad), LOVE love love chemistry (wtfbbq) and this year had the greatest, most efficient teacher in the country for chemistry. A1 in the pre, but thanks to the our friends at the SEC, that’s probably in the toilet 😐 one exam left then HPAT results, freaked! thanks for blogging and gluck with hpat results 🙂

  4. Picture this, about an hour and a half into my Chemistry test today and I stop for a second just 2 get a sip of water and what goes through my head?? I say to myself if that Annah writes a blog tonight about how she loved her chemistry exam and how it went perfect and everything I think I might cry (like you would think I would have been thinking about the exam on the desk in front of me….but NO!) So I just want to say thank you Annah for also finding this exam hard.

    Last year my chemistry teacher went on maternity leave and we were left with possibly the worst chemistry teacher in the country, we covered all last year, basic history of chemistry, acids and bases and bonding and thats it!! So when our teacher came back this year we flew through the course. I have put so much time into this test and basically thought myself the whole course and it totally sucks after putting so much work into it to be given an exam like that. I thought it was tough, like the general questions were ok but little nasty bits were thrown in everywhere which really sucked. I just hope that I get the C3 for medicine. Fingers Crossed.

    So everyone who is finished enjoy your summer and just be gratefull that your not me with me one exam left roll on Applied Maths let the train wreck continue 🙂

    1. Haha I did the exact same thing when I went to the last question with all the choice and realised I could barely do it.

  5. I went in to this exam as a repeat student from last year, where I barely scraped an E in Chemistry. I felt like crap about doing this exam, even with a year under the best teacher I have ever, ever had. I went in, read the paper, and nearly walked out instantly. I felt sick.
    But, I went at it, doing a part of a question here, another there, and so on, until it was five o’clock. I went over my answers, and sat in shock. I am fairly sure I got at least a high C or a low B out of this, and I can only thank one person, my Chemistry teacher. She taught me Maths as well, oddly enthusiastic about her work (especially in Chemistry), but she was fantastic. The exam was pure evil, and I know even three months ago I’d have struggled to even get an E.
    I hope you don’t need to repeat, it sucks at first, but if you do, you’ll find it gets better and better until you’re actually sad that your dreaded extra needless year in school is at a close. Because I am sad, I met a lot of great people this year, some whom I’ll know for years, and some I may never see again. I know I felt physically sick back when I got my results, and worse when I started in September, but I feel like I’m losing something now, even more than last year. Repeating is scary, but in no way a bad thing.

  6. I totally agree with all of u on the chemistry. Worked alot for chemistry the 2 months before the LC and was sickened when i saw the paper. I improved alot from febuary to may, didnt matter today though 🙁

    There were some parts that were very strange. I attempted 10 out of 11 questions. One of them really didnt count cos i didnt even finish it. I Thougth Qs 6 was horrible. 5, 8, 7, 3 and 10 werent bad. Anyway best of luck to everyone!

    as says William Walace “freedom!”

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