28 Aug - Reflections of Term 3 Performance

It has come to the end of the third term for Secondary 2. It is so amazing that time flies so fast. Soon, I would be about to take the EOY exams. I better start revising for the EOY exams. But first, I should reflect on my Term 3 performance. As usual, I would be reflecting about my term test, about the various topics and comparing them with Term 2. However, since the EOY exams are coming already, I shall also include my plan to study for EOY exams – for Science only of course.

Term 3 test reflections

I scored 36 out of 40 for this test – which is 90% exactly. I felt that I did not do very well for this test. I was ranked 4^th position – out of top 3 – which I feel is quite unacceptable as I am supposed to be quite good at science. 36 out of 40 was the worst score I had for all of my Sec 2 science tests. I must have made quite a number of mistakes which I shall review through them. The first mistake is as follows:

Is Savanna a habitat, population, community or ecosystem? Explain your answer.

I know that the Savanna consists of more than one species of living things so it is no a population. It could be a habitat, community or ecosystem. However, the question mentions about the climate, the plants and the animals. This tells us that the Savanna is more than just a habitat or a community; it is in fact both or an ecosystem. I managed to get the first part correct but failed to explain that the Savanna is a habitat to the community which consists of the various plants and animals. Here, I lost 0.5 marks.

The next question which I made mistakes was a graph about the populations of plants, grasshoppers and lizards over the years. I was asked to describe and explain the changes on the graph – which I failed to explain a few and thus lost 1.5 marks. I do not believe this was a careless mistake nor was it a conceptual error. Instead, it was more like an almost unavoidable one. Perhaps the only thing I can do to avoid making such a mistake again is by practicing graph interpretation. This is a skill and a skill can only be sharpened by practicing.

The next question was drawing a ray diagram for lenses. Here, I did not draw arrowheads after the lens and also drew the real image using dotted lines. A real image is real so it should be drawn using solid line; a virtual image on the other hand should be drawn using a dotted line.

Finally, I come to the last question. I asks where should an object be placed in front of a converging lens if the lens is to be used as a magnifying glass. I wrote that the object should be placed at less than 2F from the lens. Apparently, I had got confused. While an object placed at less than 2F would appear magnified, it may not be upright. Thus, only when the object is placed between F and the lens, would the object be both upright and magnified.

In this test, I lost 2.5 marks from conceptual errors and this is 6.25% of the total marks. I feel that this is a lot of marks lost from conceptual errors which also means that I am not very strong in my science concepts. I need to revise through what I have learnt thoroughly and ensure that I know my facts well. The remaining 1.5 marks lost were quite difficult to avoid. However, I will try my best to avoid making such a mistake in later tests and exams.

Various topics covered in Term 3

The topics taught in this term were slightly harder than the topics in the previous two terms. They require a deeper understanding and there are lots of facts to remember too. The first topic is lenses. I find the main difficulty in this topic is remembering the various types of images formed by a lens based on the object’s distance from the lens. There are a total of 6 different cases and 3 different variables (real or virtual, upright or inverted, and lastly the size of the image).  In addition, we also need to know the uses for the various cases. This means there is a lot of memorizing to do. But memorizing is just the tip of the iceberg. We also need to draw ray diagrams.

The next topic is and easy topic. It is about the colours of light. As we know, there are white light consists of three primary colours: red, blue and green. Once we understand how the addition and subtraction of these colours form other colours, learning this topic becomes a breeze.

The third topic is a very demanding topic: ecology. Firstly, it is a very big topic, consisting of abiotic factors, biological interactions, feeding relationships, conservation, addition and removal of certain species, natural cycles and environmental protection. Secondly, ecology requires students to know many biological terms such as habitat, community, commensalism etc. However, it may not be as hard as it looks. In order to remember so many facts, I can try and link them together in maps, or use charts and tables to organize information.

Finally, we come to the last topic: sexual reproduction. This topic might pose a level of difficulty. For this topic, we are required to memorize the names and functions of various organs such as the ovaries, oviduct and so on. Furthermore, there is the complicated topic on the menstrual cycle, which for boys who do not experience it, can be quite a challenge.

Comparison with Term 2 and Term1

I find the topics taught in Term 3 more difficult than the topics in Term 1 and Term 2. However, this should not be an excuse for not doing well this test. I did not just do badly in terms of marks, but also in terms of positioning. This term test, I made many conceptual errors. I think I need to brush up on my facts.

EOY study plan

I have dedicated Thursday as my science study day. During that day, I would do intensive science revision. First, I would be revising on the facts learned. Facts are the foundations and if we do not even know the facts, we can forget about moving deeper. Next, I would practise some specific skills which are drawing electronic configurations, chemical equations, ray diagrams for reflection, refraction and lenses, and lastly graph interpretation. By covering both the skill and the knowledge, I should be able to do well in science.