In year 10, science felt like a cruel joke. Chemistry and physics, in particular, were my kryptonite. The big fat zero on my yearly exam for the physics section (and a mark pretty close to that in the chemistry section) was a glaring sign that I was way out of my element. 

During review, I tried to flip through to a page which wasn’t smothered with red crosses, but the only page that met that criteria was the front instructions page. Worst of all, theories and concepts often went in from one ear and out through the other, resulting in hours of preparation to attempt to “drill it in”.

While I never ended up taking physics past Year 10, chemistry came back to haunt me during my senior years. My attempts at balancing chemical equations resembled 3-page long twisted algebraic nightmares. Lab experiments were a tragic comedy, with foreign elements and test tubes appearing to conspire against me in another language on the prac books. 

Miraculously, when Year 12 results rolled in, I found myself in the top 20% for chemistry. That big fat zero? Just a distant memory in the rearview mirror of my science journey.

How?

Experimentation: I know what works and what doesn’t. I shifted from just doing past papers to self-learning, focusing on unique ways of note-taking to personalised review methods to address my mistakes. Truly understanding the content became my priority over blind repetition.

Let’s apply this philosophy together.