Why Study H2 Chemistry?

Congratulations on receiving your O-Level results! For those who have selected the Junior College (JC) route (if you are still vacillating between the JC and the Poly route, you may find this article useful), there is a high chance you would like to keep your university course options open by taking the Science stream and then you would be asking yourself “should I study H2 Chemistry?”, despite hearing comments that H2 Chemistry is a monster!! While I do not refute this comment, I am giving you 5 reasons why you should consider taking it!

1. H2 Chemistry is a pre-requisite for prestigious professional courses

Professional undergraduate courses in the local universities such as Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, and Environmental Engineering and of course Chemistry (with specialisation in Materials, Medicinal, Environment and Energy) all require H2 Chemistry as an entry requirement.

Please do a Google search on the term “A Level subject prerequisite” and you will see results to the most updated information from university admission offices.

Besides, as a H2 subject, H2 Chemistry easily fulfils the entry requirements of the other more selective university courses.

I would suggest taking H2 Chemistry along with H2 Mathematics as these two subjects will definitely open doors to Computer Science, in case you may want to contribute to the growing digital economy or the booming healthcare sector in the future.

2. Chemistry is the Central Science.

Most schools do not allow students to take Physics and Biology together. Instead, Chemistry is needed if you desire to take 2 sciences in JC. This is similar to the situation with the O-Level Combined Science combinations. This goes to show how important Chemistry is as a foundation for Science. H2 Chemistry is a rule-based application subject which will better assimilate you to the world of professionals who apply consistent sets of universally-agreed rules/principles.

You probably would have heard from seniors or relatives who have experienced JC saying “H2 CHEMISTRY IS A KILLER!”. Yes, it is a killer because it is not just content-heavy, but it is also about applications. Many O-Level graduates who simply got through their O-Level examinations by memorising and regurgitating content during exam would be disappointed that this would not work for H2 Chemistry. The application portion of H2 Chemistry will be a pain at first but it prepares us to be logical and methodical thinkers. In reality, most professionals such as Doctors, Dentists, Lawyers, Accountants and Engineers utilised consistent sets of universally-agreed rules/principles in their area of specialisations and this is strongly aligned with the skills you would acquire from H2 Chemistry.

3. H2 Chemistry is rewarding.

I cannot deny that H2 Chemistry is difficult. With hard work and consistent effort however, H2 Chemistry can be managed. Naturally, competent teachers and encouraging friends do play a huge role in helping me get comfortable with the huge jump in content and the application skills required. It is not going to be as straightforward and easy like in secondary school, but trust me, the training in H2 Chemistry will strengthen your mind. My mind has never been sharper and alert before I entered JC.

H2 Chemistry is a lively Science subject.

Many claimed that Science can never be lively – it is dead, boring, fixed, has no novelty etc. I would like to dispute this claim because I have personally experienced the versatility of Science in H2 Chemistry. If there is one thing I can share about H2 Chemistry, it is that everything in Chemistry is connected, especially Organic Chemistry – I am now a fan of this topic!

The connections between each and every topic in H2 Chemistry makes it a very lively subject to learn. Our minds are constantly trained to be sharper in order to gel the theories and concepts together. It is important to get a Chemistry coach who can help students dig deeper into concepts. Personally, I have benefited tremendously from the A Level H2 chemistry tuition lessons at Julian Chemistry. I always leave classes feeling even more awe-inspired as I began to ask myself questions I wouldn’t ask myself otherwise. This made me feel even more interested to fill up my concept gaps on my own.