Here is the interview of mine by "Young Post" yesterday after the DSE Chemistry Examination. The article includes the analysis of 2016 paper and some reminders for S.4 and S.5 students who are going to take DSE Chem in the coming years. I hope it would help S.4 and S.5 students to study chemistry more effectively. / 《South China Morning Post - Young Post》 15th April 2016 News / Beacon College tutor Wong Kwan-ho, who goes by K. C. Daniel, who sat the exam himself, said this year’s Paper 1 (which consists of 36 multiple choice questions in section A and 14 long questions in Section B) was one of the hardest he’s seen. / In the multiple choice section, a neglect of minor details could cause the student to pick the wrong answer. For example, in Q. 3, students needed to look at the periodic table to decide whether one of the statements was true. Since the rows weren’t numbered, students might easily forget that the first row is the one that only contains hydrogen and helium. Also, if students missed the keyword “recharge” in Q. 15, they mistakenly have thought that electrons must be flowing from the negative electrode and pick the wrong answer. ...." / Question 29 was another tricky question, where students who did not draw and count the hydrogen atoms when sketching the compound may have overlooked a double bond. “Even when I was re-checking my paper I found several subtle traps,” Wong said. “Many students tell me the paper seems very easy, but I don’t think so.” / More than 10 marks were allocated to explaining certain phenomenon, such as Q. 4 (c), which asked students to suggest why at room temperature and pressure, CO2 is a gas but CS2 is a liquid. “You really have to get the right keywords in order to score. It’s only a 2-mark question, but I think many students may have written everything they could think of, and not only miss the point, but waste a lot of time while doing so,” said Wong. “So it’s important to know your concepts and the related keywords. / “Some students only focus on revising equations, graphs, or multiple choice questions. But that does not train you for this type of question.”