Introduction
Welcome to our Cambridge IGCSE Chemistry course. This guide explains how the course is structured, how your work will be assessed and how to get the most out of your studies, so please read it carefully before you start.
This course leads you step-by-step through the syllabus using your coursebook, video links, quizzes, worksheets and assignments so that by the end you will feel confident and ready to show off all you’ve learnt in your IGCSE exam.
To the inquiring mind, chemistry is a fascinating subject on many levels:
- What makes some fireworks have blue stars and others yellow?
- Why do we use mercury in thermometers…and why shouldn’t we?
- What are these Omega-3 acids we should eat, and what are the saturated fats that we shouldn’t?
- What do they coat self-cleaning windows with?
- Why does sodium have to be kept away from water…and why must phosphorus be kept under water?
- Diamond and graphite are both carbon but one is the hardest natural substance and the other is soft and slippery – how is that possible?
All these questions, and many more everyday observations, can be answered through a knowledge and understanding of chemistry. The more you involve yourself, and the deeper you dig into the subject, the more the patterns of chemistry reveal themselves. It will become clear to you as a chemistry student that here is a thoroughly logical, fascinating and useful subject that will allow you to explain many of the things you see around you in your daily life, and also make predictions about the properties of, and ways to make, the new substances that we will want and need in the future.
By the end of the course, you should be able to:
- discuss the ways in which chemistry affects our lives;
- understand the importance of experimenting logically and ‘scientifically’;
- communicate in a scientific way.
Your Coursebook and Other Resources
Syllabus and Examination Information
Once you have read this Course Guide, checked the syllabus and downloaded the Programme of Study, you will be ready to begin the course. We hope you’ll enjoy your course and studying at Wolsey Hall. We wish you the best of luck in your studies and success in your examination.
The Wolsey Hall Team