This is an actual Chemistry IA lesson.
The IA is taking shape.
Here are students’ Chemistry IAs. Do not struggle alone—get help in a lesson and finish more quickly!
Before I begin, there is some good news. Haha.
This student was extremely worried, but apparently the exam went well: they messaged me first.
An IB Chemistry student! They say the written-response section went well too. This student usually worries a lot,
and has never said anything like this before, so I think it really must have gone well.
Back to the subject: both Year 1 and Year 2 students seem busy writing IAs lately.
I have also been receiving many inquiries over Skype.
When students work on an IA, they usually share it with me as shown below.
I have been doing a lot of IA writing support lately.
Some people ask me to write the whole thing from beginning to end.
I should not write it all for them, so I provide as much editing support as I can.
Of course, I am not a native speaker either, so I work with an American colleague beside me.
He is a friend who always helps me a lot. Haha.
Even so, I usually write most of the material myself.
I generally spend around four hours just establishing the format.
I work on calculations and errors, and devote a lot of time to the analysis.
One of my students is only in Year 1 but wants to finish the IA early during the holiday.
Whenever I receive a message like this, I admire people who work to get even a little ahead.
I should help as much as possible so they can finish early and have an easier time preparing for university later.
The topic is so important that it feels like half the IA.
With a well-chosen topic, the rest should not present too much of a problem.
But some people ask for everything to be written without even having a topic. In particular, I get requests from Year 2 students with only three days left
before the deadline. I try to accommodate them, but it is far from easy.
It does not work for me or my American colleague simply to write everything fluently. Our English differs from the student’s. My English is not especially strong, while my American colleague’s English is so sophisticated that I sometimes ask him to make it less polished.
I can edit, but I cannot agree to write the entire thing.
When establishing the format, I provide an example of the important background-information section. It must be adapted: what I write is an example,
and the student needs to rewrite it. Haha. Then…
I give a format like this for finding random error. The student then needs to calculate the values and fill them in.
I sometimes do it too, but students should handle this much themselves. I provide the equations and explain how to calculate everything over Skype.
I add a rough outline of the analysis like this and explain it over Skype.
Sometimes I fill in calculations as well, but one lesson will not cover everything.
The example above was filled in during a two-hour lesson. We established almost the entire format.
The IA at the time was limited to 12 pages. Background information should not take up too much of that space.
A good IA allocates an appropriate amount of space to each section.
There is an irony here: school teachers award the marks, and students who have made a good impression on their teacher
seem to receive stronger marks even for similar content.
Some of my students come very early in the morning for extensive IA help. But…
even when IAs contain similar material, one student may receive a low score and another a high score.
I have often felt that teachers award higher marks to students who usually perform well and work diligently.
In any case, many people have been asking for Chemistry IA help recently.
Please get in touch if you need help.