Among all the scientific subjects, chemistry is the worst

At school I was so bad at science I never really understood the difference between physics and chemistry. Couldn't believe my luck that I could give them up and study languages at A level!!

Hi Bachi,it is not possible to prove you are wrong about your self and your own experience of Chemistry. However I can accept your self observation.

I was very lucky to get dropped into a General Science group in about the 3rd year (Grammar school) as I found 'pure' Physics & Chemistry a bit of a struggle. That did me a favour as I then had an easier O-Level, as opposed to two tricky ones that would have had experiments to do?! And I'd given up Biology after I think 2 years, we had to drop a few subjects due to scheduling problems?

I detested English Literature, due to the teacher involved, and the subject matter, which I think was mostly MacBeth, Far From the Madding Crowd (Hardy could be in the top-3 for the most tedious authors of English 'classics'?) and some airy-fairy poetry (I'm fine with Pam Ayres or Spike Milligan, etc!). Had they given us different books (say Wodehouse, Dickens or Austen?) I'm sure I'd have paid more attention and actually got that O-Level?!

Luckily I never had to work hard with Maths and English Language, the 2 key O-Levels (back then you needed 5 or 6 passes to get the better jobs).

Schooling is so subjective, due to the syllabus and teaching ability.

I'm afraid I'm not science minded at all. I'm still at "if it moves it's biology, if it smells it's chemistry and if I don't understand it, it's physics'. Give me a quadratic equation anyway.

Maths and sciences have never been my strong point! Chemistry is baffling and the periodic table is incomprehensible. All I know about that is the names of of some of the newest ones, learnt from Pointless!

I love chemistry.

However -- baking is essentially chemistry in action and I hate baking.

Chemistry is magic! I had a brilliant science teacher who did cool experiments and taught us to do the same. I went on to to it at A level along with Physics and maths and then a degree in chemistry. It just takes the right teacher.

Maremia

I wonder how much influence the experience of an inspiring or a boring teacher had on our preferences?

Can make all the difference. Crucial.

MathS; physics; memoriSe . Sadly, I never got the opportunity study physics at school

The only thing I ever learned in Physics is that metals expand when heated. Otherwise, I found it unintelligible. That hasn't held me back though!

The right teacher makes all the difference. We had a brilliant Maths. teacher at our Grammar School. He gave me much more confidence in the subject.
Ours was a very traditional 1960s Grammar School - we either chose Arts or Sciences. I found I had a natural aptitude for languages, but we had a very boring History teacher!
I would have loved to take the sciences and Geography, but we couldn’t mix them with the Arts.
We also had to do Domestic Science as girls. (The teacher had favourites - I was never one of them. 🙄) I never set foot in the Woodwork room!
On the other hand, my husband (similar age) attended a more progressive secondary school, where both sexes were given the opportunity to study the whole curriculum.
I’d love to see more progressive Grammar Schools re-introduced for academically inclined pupils. (Non-fee paying of course!) Our Grammar School combined with the local secondary moderns in 1969 - that was a disaster! It all went downhill from there…

I was a Nuffield Science Victim. In the Sixties. Very misguided way of trying to teach the usual Scientific Subjects.

Without learning the absolute basics of each subject.

Three years wasted. Lots of silly lessons on subjects likes breeding gerbils and the cross sectional areas of various animal bones.

School also rapidly went down the Swanee River after the first year. Changed from a Grammar School to a Comprehension System.in 1967. But mainly due to 38 of the original teachers leaving and were replaced with some very poor quality staff . Many who were coasters and ready to retire.

However, in my early thirties. I began again and studied at a then local Polytechnic for one day for 4 years and graduated with a proper BSc in Computing and Information Systems.

For me it was physics that was the worst. Yes I could memorize bit and pieces of it for 'O' level but none of it ever made any sense to me, I really had zero understanding of it all, never felt like that about any other subject. Chemistry and biology I enjoyed and had no problems with understanding.

Agree 100%.

But my husband has a chemistry degree.

Many ages ago, I went to a girls’ grammar school which taught no science after year 2. I decided to study for a science degree at university and had to take a preliminary year learning three science subjects to A level equivalent in 30 weeks. Zoology was a doddle, being langue based. Physics was difficult but doable with a lot of effort. Chemistry was a nightmare because I was flung in without any basic knowledge, like being given Greek to read without knowing the Greek alphabet. To this day I don’t know how I passed, but I did and went on to graduate top of my group. I still have nightmares about the Chemistry exam.

I was at a girls Grammar in the 60's with an excellent science department and very good teachers but the sciences bored me then, and still do.

We took General Science in the 1st year then we had to do Physics, Chemistry and Biology until we made our O Level choices. I am guessing we had to take one science because I took biology and failed miserably.

All those unidentified bits of animals and humans in jars around the science labs. If we were in the labs last lesson of the morning we would always say pickled brains for lunch.

I had a maths mistress who was a brilliant mathematician, but simply could not understand that others did not understand what she was talking about - so I hated maths.

Physics was fine as we started off with astromomy, but it soon deteriorated into a subject you could not do, unless you could do maths.

Chemistry, much the same.

Biology, zoologi and botany I liked.

That said my preference has always been for history and languages, probably because these subjects were taught by women who could teach, and who loved their chosen subjects.

To enjoy any school subject you need to be taught it by someone who can teach and likes doing so, and who loves the subject they are teaching.

Biology for me! In the 1960s we had an 'ancient' (probably about 50) biology teacher who told us that many babies were born with tails which were cut off in the hospital before they went home. She also told us the best way to commit suicide if you wanted to be an attractive corpse! Absolutely shocking really, but she stayed in post until her retirement!

I had excellent science teachers at a girls GS in late 50s. All the science subjects came in handy combining them in studying gemmology. All our family seem to be science rather than arts biased.

I enjoyed Chemistry and Physics and have used both in many practical situations over many years. The advent of calculators made has Physics infinently quicker

David49

I enjoyed Chemistry and Physics and have used both in many practical situations over many years. The advent of calculators made has Physics infinently quicker

This sums up perfectly my total ignorance of the sciences.

I cannot think of one instance in my adult life when I would have used anything I learnt in physics or chemistry.

However, 2 years of Latin and then French and Spanish has accompanied me around the world. My love of English Language and Literature has given me hours of pleasure and a fascination of history has given me a degree.

But I must admit that I have never been called upon to play Freres Jacques on a recorder.

Never allowed to do physics, girls did biology and boys did physics. We had a bored nearly retired lady to do chem while the boys did physics and they had a young chemist grad while we did biology.

Our sixth form boys sat in on our chem and if we sat at the back we learned how they made rice wine.

I hated Maths, physics, chemistry and biology at school. Much preferred English (language and literature), geography and the art subjects including sewing and cookery. To this day I like to cook and bake. I also do lots of different crafts and like tonpotter in the garden. Suppose cooking uses maths and a form of chemistry but my dislike for my Maths teacher put me off Maths throughout my life.

We all had reachers we liked and disliked the only one I disliked was the English teacher but that was compulsory so had to make the best of it. All the others were fine, at high school we only took 5 O levels passed those without really trying, nobody took A levels. We all got jobs or went on to technical college often day release, for me it was 3 yrs day release to get craftsman level, then 2 yrs full time technical and management diplomas.

The smart children can still do that today and be fully qualified by 21 or earlier. Locally a girl was passionate about being a coach driver qualified for PCV at 18 with a local coach company, (local routes only)

Castigers, your definitions made me chuckle 😊