i'm struggling on memorising content/rules and stuff for chem. is writing notes an efficient way to study or is there another way. i find that doing past papers right now is too much since i dont remember much of the content from term 1 and 2
doing past papers will have next to no value if you have no fundamentals of the subject. if you have enough papers and answers, you can essentially become familiar with the types of questions that are asked and how they are answered; but just making bare attempts without any knowledge and reading the answers probably won't get you anywhere.
the process of writing notes, arguably isn't the most efficient way to study, but the process of parsing information to take out the relevant points on each topic is generally quite helpful. some people benefit from endless rote memorisation, some people benefit more from practical application. get a better idea of how you personally learn best, and settle on a method that is well balanced for you.
i would focus less on memorising the rules and more on understanding them. chemistry, for the most part is a matter of understanding and applications of physical phenomena in real life. if you put X amount of 1 chemical and Y amount of another chemical together and a certain amount comes out, there is a reason behind it and this goes to understanding of molar ratios and reaction outputs. e.g. wood is organic combustible matter, it needs air to burn (hence why you use fire blankets), and outputs smoke which you shouldn't breathe (a mix of water, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide). hence the chemical explanation for combustion being hydrocarbon + o2 > h2o + co2 + co
