Thread: Any tips please?

I am having big trouble remembering all the different reaction mechanisms, properties of the periodic table groups (most importantly their exceptions!), and other thingies like "what would happen if you add A to B?" and "how would you convert C to D?"

Any help (if it works :wink would be appreciated....

typically reactivity is determined by valance electrons.
It depends what level you are at but a good place to start is the octet rule. so if an element has 7 valance electrons it will accept one more.

i know those basics. i'm talking about the reactions when other effects come into account, like the electronegativity, electron gain enthalpy, etc.

often drawing out a lewis structure of the atom and then labelling areas of partial charge is a good method of determining a reaction mechanism.
negative parts go to positive parts and all that

I'm afraid you will have to memorize the electronegativity. Fortunately for you its closely related to how metallic the element is. Francium being .7 and fluorine being 4.0. you should be able to estimate them from there. (or you could get a table that lists them)