Abstract
The purpose of this study is to identify the level of students’ achievements in solving chemical problems in the form
of algorithms and conceptual and open-ended problems. The objectives involve identifying and comparing the level
of students’ achievements on all three types of problems. This quantitative study was conducted using a descriptive
design. A paper-and-pencil test was used as an instrument and distributed to 248 second-year college students at
UTM, who were selected randomly. The data obtained were analysed by using SPSS software to perform the
descriptive statistical analysis. Results show that the majority of the students (96%) could solve the algorithmic
problem successfully. On the other hand, only 54% and 15% of students were able to answer the conceptual and
open-ended questions respectively. This shows that most of the students failed to answer conceptual and open-ended
problems because of their inability to understand the concepts underlying these problems. The findings of this
research show that more effort needs to be made to enhance the students’ conceptual understanding and problem
solving skills in chemistry.