OCR Vs AQA

Major differences between (GCSE) OCR separate science and AQA separate award sciences?

Also, do you think I can cover all units for OCR Chemistry, Physics and Biology in 2 months?

Any advice + support would really be appreciated!!

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 1

JT_888

OCR are known to be very vigorous with ambiguous Qs but the content should be roughly the same compared to AQA.

My advice is to make notes and learn them before doing past papers and marking them. After marking past papers, do gap analysis to tackle weak areas and you'll be fine.

Also follow the Year 10 and the soon to be Year 11 thread when it's finally made. :smile:

Reply 2

RosaA

Original post by JTran38

Thank you for your response. I'm curious, are you using the OCR syllabus? Also, what do you mean by gap analysis?Do you mind tagging me into that thread when it starts please?

Reply 3

JT_888

Original post by RosaA

Thank you for your response. I'm curious, are you using the OCR syllabus? Also, what do you mean by gap analysis?Do you mind tagging me into that thread when it starts please?

NP. Gap analaysis is essentially addressing weaker topics such as photosynthesis in Biology and reviewing notes and doing Qs to ensure you know the content in full.

Yes, I will happily tag you when the new thread is out.

Reply 4

RosaA

Original post by JTran38

Thank you. You didn't answer my question about whether OCR is your exam board or not! :colondollar:

Reply 5

JT_888

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?p=61659153#post61659153

- Link to my GYG (Grow Your Grades) thread, all info is on there. Will make a new thread in Sept and if you follow me you'll be able to track my activites on TSR. :smile:

Reply 6

RosaA

Original post by JTran38

I have been following you prior to this. I just checked your thread. I'm changing from AQA to OCR in terms of my sciences. Which texts are you studying for English Literature?

Reply 7

JT_888

Original post by RosaA

I have been following you prior to this. I just checked your thread. I'm changing from AQA to OCR in terms of my sciences. Which texts are you studying for English Literature?

An Inspector Calls, A Christmas Carol, Romeo & Juliet and I'm doing Power and Conflict for Poems

Reply 8

LieutenantJ

I just finished OCR Gateway last month.

I feel like two months might be a little ambitious especially if you're going to school and doing all of your other subjects. At my school, science had the most periods and the department struggled to finish regardless. I think my class was the only one that went over all the modules properly.

For me personally, I found Chemistry the easiest.

Biology I did last year and didn't take seriously. I got an A* in that but I did better in B4, B5, B6 than B1, B2, B3 even though I thought it would be the other way round. I would advise you do a lot of past papers so you know how you perform in the exam because sometimes you can learn content and the books sometimes disagree on the wording and OCR want a specific wording.

Chemistry was good for the most part and once I got my head around C5 and C6, they were straight forward.

Physics was a bit iffy for me. I didn't understand P3 until I did P5. Then I didn't understand P5 that well and P6, I went over a lot, but didn't properly understand until the day of the exam. For me it was difficult to grasp the concept until I learnt how and why the thing worked like that e g. transistors. The same went for a few other people in my school so it might be the same for you.

From skimming through the AQA specification, I noticed a few differences in content from OCR. They don't include SUVAT equations, transistors, resistors, logic gates, horizontal and vertical projectiles and momentum during crashes and rocket launches. I don't think these are impossible to learn by any means but there might be a learning curve when trying to grasp the things.

I'm not sure if these things are still relevant because we're doing different specifications but I hope they are. I hear you guys are doing an extra unit instead of a controlled assssment too and have to learn the equations.

Some good youtube channels to check put are
Streetly Science, Westlands Science, GCSEChemistryTeacher & DrPhysicsA. You can watch these to get an idea of the content and use them if you decide to do it.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 9

Fnt1klo

Memorise the revision guide and questions are very similar every year in OCR so practise past papers.Guaranteed A*

Reply 10

Vanilla Cupcake

i can only speak for OCR Gateway but their questions tend to be vague with a specific answer on the mark scheme so it's harder to learn what they want compared to the actual content

although make sure you're ready for P6 because it's pretty horrible, especially when you have to self teach it as you had a bad teacher (this is coming from someone who likes physics and is doing it for a level)

i don't think the other exam boards have a 'section d' which is worth ten marks in the 456 paper and tests your application skills. they say it requires no scientific knowledge and it's mostly common sense

there's also a lot of content - we didn't finish physics and barely finished biology and chemistry

at least you only have six science exams compared to the other triple science boards who have nine (ocr 21st century has BCP1-3, 4-6 and 7 so that might be you actually)

edit: wouldn't recommend trying to cover in two months, you could probably learn it all but you need a pretty good understanding, especially for BCP6
CGP guides are a godsend tho

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 11