A Level Chemistry? PLEASE HELP :(

Hi all, I'd really appreciate some advice!
I have just finished my GCSEs and will be studying A level Chemistry, Biology, Psychology and English Literature from September.
I am reallyyy worried about Chemistry!
I'll be doing the Salters course and would like to know if it's really as hard as everyone makes out?
Here's why: for the universities I want to go to I must achieve an A in this subject.
I got an A at GCSE triple science but struggled with some of the Chemistry concepts and achieved the result through memorising facts.
I have the textbooks I will be learning from next year and am really struggling to understand any of it so far.
How has it gone for you guys?
I hear even the cleverest really struggle with this A level but its vitally important for my future career

I got 100% in everything in GCSE chemistry, and then, at AS, got a B. I was 1 UMS mark off an A but I found chemistry extremely difficult. In fact, it was by far my hardest subject.

Make sure you understand all the GCSE concepts. Go over them over summer if you're not 100% confident - this is essential to creating a foundation of success in chemistry. Also work very hard throughout the year.

They can be devious on chemistry papers. My unit 5 (A2) paper was atrocious and well now it's just a time game to see how poorly I performed haha.

Good luck!!

On a tangent, surely if the paper is atrocious then your UMS will be high since everyone will have done badly Otherwise, unfortunately, it seems that it may be your fault and not the examination board, does that seem rational to you?

I revised hard for unit 5 and was confident I had revised a good amount of stuff to regurgitate (definitions and such) and understood the concepts. Unfortunately, the test was purely application such that there wasn't enough time to answer every question. Additionally, there was an 'impossible' question on the paper. Questions like this deplete morale and waste time. We were also asked things that were so loosely related to our chemistry course it was unbelievable. We didn't get taught very much about catalysts (it wasn't on the specification much), however, our exam board asked us to make up a catalyst out of thin air. Bonkers. Lol

Our exam board issued a statement regarding the exam paper in response to a 3000-strong protest to the exam on Facebook.

At AS, I can give you that I was relatively unprepared. This time I put in lots of work; I'm just hoping the exotic nature of the paper affected everyone else as it did me.

Lol, that sounds interesting. I wonder what the answer was!

I guess if the exam board made a statement about it and also there were at least 3000 people who decided to protest (I would assume there are plenty more who feel hard done by who didn't protest) then the exam will be deemed relatively hard and hopefully your lower score will still score high, if that makes sense :/ lol.

Good luck!

I think people over exaggerate how bad chemistry is. Yes there are people that really struggle, but for some people it just clicks and it's fine. Understanding is key, it's not a subject where you can just memorise the textbook, so really pay attention in class and ask questions if you struggle, you should be alright. It is difficult, but so are a lot of subjects. I found physics harder than chemistry at a-level. The only way you'll know what it's like is to try it. Don't worry if you can't understand the textbook yet, once you start learning it properly you will. Just make sure you keep practising GCSE concepts over summer.

I agree with this. It's easy if you understand the concepts.

It's only as difficult as you make it.