chemistry vs biology

I've just realised this, and it's aimed at people who think chemsitry is harder than biology, including myself.

In my sixth form, there is ym chemistry group, of about 10 people in january we got AACCEEEEEE.

But for Biology which has about ten people aswell, our grades were something like BCCCEEEUUU and talking to my ex biology teacher who has the other AS biology group, her class did worse.

So how come people did better at chemistry - although this year was their best and one of our two chemsitry teachers first A and there were 2!

Or is it psychological because people 'know' biology is easier, they put less effort into it?

Reply 1

username511256

Sounds like you just have some really bad teachers.
That's 6 Es out of a class of 10...

Reply 2

Sem193

Original post by Nix-j-c

I've never thought thaty Chemistry was harder than Biology. That's just silly. In my GCSEs I got an A* in Chemistry and a B in Biology, lol.

Reply 3

Nix-j-c

In chemistry 5 of us that got Es are year 12s and in biology it was a mixture of 12/13/14 that got the Es and Us.

Reply 4

Accalia

Biology requires more information to be memorised and involves a lot more exam technique. Chemistry is more challenging, but the mathematical questions are straightforward.

We had mostly Es in my Chemistry, and Ds in Biology.

Reply 5

Nix-j-c

Original post by Sem193

I've never thought thaty Chemistry was harder than Biology. That's just silly. In my GCSEs I got an A* in Chemistry and a B in Biology, lol.

I got A* in chem and A in bio but that was only because the bio c/w was a B (I hate osmosis and it was a tedious experiment) Plus for chem I got a D in the mock so i did so much revision I ended up with A* overall aswell -somehow.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 6

CJRyan

Original post by Nix-j-c

Or is it psychological because people 'know' biology is easier, they put less effort into it?

I think it's this more the anything, my friend who got an A in Chemistry got a C in Biology, and she thought that Biology was a guaranteed A.

I think it could also be that the mark scheme is particularly specific and that there are more questions about data analysis

Reply 7

liviaaa

I think chemistry is harder in the syllabus to learn, however biology has the harder exam papers as they diverse from the syllabus more.

Reply 8

blush.ox

last year at AS only two people managed to get As in chem in our sixth form, whereas there were alot more for bio
i got lower in chem than i did in bio, when i thought it would be the other way round, based on how well i knew the content etc :lol:

i used to think chem was harder, but honestly once you get the hang of it, its so much more better, more about understanding the actual concept, whereas bio to me is just memorising a ton of facts, gets extrememly boring :/

this year at A2 Im trying harder for chem, simply because i feel like im more likely to get the grade then i am in bio, lets hope it works out and doesnt turn out like AS again :colonhash:

if it does im going to crawl under a rock and stay there :colonhash:

Reply 9

Nix-j-c

Original post by CJRyan

I think it could also be that the mark scheme is particularly specific and that there are more questions about data analysis

That just reminded me of someone in my chemistry class. We were given a past paper to do, and they didn't have a clue, so they found the mark scheme from the internet and tried to copy the answers . . . they still only got a E !!!!!! :eek: