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Is Chemistry AS a big jump from GCSE?

Does the fact that it's mostly self teaching a good or bad thing? I usually do better when people explain to me then I explain to someone else when understanding things.

I wouldn't say it's mostly self teaching at all in the general case. If you have a good teacher they'd provide good notes during the lesson. I had two teachers - one was absolutely amazing, one was, well, self teaching :tongue:

It helps to put in a little bit of time outside of class time if you don't understand something, but whether or not you have to self-teach will depend entirely upon your teacher.

Reply 21

sid321

Original post by President Snow

No, Edexcel :smile:

Ahhh ok lol I do AQA is a right little so and so

Reply 22

andrew_williams

OP

3

Original post by President Snow

I wouldn't say it's mostly self teaching at all in the general case. If you have a good teacher they'd provide good notes during the lesson. I had two teachers - one was absolutely amazing, one was, well, self teaching :tongue:

It helps to put in a little bit of time outside of class time if you don't understand something, but whether or not you have to self-teach will depend entirely upon your teacher.

I've never been taught by the teacher who teaches A Level chemistry, so I don't know. But thanks anyway!

Reply 23

sid321

Original post by andrew_williams

Does the fact that it's mostly self teaching a good or bad thing? I usually do better when people explain to me then I explain to someone else when understanding things.

To pass chem with a good grade it takes hard work ngl. No a-level is easy. But what you can do to make it easy is have your spec and follow it just do some extra reading on your subject before class and let your teacher teach you the rest of the stuff you really cant understand rather than just trying to figure it out once its been taught and then your left behind! There's tricks to Alevels just chill buddy

Reply 24

ArgonRocks

1

Original post by Khawer

For any A level you have to start revising from the very start of September to have a chance of getting an A grade at AS.
Trust me, college will be very quick.You only have 4 months before you start revising for mocks in January.

If you want to do Chemistry A level or any other sciences then I recommend getting at least an A at GCSE.

You don't have to start revising from September to get a decent grade?

Reply 25

username987675

18

It's honestly not that bad. It's more stuff to learn, but I would say it gets gradually more difficult, it certainly doesn't just stick you in the deep end (not in my experience anyway). I think a lot of people over complicate the subject for themselves or don't work very hard, I'd say in general that's why peoples grades can drop so dramatically from GCSE. Someone who got a B who is a hard worker, is a lot more likely to get an A than someone who got an A* at GCSE who is not used to working hard, because at A level everyone has to work hard, no matter what they claim.

Reply 26

andrew_williams

OP

3

Original post by k4l397

It's honestly not that bad. It's more stuff to learn, but I would say it gets gradually more difficult, it certainly doesn't just stick you in the deep end (not in my experience anyway). I think a lot of people over complicate the subject for themselves or don't work very hard, I'd say in general that's why peoples grades can drop so dramatically from GCSE. Someone who got a B who is a hard worker, is a lot more likely to get an A than someone who got an A* at GCSE who is not used to working hard, because at A level everyone has to work hard, no matter what they claim.

Thanks for reply! It's now boosted my confidence in potentially choosing chemistry as an option for AS.

Reply 27

Bethaaaaany

14

Well I was CCEA for GCSE (grade A) and now OCR-A for AS but I've not found there to be a big jump at all.

The first few weeks are basically GCSE stuff with little bits of new stuff slowly introduced. I actually found biology to be a humongous jump in comparison (seriously, we spent the first month of bio a bit shell shocked.)

We completed Unit 1 of chem last week and it was all pretty easy, provided you put in the work learning definitions and doing practice questions :smile:

Now we've just started our second unit of chem and whilst it is now pretty tricky it's definitely manageable.

I didn't really enjoy chemistry at GCSE and now it's my favourite subject so I highly recommend you go for it :biggrin:

If you can try really hard and achieve an A at GCSE it might make your jump a little easier. Good luck :smile:

Reply 28

Siberiaan

21

I do edexcel and its pretty tough. Much harder than Gcse.

Reply 29

beemergangm123

12

hi i think u should choose chemistry. i got a b at gcse and im getting a's and b's in my tests in as. the step isnt that big but u should aim to get a at gcse so that the start of as is easier for u.

Reply 30

-Rainbow Drops-

9

Make sure you try hard from the very beginning and dont get lazy.

Chemistry makes me cry.

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Reply 31

andrew_williams

OP

3

Thanks for the replies!
I think that the content of chemistry in year 11 is fine, it's just applying the knowledge to exam questions and sometime I struggle with general chemistry questions like: what gases are created when two elements react with eachother etc. But I've now asked my teacher to start extra tuition so hopefully with practise doing papers and extra tuition I'll get an A!

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Reply 32

username1200599

12

Original post by Khawer

For any A level you have to start revising from the very start of September to have a chance of getting an A grade at AS.
Trust me, college will be very quick.You only have 4 months before you start revising for mocks in January.

If you want to do Chemistry A level or any other sciences then I recommend getting at least an A at GCSE.

lol what? I did my maths A level in one year and started revising in march and almost got an A*
Yes you need to work hard, preferably start picking it up in december but my god no need to over exaggerate things.

Reply 33

Itsmonique

2

It was a big step up for me, and the head teacher at my school discouraged me from doing chemistry a level because I did double science at GCSE and I obtained B and C, whilst the majority if people did triple science. I knew I had to work twice as hard to prove him wrong and managed to get a B at AS, whilst most of the people in my class who did triple science at GCSE got C-E grades. Just goes to show that you have to be motivated and determined to not give up. Make sure you understand EVERYTHING that you learn rather than memorising the content to get the top grades. That's what I've been doing and I'm now the top performer in my year group for chemistry at A2.

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Reply 34

zuzu096

Original post by Itsmonique

It was a big step up for me, and the head teacher at my school discouraged me from doing chemistry a level because I did double science at GCSE and I obtained B and C, whilst the majority if people did triple science. I knew I had to work twice as hard to prove him wrong and managed to get a B at AS, whilst most of the people in my class who did triple science at GCSE got C-E grades. Just goes to show that you have to be motivated and determined to not give up. Make sure you understand EVERYTHING that you learn rather than memorising the content to get the top grades. That's what I've been doing and I'm now the top performer in my year group for chemistry at A2.

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Wow that's really similar to me. I got a B at GCSE additional then a B at AS then an A overall and now i have an unconditional for chem at UCL...

So really it is up to you and your motivation. You have to work hard, harder than others, but you'll do better than others in the end :smile:

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Reply 35

Itsmonique

2

Original post by zuzu096

Wow that's really similar to me. I got a B at GCSE additional then a B at AS then an A overall and now i have an unconditional for chem at UCL...

So really it is up to you and your motivation. You have to work hard, harder than others, but you'll do better than others in the end :smile:

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Aw, congrats on your unconditional offer , I applied for pharmacy and have one offer and 2 interviews next year. I'm aiming for an A/A* in chemistry though, despite being predicted a B

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Reply 36

zuzu096

Original post by Itsmonique

Aw, congrats on your unconditional offer , I applied for pharmacy and have one offer and 2 interviews next year. I'm aiming for an A/A* in chemistry though, despite being predicted a B

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Thanks! I've already got my a levels though so it doesn't really count haha! Well done! Go for it. I was predicted a B all the way through my A levels and ended up getting a high A (not enough for an A*, but still an A) you can do it! Good luck fir your interviews :smile:

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Reply 37

helloitsmee

5

Depends on the exam board you do, and whether you did if separately or not. If you only did GCSE Science and Additional Science, and not tripe award science at GCSE, then very definitely. If you did IGCSE Chemistry (Edexcel I am aware of) over say AQA or OCR (average GCSEs basically), then you will find it less challenging at AS Level.

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Reply 38

sianlk

3

Whoever is saying don't listen is not being realistic. Once you start a course at as you cannot change and than there goes your opportunity at university as you need 3 alevels to get in. So this is serious talk. You will NOT get funding to REPEAT !!! So it does not matter which alevels you are doing unless they are topic specific for uni ie psychology Alevel psychology degree...or medicine etc I'm sure u understand what I'm saying...the grade is most important and after this year will be more important. So pick what you find easier . Chemistry is much harder than biology and psychology. Biology is probably more interesting than psychology .microbiologists you will be dealing with lots of poop!!! Biomedical is a really good place to clinical trials wise and there are many companies that do work experience. Also if you may be interested police force offer sponsored degree in forensic science so you would have no uni debt

Reply 39

Reality Check

22

Original post by sianlk

Whoever is saying don't listen is not being realistic. Once you start a course at as you cannot change and than there goes your opportunity at university as you need 3 alevels to get in. So this is serious talk. You will NOT get funding to REPEAT !!! So it does not matter which alevels you are doing unless they are topic specific for uni ie psychology Alevel psychology degree...or medicine etc I'm sure u understand what I'm saying...the grade is most important and after this year will be more important. So pick what you find easier . Chemistry is much harder than biology and psychology. Biology is probably more interesting than psychology .microbiologists you will be dealing with lots of poop!!! Biomedical is a really good place to clinical trials wise and there are many companies that do work experience. Also if you may be interested police force offer sponsored degree in forensic science so you would have no uni debt

Check the date before posting please! This thread is six years old...

@Lemur14, @absolutelysprout thanks :smile:

Is Chemistry AS a big jump from GCSE?

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