Good idea to retake AS Chemistry exams?

I'm still awaiting my AS results, but I'm guessing that I got around a C grade in chemistry.
Realistically I want a B minimum for my overall A Level.

I feel like I could have done a lot better. Would it be too much work to retake both AS units alongside my other A2s next summer? I do OCR. Is there a lot of overlap between AS and A2?

I take Bio, Chem, and Psych.. wanna be psychologist

Thanks for any responses

Hello, I took the same subjects as you and also want to be a psychologist!
So I was in a similar situation. I resat one biology and one chemistry exam (and both practical exams) alongside A2. It's really not as hard work as it might sound. I did AQA but I can imagine there is a lot of overlap with A2 chem for OCR too.
You find the content a lot easier to learn and you feel like there's not an awful lot of it, compared to when you did it at AS. Honestly I feel like I've bumped up my D grade in CHEM2 to an A/B grade, because of how easy it seems to be next time round.

Hello, I took the same subjects as you and also want to be a psychologist!
So I was in a similar situation. I resat one biology and one chemistry exam (and both practical exams) alongside A2. It's really not as hard work as it might sound. I did AQA but I can imagine there is a lot of overlap with A2 chem for OCR too.
You find the content a lot easier to learn and you feel like there's not an awful lot of it, compared to when you did it at AS. Honestly I feel like I've bumped up my D grade in CHEM2 to an A/B grade, because of how easy it seems to be next time round.

Hey, thanks a lot. I was hoping that'd be the case. I feel like I understand the content relatively well; I found those exams particularly difficult though..like I made countless mistakes. Is A2 chemistry a lot harder? I really wanted AS to put me in for a good start aha


Posted from TSR Mobile

I'd say it is a lot harder, but if you're willing to put in the effort then you'll succeed. Make sure you practice the maths topics early on - equilibria, pH, kinetics. You do have a lot of mechanisms to learn, but stay organised and you'll be fine! I'm not sure if you've seen this website chemrevise.org, but that saved my life for chemistry!

I'm not sure what exam board you're on for biology. I did AQA biology, and for that spec AS knowledge is needed. It's not actually too difficult. You need to remember the basics / a bit of everything; like cells, lung/heart functions. The last unit contains a 25 mark essay which is synoptic. You have to cover 4/5 topics in the essay, and sometimes it kind of limits you to AS topics.

Oh thanks! I've not used that website before, I'll check it out! How mathematical are the topics? I don't do A Level maths, will that put me at a disadvantage? I usually find the maths pretty easy.

I do OCR for both. But okay, that makes sense. We were told they'd be longer essays..

Thanks, this has really helped


Posted from TSR Mobile

Pretty mathematical, but it's reasonably okay to grasp the concepts after practicing. Make sure you really understand the moles calculations because it gets to the point where you're expected to do them within 30 seconds, as part of a big titration question.
I actually started AS Maths but dropped out because I couldn't manage it; but the maths topics are my strong point for chemistry!

A few years ago, someone wrote a letter to the Times essentially saying that people should stop having a go at students who want to resit, as the ONLY way that students can improve is if they do MORE work in preparation for the resit than they did for their first go.

I wish I had kept it.

I'm still awaiting my AS results, but I'm guessing that I got around a C grade in chemistry.
Realistically I want a B minimum for my overall A Level.

I feel like I could have done a lot better. Would it be too much work to retake both AS units alongside my other A2s next summer? I do OCR. Is there a lot of overlap between AS and A2?

I take Bio, Chem, and Psych.. wanna be psychologist

Thanks for any responses