Biology & Chemistry revision tips

I've jus completed my as levels and didn't get good grades..
Anyone who achieved As or Bs in Biology and Chemistry could you give me some revision tips please as it would be really useful for next year!!

Reply 1

MangaWhovian

2

Hey

I didn't get the best grades due to being ill for the majority of college, but I managed to get a C in chemistry. I would have got a B but like I said circumstance.

I think if you didn't get good grades in chemistry, to resit one of the chemistry as exams if you can manage it! I don't know what exam board you're on but if you're on aqa like i was unit 2 is 50% weighted so try and retake to bring you as grade up. A2 chemistry is so much more interesting. I'm not going to lie I didn't particularly enjoy the second half of as chemistry but it gets so much more interesting!

I would say the best thing to do, is keep up to date with revision and revise as you're going along. Every time I finished a topic, I did a mindmap with the absolute basics on the topic and at the end of each week I made flashcards. Just doing these each week helped keep the information in my head. If I had time i would print of questions on the topic we were doing and work through questions. Also chemrevise.org is brilliant! It helps you see what you need to know as he is an examiner and it's very easily understood. When I had mocks, I took them seriously and did past papers. For organic chemistry I did summary cards on A4 with properties and structures on one side and reactions on the other side, these helped me a lot, second to past papers.
So I would recommend doing revision as you go along and doing questions when you can! :smile:

Take the empa/isa just as seriously as the exams and do past papers. Also do not be put off by what you see, it can seem a lot more complex when it's first in front of you but I actually found A2 chemistry easier than AS. With unit 5, learn the transition metals as much as you can until you know them off by heart, even if you just do 20 minutes a day, you'll soon learn them! (they can be worth 20-40 marks out of a paper) And as the exams approach do past papers!!! I did them all twice and kept a track of if i'd improved and it helped me identify topics I was always losing marks on.

I did take biology at A2 as well, but i thought i'd rambled enough! If you want any advice i'd be happy to help! Sorry for the long reply!!!!

Reply 2

saraaax

OP

3

I'm doing OCR in both biology & chemistryThankyou for all the tips I'll defo be using them this year!! N I'm retaking one of the modules this year too so hopefully boosting up my grade to around a C/B

Original post by MangaWhovian

Hey

I didn't get the best grades due to being ill for the majority of college, but I managed to get a C in chemistry. I would have got a B but like I said circumstance.

I think if you didn't get good grades in chemistry, to resit one of the chemistry as exams if you can manage it! I don't know what exam board you're on but if you're on aqa like i was unit 2 is 50% weighted so try and retake to bring you as grade up. A2 chemistry is so much more interesting. I'm not going to lie I didn't particularly enjoy the second half of as chemistry but it gets so much more interesting!

I would say the best thing to do, is keep up to date with revision and revise as you're going along. Every time I finished a topic, I did a mindmap with the absolute basics on the topic and at the end of each week I made flashcards. Just doing these each week helped keep the information in my head. If I had time i would print of questions on the topic we were doing and work through questions. Also chemrevise.org is brilliant! It helps you see what you need to know as he is an examiner and it's very easily understood. When I had mocks, I took them seriously and did past papers. For organic chemistry I did summary cards on A4 with properties and structures on one side and reactions on the other side, these helped me a lot, second to past papers.
So I would recommend doing revision as you go along and doing questions when you can! :smile:

Take the empa/isa just as seriously as the exams and do past papers. Also do not be put off by what you see, it can seem a lot more complex when it's first in front of you but I actually found A2 chemistry easier than AS. With unit 5, learn the transition metals as much as you can until you know them off by heart, even if you just do 20 minutes a day, you'll soon learn them! (they can be worth 20-40 marks out of a paper) And as the exams approach do past papers!!! I did them all twice and kept a track of if i'd improved and it helped me identify topics I was always losing marks on.

I did take biology at A2 as well, but i thought i'd rambled enough! If you want any advice i'd be happy to help! Sorry for the long reply!!!!

Reply 3

MangaWhovian

2

Original post by saraaax

I'm doing OCR in both biology & chemistryThankyou for all the tips I'll defo be using them this year!! N I'm retaking one of the modules this year too so hopefully boosting up my grade to around a C/B

chemrevise.org has very good notes for ocr chemistry as well as aqa, And alevelchemistry has ocr questions, not 100% up to date but sometimes it's good to do the older questions too.

You're welcome! I'm glad to help! Feel free to contact me over anything as well. :smile:

Reply 4

saraaax

OP

3

Thankyou so much!! Let's hope this year goes well haha😊

Original post by MangaWhovian

chemrevise.org has very good notes for ocr chemistry as well as aqa, And alevelchemistry has ocr questions, not 100% up to date but sometimes it's good to do the older questions too.

You're welcome! I'm glad to help! Feel free to contact me over anything as well. :smile:

Reply 5

MangaWhovian

2

Original post by saraaax

Thankyou so much!! Let's hope this year goes well haha😊

I meant alevelchemistry has aqa (and ocr) haha.

If you work hard i'm sure it will!! :smile:

Reply 6

kendellex

19

I did some of my AS chemistry papers again. Practice is definitely key! Especially in A2 when there is more mathematics.
Learn the patterns of the questions and how to answer them. I always study the mark schemes and see what they want in the answer.
Also don't be afraid to practise questions on other boards. We frequently did aqa and edexcel (I think) questions as build up to our own board as they were easier.
And if you are stuck, get help!

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Reply 7

A47

4

Hi im wondering if anyone can give me some tips. Iv just finished my 2 years at college and achieved good grades (enough to get into uni). However iv had a change of heart in the course and will be returning to college for one more year to study full A level chemistry and a level biology. Do you think this is possible? Im hoping to achieve AB. And is it a build up from gcse bio and chem cuz i can't remember anything?
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

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Reply 8

MangaWhovian

2

Original post by A47

Hi im wondering if anyone can give me some tips. Iv just finished my 2 years at college and achieved good grades (enough to get into uni). However iv had a change of heart in the course and will be returning to college for one more year to study full A level chemistry and a level biology. Do you think this is possible? Im hoping to achieve AB. And is it a build up from gcse bio and chem cuz i can't remember anything?
Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

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Well it's a lot of hard work anyway especially to do in a year! But if you work extremely hard and dedicate your time to it, revise as you go along, learn mark schemes etc there's no reason why you can't.

Anything is possible if you put your mind to it! :smile:

Reply 9

A47

4

[QUOTE=MangaWhovian;58978431

Anything is possible if you put your mind to it! :smile:

I agree. Is it a build up from gcse or is it different modules? Is it worth me going over my GCSE books this week before I start? Also, will I need to learn AS modules before I learn certain a2 modules?
Sorry for asking loads of questions 😓😊

Reply 10

Hayley Williams

12

Original post by saraaax

I've jus completed my as levels and didn't get good grades..
Anyone who achieved As or Bs in Biology and Chemistry could you give me some revision tips please as it would be really useful for next year!!

Hey, i got an A in Chemistry overall, and i would recommend learning the content as you go along, this way a lot of key concepts you will already know by the time it comes to revision, chemistry can be very overwhelming but only if you don't keep up and learn it as you go along, don't get behind. :biggrin:

If you have anymore specific questions feel free to ask.

Reply 11

Hayley Williams

12

Original post by A47

I agree. Is it a build up from gcse or is it different modules? Is it worth me going over my GCSE books this week before I start? Also, will I need to learn AS modules before I learn certain a2 modules?
Sorry for asking loads of questions 😓😊

I wouldn't bother going over your GCSE content, it isn't relevant, you get taught from scratch. :biggrin:

Yes, you will probably need to know certain AS modules like enthalpy to make A2 more understandable, but if you are doing the A level in a year, then your going to be learning lots of A2 content with no prior AS knowledge in it, it will make it more hard work but not impossible.

Reply 12

MangaWhovian

2

Original post by A47

I agree. Is it a build up from gcse or is it different modules? Is it worth me going over my GCSE books this week before I start? Also, will I need to learn AS modules before I learn certain a2 modules?
Sorry for asking loads of questions 😓😊

It's fine you can as as many as you want! I don't mind haha :smile:

I would say, you don't really need to look over your GCSE books, as the first modules of each subject generally build on that. Although, if you really want to, it's not going to be bad!
Work really hard for AS, then you can review over it a bit during the summer. A level chemistry is synoptic, they can ask about anything in A2 chemistry exams as you're expected to be able to apply AS knowledge. Although it does sound very scary, it's honestly not too bad if you know your AS. Knowing the key points of your AS modules greatly helps in A2 Biology and Chemistry as they both have a synoptic part of the exam. However it is covered at A2. I wouldn't say you need to know everything from AS to go to A2, just the key points.

Hope it helps you a bit :smile:

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