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Is A-level chemistry hard??

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If you are willing to put the work in when it gets hard and don't give up then its brilliant subject.
I have to say quite a few people dropped the subject in my school as they were struggling with the content.
Most were forced to leave and one did voluntarily (she achieved quite a few A*s at GCSE as well!).

Once you 'get it' it will seem pretty straightforward - well for the old spec anyway :colondollar:

been getting around 95% in past papers. The new spec specimen papers from what I have heard is far more difficult, fingers crossed I'll do okay in them.

Just work hard and try to really understand everything. Don't leave any doubts in your head or you will end up falling behind. And if you do fall behind you should have the perseverance to catch up.

Thankyou so much :smile:

Reply 21

RiahDawson

Original post by nomophobia

WHAT?! That's not even worth it - although it does depend on where you live too, obvs. That's useless.

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Ikr. Its too far away from my house but its a 20
Minute walk from school tho. But this would be pretty time consuming considering I usually get home after 5pm without walking halfway across town too. i was wondering how you find good tutors. Are there sites? Parents friends? Relatives who are teachers? (Sadly i dont have any that I know of anyway). Find teachers?

Reply 22

LizzieDarcy

Personally I found chemistry extremely hard and failed it despite getting A's/A*'s in GCSE science...
However, if you want to be a doctor I think you have to take it

Reply 23

username1924691

I found it very hard at first but I've gotten the hang of it through doing past paper questions etc. If you are passionate about it and want to become a doctor then I think you should go for it! :h:

Reply 24

KatieAlicexxx

I think it depends on what exam board you're doing and whether you are going to persue it all the way to A2. I do OCR salters B and although I found it insanely difficult for the first few months of first year, it clicked at one point. You have to be very very motivated to revise and do well if you want to succeed I think. I like chemistry- it's just damn tricky

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Reply 25

Jassy16

Original post by Pentaquark

wow 95% congratulations

any tips?

:smile:

Reply 26

nomophobia

Original post by RiahDawson

If you don't think you need it, don't bother. Going to tuition is time consuming for me too because I get home at nearly 7pm after a long day and normally I'm home for 5pm.

There's a company called Kipmcgrath - have you heard of it? Obviously, the tutors will vary but it's worth checking out. It's a bit of a long story but what ended up happening was that one KipMcGrath branch closed down so I had to go to a different one which is only 20 minutes walk from college and I got lucky and just really liked him. He's really popular too.

If that doesn't work, maybe ask cousins or relatives who have been to tuiton if they can recommend anyone?

I'm sorry I can't be of more help, I have no relatives or family friends who are of any use to me and usually, teachers will offer to explain it to you for free except if they suck then that defeats the point of it >.<

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Reply 27

Pentaquark

Original post by Jassy16

wow 95% congratulations

any tips?

:smile:

Haha thanks but I doubt I would be able to get 95% for my actual AS Chem exams though this year. I think I would cry with happiness if I managed 95% :redface:

Going through the old spec papers questions tend to repeat quite a lot and there is only so much they can ask you.
Just go through past papers and you'll realise that you can do half the questions in your head/or you know what to do straight away from looking at it.

Do plenty of revision beforehand and ensure there are no gaps in your knowledge.
Chemguide is my favourite resource for trying to understand things.
Also for the new spec I would suggest going through all the practicals you have done at school and know the methods.
I cant really give any great tips for chem other than understand everything. Like don't just copy things out when making notes.

Reply 28

Jassy16

Original post by Pentaquark

Haha thanks but I doubt I would be able to get 95% for my actual AS Chem exams though this year. I think I would cry with happiness if I managed 95% :redface:

Thanks and good luck

:goodluck:

Reply 29

ilovefruit

I'm currently studying a-level biology chemistry and psychology in my first year, I got an A in biology, chemistry, physics and maths at GCSE. Psychology and biology I am enjoying a lot but chemistry is a little bitch. I am finding it extremely hard as there is so much content and loads of equations and calculations. 20% of the paper I'm taking is maths! :s-smilie:

The thing with a-level is memorising isn't good enough, you have to understand the concepts completely so you can apply it to a question. It's hard to explain but it's very different to GCSE. However, I really don't want to put you off taking it as if you really do put the work in from the first lesson and constantly revise notes, you'll definitely get it, although it does depend on how self motivated you are as well.