Edexcel (Nuffield) Rare?

Feel sorry for you... i do nuffeild, was on target for an A, got a C :smile:

... its a weird board, but study hard, use the green nuffiled book and the questions at the back and all should be fine.

Reply 2

YouAreWhatYouEat

T_Bag

Feel sorry for you... i do nuffeild, was on target for an A, got a C :smile:

... its a weird board, but study hard, use the green nuffiled book and the questions at the back and all should be fine.

Yeah Nuffeild is weird like that mate :s-smilie:

.................

For the A2 chemistry class in my year, 12/15 where predicted A's at A2 (and most of these people where clever trust me, i.e. some took 5-6 actual a-levels to A2 etc)...............

Actual Result - Out of the 12 only 3 got A's, i.e. 3/15 in the whole class, but luckily as most did more then 3 A-Levels they were able to meet there grade requirements for university :smile:

.................

The school's now dropped it in favour of OCR (not salters) because of it :rolleyes:

....................

Reply 3

I've clocked what nuffield want, they probably get history teachers to mark chemistry papers, thus they will award you whatever is on the mark scheme rather than caring if you understand the chemistry itself. But funny thing is, they update the type of answers they want each bloody year, it's just silly. But don't worry OP, many have done it, many have gotten A's.

Reply 4

T_Bag

I've clocked what nuffield want, they probably get history teachers to mark chemistry papers, thus they will award you whatever is on the mark scheme rather than caring if you understand the chemistry itself. But funny thing is, they update the type of answers they want each bloody year, it's just silly. But don't worry OP, many have done it, many have gotten A's.

Nuffield is one of the few syllabuses which actually requires skilled marker since the answers can vary a huge ammount from the sample answers on the mark scheme, especially in units 4 & 6 - aparently anyway.

Unlike most of them there is a lot of self-directed learning through practicals... as long as you make a big effort with your conclusions (and i mean really do research them and write them up properly) by the time it comes to revising for exams you'll be fine. Notes are supposed to be supplements to that work - so its worth researching the conclusions to write them, then going back to them after you've gone over it in school to add anything it (I wish i'd done more on those its so easy to just leave them then write them up in a rush when you have to hand it in)

The only bit that is harder than the other courses is the synoptic paper (UT6) - since its completely application of ideas/knowledge to new situations theres nothing specific to revise, but then it is open book sooo its not all bad.

Incidentally... www.chemistry-react.org and www.chemguide.co.uk cover everything on the course (found those sites sooo helpful - the first ones just for nuffield aswel)

Reply 5

i'm no superman

OP

15

Thank you very much for posting those to links to those sites, especially the first one! :smile:

I feel really put off I must admit with how ambiguous and difficult it appears to achieve an A by the end of AS and then A2 if only a mere couple out of an entire class achieve that.

Can anyone explain how coursework plays a part at AS?
How many marks, from the 300, is it worth?

Reply 6

*pink_sapphires*

1

I'm doing Nuffield A2 chemistry. I'm so annoyed because I got my original AS script back for unit 2 and because of their marking errors, I lost 3 marks :frown:

Not going to bother with a remark though as I'm resitting it anyway. The answer to one of the questions was 'chlorine.' I'd written 'chlorine' and got 0 marks! grr! how could you mark that wrong when only one word was required and I put the right one????

Anyway, enough of my rant about the marking.....

Nuffield is a hard course, but if you put in enough work and read around the subject, you should be ok. I have 2 fantastic teachers which helps aswell. They give us 'topic booklets' with key points in and extra questions and they're really useful. Keep on top of your work load and you'll be fine. Lag behind, and you'll get utterly confused and things will start to go pear-shaped. Good luck

Reply 7

lil groovy dude

14

My school does Nuffield and it's well taught and there are loads of resources as far as I'm aware (teachers giving past papers, mark schemes etc.) so perharps your teacher has past papers etc.?

last years results were good for our Chem dept. .. 14/24 got an A and 18/24 got at least a B :smile:

Reply 8

Coursework.... for the AS you either do assesed practicals (which is what I did) throughout the year, or coursework and (i think) a practical exam. Either way its UT3 and its worth 90/300 marks (Unit 1 is worth 90 and ut2 120). Coursework is a good thing though... its easy, practical assesment (you do at least 8 of them i think) isn't soo great beacuse it can go wrong and you only get so many chances. (My practical assesment was the lowest mark out of any unit, and its not easy to resit)

Then for the a-level as far as i'm aware you have to do coursework... unit 5 is worth 90 marks... 45 for the special study unit, and 45 for a combination of coursework and general practical assesment (good practical records, lab practice, etc)

Its a good course though - the problem is you need a teacher who really knows the nuffield exams well otherwise you might run into problems since even from unit 1 theres a lot of applying something to a new and sometimes obscure situation). Don't be too put off by it though - even I spent a lot of the time in class having no idea what was going on (and I was predicted/came out with a high A). Oh and for revision guides... seeing as the textbook is useless to revise from, use a couple - CGP Chem revision for making basic notes, then get a more advances one like Make the Grade A2 Chemistry (problem is the better revision books tend to be the older ones in chemistry, and since there not written for any particular specification - just go with the rule if it looks completely obscure and its not in the txtbook, ignore it).

Hope that helps

Reply 9

i'm no superman

OP

15

Yeah it has! It has given me some peace of mind as well. I think my school has been on the Nuffield course since 2001 and I've got the Head of Chemistry and another decent teacher this year which is great. I'm quite happy that there's a lot of marks to gain in UT3 but I hope I don't mess up!

Are they individual practical experiments / exams or does it involve a group and co-operation? How are the marks recorded and when do you find out how you've done?

Reply 10

Well i'm assuming your doing the AS assesed practical course? In which case UT3 works like this...

Every now and then you'll have an assesed practical... basically you get given a sheet with a method on, and you follow the method exactly (working individually) to carry out the experiment. You then have questions to answer on the practical (sometimes there wont even be a practical.... you'll be given a method + results and then answer questions on it, or you could be asked to plan a method and evaluate it), its kinda like an informal exam - but exam conditions apply. Each practical will test something different (out of carrying out, analysis, evaluation, method planning or something like that).... for example you might be given a compound and asked to identify it (theyll tell you what tests to do), or they might ask you to calculate the concentration of H+ ions in acid solution (the actual concentration will be known by your teachers but not you) using titration - in which case it would be testing your practical ability + analysis. Etc, etc... You'll only be given experiments which you've already carried out as part of the course (not an identical experiment... but theyll only do analysis of an alcohol when you've learnt it for example).

Its marked internally by teachers - and they can give you your marks/show you your marked answers once its been done. You usually do a few of each type and they take the best of each... thats combined to give a final mark out of however much, and then send to the exam board (with your summer exams) who scale it up/down to give your final UMS mark for the unit out of 90.

Its easy enough to be honest if your competant with most practicals... its just all those stupid little mistakes which will bring your marks down if your not careful.

Reply 11

Tabris

16

I think it's Colins? They do a nice little Nuffield Chemistry revision guide.

But I hate that syllabus, I was on course for an A/B going on lesson work. Then the exams absolutely rape me.

Sorry, it's Philip Allan.

http://www.philipallan.co.uk/content.aspx?PAGE=SUB4:QUAL28:TYPE1 :s-smilie:

ER32:BOARD55:

Get the Unit 1 and 2 books. :smile:

They're really helpful.

Reply 12

Tabris

I think it's Colins? They do a nice little Nuffield Chemistry revision guide.

But I hate that syllabus, I was on course for an A/B going on lesson work. Then the exams absolutely rape me.

Sorry, it's Philip Allan.

http://www.philipallan.co.uk/content.aspx?PAGE=SUB4:QUAL28:TYPE1 :s-smilie:

ER32:BOARD55:

Get the Unit 1 and 2 books. :smile:

They're really helpful.

Tabris what did u end up getting?

I got 95% in mocks, came out with a lovely C, i know basterd examiners screwed me. Yes i have those books, i can vouch for them, but they are very succint, so use notes and your book too.

Reply 13

Tabris

16

Same here! I kept getting a constant 75-85% in all my mock and practice exams.

Every time an exam comes up, I end up with something like a low B or a C. Or in the case of the synoptic, a nice big fat U. I hate the examiners.

Reply 14

j_w

Nuffield is one of the few syllabuses which actually requires skilled marker since the answers can vary a huge ammount from the sample answers on the mark scheme, especially in units 4 & 6 - aparently anyway.

Unlike most of them there is a lot of self-directed learning through practicals... as long as you make a big effort with your conclusions (and i mean really do research them and write them up properly) by the time it comes to revising for exams you'll be fine. Notes are supposed to be supplements to that work - so its worth researching the conclusions to write them, then going back to them after you've gone over it in school to add anything it (I wish i'd done more on those its so easy to just leave them then write them up in a rush when you have to hand it in)

The only bit that is harder than the other courses is the synoptic paper (UT6) - since its completely application of ideas/knowledge to new situations theres nothing specific to revise, but then it is open book sooo its not all bad.

Incidentally... www.chemistry-react.org and www.chemguide.co.uk cover everything on the course (found those sites sooo helpful - the first ones just for nuffield aswel)

What do you mean writing up conclusions? :s-smilie:

I've never done this for AS, maybe thats why i got a C hmmm ....

Reply 15

T_Bag

What do you mean writing up conclusions? :s-smilie:

I've never done this for AS, maybe thats why i got a C hmmm ....

Seriously?! Its a practical science, you do a practical, you write a record of it (or at least your supposed to) - Method, Results, Conclusions... something they teach from yr6 i think, sound familiar yes?

In the case of the nuffield course, practicals support a lot of the teaching, and since the textbooks don't have a huge amount of information in, you learn some of it when going over the results of experiments either individually or in class (aka whilst making conclusions).

Reply 16

j_w

Seriously?! Its a practical science, you do a practical, you write a record of it (or at least your supposed to) - Method, Results, Conclusions... something they teach from yr6 i think, sound familiar yes?

In the case of the nuffield course, practicals support a lot of the teaching, and since the textbooks don't have a huge amount of information in, you learn some of it when going over the results of experiments either individually or in class (aka whilst making conclusions).

Well we do most of the experiments, but don't think much of it really... just read mix this with that, result is this. So for every experiment i should write up on it and understand why what is happening yeah?

Cheers

Reply 17

T_Bag

Well we do most of the experiments, but don't think much of it really... just read mix this with that, result is this. So for every experiment i should write up on it and understand why what is happening yeah?

Cheers

Ahhh okkk - well yep although i spose they arent necessary (depends on the school and teacher im guessing)., its a good idea to write them... even if you don't write it up going over it and what happens and making a couple of notes on it honestly I really think it helps soo much when it comes to revision since it'll already be somewhere in your mind.

Basic example would be... Oxidation of ethanol - carry out an experiment to oxidise and test with benedicts solution. From that you need to take away: Reagents, Products and Conditions for each reaction, visible and chemical changes, mechanism for the reactions and then at some point you'd need to learn exactly how the benedicts test works, etc...

It might be extra work if some teachers dont ask for it but then in my experience it works - didnt do it till half-way through yr13 but in the exam you do associate questions with the practicals you've done which leads you to the conclusion.

Reply 18