Should i drop chemistry

I am quite stuck on what to do and was wondering if anyone has any advice.
I have picked Biology, Chemistry and psychology for my Alevels but want to do psychology at uni.
All the unis ive looked at want A*, A or B. I'm confident I can get that in psychology and biology but have been getting Cs and Ds in chemistry.
I had a particularly bad teacher this year and i think this was one of the reasons my chemistry grades have been bad (of course there are other factors not just my teacher)
I've been looking at FastTrack A-levels and was considering that instead of chemistry. Does anyone have an idea of what I could do? Should I just stick with chemistry? Any help would be appreciated.

Reply 1

flabman

6

Original post by PsychSellars

I am quite stuck on what to do and was wondering if anyone has any advice.
I have picked Biology, Chemistry and psychology for my Alevels but want to do psychology at uni.
All the unis ive looked at want A*, A or B. I'm confident I can get that in psychology and biology but have been getting Cs and Ds in chemistry.
I had a particularly bad teacher this year and i think this was one of the reasons my chemistry grades have been bad (of course there are other factors not just my teacher)
I've been looking at FastTrack A-levels and was considering that instead of chemistry. Does anyone have an idea of what I could do? Should I just stick with chemistry? Any help would be appreciated.

i was getting Ds too at the end of y12 because i wasn’t naturally gifted at chem. however i started to get more confident in y13 where it all started to tie in and make sense - but i did put a lot of effort into chemistry compared to my other subjects
i managed to creep up to a B and then an A* in my last mock

chemistry is definitely a challenge and requires a lot of effort to be good at it. if you’re really really struggling and have no interest in chemistry, then I think you should consider some alternatives
about the fast track A-level, if you don’t think you’ll be able to cope cramming 2 years of content into 1, then absolutely do not.
don’t worry about falling behind, you can retake year 12 (it’s not the end of the world) and take all the time you need to get really good grades in the subject you choose

if you think you want to carry on, you should talk to your head of year about changing teachers. if their teaching style doesn’t suit you, then it will have a direct impact on how well you do. if you stay quiet then nothing will change (i regret not speaking up lol)

but i really think it’s possible for you to get the grades you want if you put the effort into it, even though it sounds really cliche
at the end of the day it’s up to you!! good luck, hope what i’ve rambled about has been useful to you :smile:

Reply 2

alevelsarenotfun

7

Original post by PsychSellars

I am quite stuck on what to do and was wondering if anyone has any advice.
I have picked Biology, Chemistry and psychology for my Alevels but want to do psychology at uni.
All the unis ive looked at want A*, A or B. I'm confident I can get that in psychology and biology but have been getting Cs and Ds in chemistry.
I had a particularly bad teacher this year and i think this was one of the reasons my chemistry grades have been bad (of course there are other factors not just my teacher)
I've been looking at FastTrack A-levels and was considering that instead of chemistry. Does anyone have an idea of what I could do? Should I just stick with chemistry? Any help would be appreciated.

there is quite a few ppl dropping chemistry and going for a fast track a level in a year type of thing. Cs and Ds aren't technically a horrible jumping off point and you can definitely improve from there. this might be quite a dumb question but how hard have u revised for it? if you've done your best and still getting these grades then go for a subject u feel ud do better at. if you feel like you can improve than definitely just stick with it. if you feel like you can't improve then just drop it no point sticking with it if it will do nothing but hurt your chances at university admissions. it's really a matter of how hard you feel u will have to work next year

Reply 3

McGinger

18

For Psychology, A level Biology and Psychology would be fine - you dont need Chemistry.

So, pick a 3rd subject that you will enjoy studying and where you feel confident of a high grade - it doesnt have to be 'relevant' to Psych, any subject that appeals to you would be fine.

Reply 4

PsychSellars

OP

3

Original post by flabman

i was getting Ds too at the end of y12 because i wasn’t naturally gifted at chem. however i started to get more confident in y13 where it all started to tie in and make sense - but i did put a lot of effort into chemistry compared to my other subjects
i managed to creep up to a B and then an A* in my last mock

chemistry is definitely a challenge and requires a lot of effort to be good at it. if you’re really really struggling and have no interest in chemistry, then I think you should consider some alternatives
about the fast track A-level, if you don’t think you’ll be able to cope cramming 2 years of content into 1, then absolutely do not.
don’t worry about falling behind, you can retake year 12 (it’s not the end of the world) and take all the time you need to get really good grades in the subject you choose

if you think you want to carry on, you should talk to your head of year about changing teachers. if their teaching style doesn’t suit you, then it will have a direct impact on how well you do. if you stay quiet then nothing will change (i regret not speaking up lol)

but i really think it’s possible for you to get the grades you want if you put the effort into it, even though it sounds really cliche
at the end of the day it’s up to you!! good luck, hope what i’ve rambled about has been useful to you :smile:

Thank you for responding, that's amazing how far you've gone in chemistry I hope you're proud :smile:

. Regarding the fastrack I do believe that I can put the effort in to complete it, it's just always the thought that could I still do well if I just stick with chemistry for the two years. Can I ask what you did to revise for it? How much revision did you do roughly to achieve those grades. I've asked my tutor to switch teachers for next year so that will also be a positive and hopefully increase my chances of a better grade. Thank you again for responding :smile:

Reply 5

PsychSellars

OP

3

Original post by alevelsarenotfun

there is quite a few ppl dropping chemistry and going for a fast track a level in a year type of thing. Cs and Ds aren't technically a horrible jumping off point and you can definitely improve from there. this might be quite a dumb question but how hard have u revised for it? if you've done your best and still getting these grades then go for a subject u feel ud do better at. if you feel like you can improve than definitely just stick with it. if you feel like you can't improve then just drop it no point sticking with it if it will do nothing but hurt your chances at university admissions. it's really a matter of how hard you feel u will have to work next year

For revision I spend hours revising before tests and I revise during my free periods in school however I don't have a structured, everyday revision which I do at home. So I would say that I'm not revising as hard as I possibly can. I think maybe I need to find a good way to revise chemistry as most things I do don't stick in my head. thank you for responding :smile:

Reply 6

alevelsarenotfun

7

Original post by PsychSellars

For revision I spend hours revising before tests and I revise during my free periods in school however I don't have a structured, everyday revision which I do at home. So I would say that I'm not revising as hard as I possibly can. I think maybe I need to find a good way to revise chemistry as most things I do don't stick in my head. thank you for responding :smile:

a lot of people around me dont do well in chemistry and biology mainly because of how they revise even though they revise way more than me (I revise maybe a few days before every test if that). I'm not saying you revise in an uneffective way, but everyone I know who simply reads handed out booklets and only a few exam questions really tend to suffer with grades. If it helps, I make flashcards where I really break down the information to the tiniest bits (youd be surprised how the most insignificant bit of information can become a 5 marker), and I also spend a lot of time on exam questions, because with chemistry specially, the mark schemes tend to all be the same. It's worth "wasting" exam questions if it helps you understand the mark schemes a bit more. Depending on what exam board you do as well, youtubers like Allery Chemistry are game changers. I mostly get A*s in my tests, and am currently predicted an A*. I hope this helps, as I'm rooting for you to improve instead of potentially stressing yourself out with a new A Level

Reply 7

flabman

6

Original post by PsychSellars

Thank you for responding, that's amazing how far you've gone in chemistry I hope you're proud :smile:

. Regarding the fastrack I do believe that I can put the effort in to complete it, it's just always the thought that could I still do well if I just stick with chemistry for the two years. Can I ask what you did to revise for it? How much revision did you do roughly to achieve those grades. I've asked my tutor to switch teachers for next year so that will also be a positive and hopefully increase my chances of a better grade. Thank you again for responding :smile:

np

I hate to admit it but I am definitely a crammer. however what helped relieve some of the overwhelming content in chem was flashcards - but keep in mind for some of my mates, it did not help them at all since they would not know how to use them.
the process of making flashcards is revision in itself - for year 13, try and make notes or flashcards to consolidate the content that you've learnt in class. then you won't have to spend as much time when you have mocks/during your actual a-level season creating them and can instead go over them in that time!!
i believe the process is called spaced repetition, where you would go over a topic fully and then a month/few months later, go over it again so that you don't forget. it definitely works wonders and makes sure things stick in your brain, especially for organic where you have to learn loads of reagents and conditions.

another important point is that you MUST use the specification when you are revising. if you don't, then there may be gaps in your knowledge but using the spec will ensure that you have gone over everything that you are expected to learn.
the youtube channel, allery chemistry, was a godsend for me. I always used his videos to make notes and flashcards by taking key points out from his video. he also adapts his videos specifically for the AQA chemistry specification and makes sure to include the little bits that A/A* students will need to get those few marks to get the grade.
DO NOT USE PHYSICS AND MATHS TUTOR FOR CHEMISTRY NOTES. they are not detailed enough but they are definitely a good website for the bank of past paper questions that they compile.

talking about past paper questions, a lot of them will be synoptic (i.e. they include 2-3 topics in a single question) so my advice would be to learn the content first before going straight on past paper questions
some of my friends did a whole paper first before doing content revision to see where they went wrong, which I think was ridiculous because you will definitely flop at least half the paper without going over content. (they came out with grades like Ds and stuff after self marking which proves my point).
also don't ignore year 12 content - obviously it is a bit easier than year 13 content but it is not common sense!! definitely dedicate an equal amount of time going over year 12 content since the reason for it being simpler is that it is the foundation for year 13.

regarding whether you should set time to revise, I personally didn't because I can never stick to a timetable, but I honestly wish I could!! if it works for you, definitely set a timetable for studying. it's recommended to do 1 hour for each subject per day, so 3 hours total. this time should be used to consolidate the knowledge you learnt that day in class or to go over any previous topics you go stuck on. you can slot this in during your free periods or after school, but do not worry about falling behind. just try do whatever you can and do not stress too much about it.
I only started intense revision a few weeks before mocks and maybe a month before my actual exams. this was about 4-5 hours a day and I tried to do one past paper every 2 days, where I would mark each past paper in the day between + go over them. but honestly it varied - some days I had no motivation at all so I only did an hour or so - which is fine!! do not overload yourself and take breaks whenever you can.

also please please ask questions if you do not understand what your teacher is saying. don't be embarrassed because everyone learns at different paces, and most of the time a lot of your classmates want to ask questions too but no one has the courage to ask. if you don't ask, you will fall behind. there's that mentality where you say "oh i'll just learn that myself later" but if you don't understand it in the first place, it's honestly not a good idea to independently learn the content. if your class teacher is not helpful then ask other teachers through email, which I did

my last point is definitely go to the library if you can. I thought I was able to revise at home, but after going to the library, it changed me. I went to the library almost everyday/every other day during exam season and it really helped me concentrate so much better - I got motivated from everyone studying around me, which might work for you or it might not, but it doesn't hurt to try to go whenever you have time. go with a mate and try to get a feel for the environment and if you prefer it to working at home, then great :smile:

sorry about the long ass essay but I hope this is helpful to you! i'm sorry for going on a long rant but this is the advice I wish I got from someone, it ****ed me off when some of my smart friends gatekeeped their methods of revision since there is literally no point in doing that :/
good luck with year 13, let me know if you have anymore questions!

(edited 9 months ago)

Should i drop chemistry

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you