I'm unsure whether I should do chemistry A levels

As someone who took A Level chem from a good school, I think teaching is rather important to help you understand the concepts in the first place. Depending on how much work you're willing to do, if school doesn't offer good teaching you can still watch youtube and ask around, or maybe find a tutor, and it's doable if you put the work in. It would be really daunting at first (we started with organic chem) but it should become easier as you go on, if you don't find it any more manageable midway through year 12, it would probs be better to drop it.

One of my chem teacher was very stern but he taught well, the other was really casual and most of his classes were chatting, so that balances out.

I have always loved chemistry as a subject during GCSE, getting a 7 in it which wasn't what I hoped (as I had mainly gottens 8s or 9s) but I firmed it.

My problem is I have seen such negativity surrounding A lvl chemistry and how it is a hard subject if I don't revise well.
My problem is that the only school which is offering me chemistry (since I missed the deadline for every other school/its fully booked) is not a good school.
It doesn't have a good reputation, unknown and 12% chance of getting A*-As which is really off putting as other schools (where I am taking Biology, Sociology and Psychology have a 27% of getting A*-As).

Im unsure whether I can get A/A* in chemistry a level and biology a level if the teacher support/foundation is not there.
Of course I'm going to put in my hardwork but I don't know how much I can achieve through my own hardwork alone with barely any teacher support.

I have to decide tomorrow whether I am going to that sixth form (Palmer Catholic if anyone has heard of it?) And I am losing my mind over it.

Please someone help me.

@TypicalNerd Will be able to advise you on resources that are available that could help you.

I’m taking a level chemistry (going into year 13), and honestly, its more about you than the school. My schools stats weren’t great, and neither were my two chemistry teachers. Same with the rest of my subjects. But, I revised and am predicted 3 A*’s. If you put the work in, you can achieve great grades. Obviously good teaching helps, but at the end of the day, in a class full of students with an amazing teacher, not everyone is gonna get an A or A*.

I’m taking a level chemistry (going into year 13), and honestly, its more about you than the school. My schools stats weren’t great, and neither were my two chemistry teachers. Same with the rest of my subjects. But, I revised and am predicted 3 A*’s. If you put the work in, you can achieve great grades. Obviously good teaching helps, but at the end of the day, in a class full of students with an amazing teacher, not everyone is gonna get an A or A*.

Could you please lmk which books your using for revision (regardless of the board) and your revision technique?
I plan on learning the topics beforehand for biology and chemistry so I can use class time as revision and ask the questions I need but apart from that i'd really appreciate if you could lmk what you do to get 3A*s.
If you could include your study routine as well as how you study A lvl chem.

Thank you ever so much

Hiya, I’m happy to help however I can! I live in Wales so my board was WJEC. I used the exam board issued books, so whatever exam board you have, purchase the books available.

For me, the key last year was consistency. Finish homework straight away, go over topics and make notes asap (super important for biology- its so content heavy) ideally the day learning it. I made mindmaps for biol and chem, and made flashcards for biol on studysmarter. Don’t underestimate the importance of memory for chemistry- if you dont know you dont know. Id say the order should be make notes/ flashcards (chem and biol), then past papers using notes, then once youve memorised your stuff and done enough of the content, do full papers.

I also made sure to utilise my frees- so so important, as it means more free time after school for stuff other than work!! Also id you dont know many people in your class then get to know them- it helps so much as you can learn from each other.

Hope some of these tips help! If you have any more questions lmk!!

Seconded.

The OP will be pleased to know that if my research is correct, they are with AQA (the most popular exam board for chemistry by far) so they naturally will have an abundance of resources to prepare with.

Thank you ever so much, I'll definitely try out making flash cards, however during gcses flashcards really made life confusing for me as I did not know what key information to put in there.
So if you could, could you please lmk how i can identify key information to put onto the flash cards?

I think I'm going to start of by pre-learning every topic beforehand (ie going thru the spec and going in order of spec) rather than what the school is going in order of so I can whizz thru understanding the topics. I hope by doing this I'll be better able to grasp the content and use lesson time rather as revision while also asking the teachers questions regarding the topic (i do plan on writing down whatever question I had while i pre-learned it).

And i do understand that chemistry is very much application based so once I've gone through the topic and understood it I plan on going to PMT to do topic questions till I get them all right.
Once I've done that, I also will go over PMT notes (and if you or anyone else use PMT notes, could you lmk if PMT notes are structured they way MS would want it? Because for GCSE the notes were structured MS way.) And really memorise the PMT notes.

I think by this point, I'll have a solid ground to stand on for that topic specifically which will allow me to write my own notes to use during exams.

Do you or anyone else think that this way of revising is effective?
I plan on studying from 5pm till 10/11pm after school, ofc excluding the time ill be studying during my frees and independent learning, so I'll study 5 hours a day. Hopefully this will mean I'll be able to go through a topic in 2 days to 5 days depending on the length of the topic.

This sounds okay, but might be a bit much. I guess it depends on whether you think you can sustain it, but personally, studying 5-10 every night would be too much. Just make sure you dont burn out- you have a whole year to get through before the holidays!

Hiya,
I was reading this convo and you seem like you're quite comfortable with chemistry. I would like some advice if that's alright
I have just started year 13 (final year at sixth form meaning I've already done a year of A Levels). I realised over the holidays that I wanted to change career paths from doing something Economics related to Medicine. In England, you have to have Chemistry A Level as a requirement. Unfortunately, I do not have this subject.

It is possible my school will offer it to me this year, but this means that I have to do the whole of A Level chemistry in 8 months instead of 2 years (my A Level exams are this may, and I need to do all exams in one sitting for uni requirements). Do you think it would be possible for me to mostly self learn A level Chemistry if I'm hardworking enough and come out with an A*?

Do you have any tips/ resources? How long would you recommend I study to do this?
Would appreciate any advice/ tips form you. Many thanks

Hiya,
I was reading this convo and you seem like you're quite comfortable with chemistry. I would like some advice if that's alright
I have just started year 13 (final year at sixth form meaning I've already done a year of A Levels). I realised over the holidays that I wanted to change career paths from doing something Economics related to Medicine. In England, you have to have Chemistry A Level as a requirement. Unfortunately, I do not have this subject.

It is possible my school will offer it to me this year, but this means that I have to do the whole of A Level chemistry in 8 months instead of 2 years (my A Level exams are this may, and I need to do all exams in one sitting for uni requirements). Do you think it would be possible for me to mostly self learn A level Chemistry if I'm hardworking enough and come out with an A*?

Do you have any tips/ resources? How long would you recommend I study to do this?
Would appreciate any advice/ tips form you. Many thanks

Hi, it seems that you’re in a bit of a tricky situation 🤔.

Firstly, I’m gonna say it would be very very difficult to complete the whole course in 8 months, especially without a teacher. However, it would technically be possible if you dropped a subject ( assuming you currently do 3) and focus on two and then do a level chem during year 13- this would be like completing 4 a levels. If you were to go for this option, I would see if it were possible to go to yr 12 and 13 classes, or at least one set so that you have some support and structure. Or, see if you can get a tutor (if this is financially possible).

Obviously, as I said before in the thread, if you put the work in, anything is possible, and there are enough resources out there. The work i did at home was most important last year, so mosyly self studied a level chem is possible, but hard work. But, I will say that out of geography maths and bio last year, chem was hardest for me, with the concepts being most difficult to grasp. Take from that what you will.

You have two other options. One, if you do biology a level, focus on that. I want to apply to med school this year too and have figured that quite a few unis do take bio with maths and another a level. Examples include Southampton, Plymouth, Bangor and lancaster. Might be others. Of course jf you dont already do bio this option osnt helpful, but just pointing it out if you hadnt considered this.

Second option is to take a gap year and do a levek chemistry during the gap year. This is the most common option, and if you di have to self study a levek chem, you’ll have a lot more time.

Hope some of my advice is helpful!!

Hiya,
I was reading this convo and you seem like you're quite comfortable with chemistry. I would like some advice if that's alright
I have just started year 13 (final year at sixth form meaning I've already done a year of A Levels). I realised over the holidays that I wanted to change career paths from doing something Economics related to Medicine. In England, you have to have Chemistry A Level as a requirement. Unfortunately, I do not have this subject.

It is possible my school will offer it to me this year, but this means that I have to do the whole of A Level chemistry in 8 months instead of 2 years (my A Level exams are this may, and I need to do all exams in one sitting for uni requirements). Do you think it would be possible for me to mostly self learn A level Chemistry if I'm hardworking enough and come out with an A*?

Do you have any tips/ resources? How long would you recommend I study to do this?
Would appreciate any advice/ tips form you. Many thanks

t


Hiya,

Thank you so much for your response. I currently do Maths, Further maths, Economics and Computer Science.
If my school allows me to take chem, I will drop 2 of my subjects, leaving me with chemistry, maths, economics. I really want to do my A Levels in one sitting (aka this coming may) as lots of unis have said that they want a levels to be done in one sitting. Most also say they want A Levels within two years of GCSE, which is why I only have 8 months. I will anyways have to take a gap year as I will apply next october with my actaul a level grades instead of this october with my cohort. I also need to do the ucat next year as I only just decided on medicine.

I am willing to work hard, so hopefully this goes well for me.

Had a question- what topics are particularly hard that makes most students say that chem is notoriously one of the hardest a levels to do. Do you know any good youtubers that explain concepts well, or any websites that have really good question banks. I understand that chemistry is very application not just theory. Doing qs will help me improve my gardes, and memorisation for some topics is also key I've heard.

Once again, thank you for your input. Really appreciate it. Many thanks.

Sure.

Start by having a look at my post on the thread linked below as there are hundreds of resources out there for A level chemistry.

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7253201&page=2#post97549790

Once I know which exam board you are with, I’ll single out any specific resources you may find especially helpful.

EDIT: assuming that I have found the correct sixth form prospectus, I believe you are with AQA. Your best resources are the YouTube channels “Eliot Rintoul”, “Davies A-level chemistry”, “Allery Chemistry” and “Chris Clay”, the websites “Physics and Maths Tutor” and “drclays-alevelchemistry.com”.

Hiya,
I was reading this convo and you seem like you're quite comfortable with chemistry. I would like some advice if that's alright
I have just started year 13 (final year at sixth form meaning I've already done a year of A Levels). I realised over the holidays that I wanted to change career paths from doing something Economics related to Medicine. In England, you have to have Chemistry A Level as a requirement. Unfortunately, I do not have this subject.

It is possible my school will offer it to me this year, but this means that I have to do the whole of A Level chemistry in 8 months instead of 2 years (my A Level exams are this may, and I need to do all exams in one sitting for uni requirements). Do you think it would be possible for me to mostly self learn A level Chemistry if I'm hardworking enough and come out with an A*?

Do you have any tips/ resources? How long would you recommend I study to do this?
Would appreciate any advice/ tips form you. Many thanks

Hiya, I’m happy to help however I can! I live in Wales so my board was WJEC. I used the exam board issued books, so whatever exam board you have, purchase the books available.

For me, the key last year was consistency. Finish homework straight away, go over topics and make notes asap (super important for biology- its so content heavy) ideally the day learning it. I made mindmaps for biol and chem, and made flashcards for biol on studysmarter. Don’t underestimate the importance of memory for chemistry- if you dont know you dont know. Id say the order should be make notes/ flashcards (chem and biol), then past papers using notes, then once youve memorised your stuff and done enough of the content, do full papers.

I also made sure to utilise my frees- so so important, as it means more free time after school for stuff other than work!! Also id you dont know many people in your class then get to know them- it helps so much as you can learn from each other.

Hope some of these tips help! If you have any more questions lmk!!

I have always loved chemistry as a subject during GCSE, however when I got a 7 for my results wasn't what I hoped (as I had mainly gotten 8s or 9s) but I firmed it.

I got grades which would have gotten me into all the good schools around me however my dumbass did not apply to any schools for 6th form since I thought my school would take me in (but sadly my school had chemistry booked). Here I am suffering the consequences so I implore you fellow GCSE students to PLEASE apply to many 6th form schools.

My problem is I have seen such negativity surrounding A lvl chemistry and how it is a hard subject if I don't revise well.
My problem is that the only school which is offering me chemistry (since I missed the deadline for every other school/its fully booked) is not a good school.
It doesn't have a good reputation, unknown and 12% chance of getting A*-As which is really off putting as other schools (where I am taking Biology, Sociology and Psychology have a 27% of getting A*-As).

I'm unsure whether I can get A/A* in chemistry a level and biology a level if the teacher support/foundation is not there.
Of course I'm going to put in my hard work but I don't know how much I can achieve through my own hard work alone with barely any teacher support.

Please someone help me and let me know if I can do well despite not having good teachers, if so please advice me on what to do and how to revise.

Thank you