How can I get an A* for chemistry?

By going through all the past papers over and over many a times until you get sick of them focus on the questions you are getting wrong write them down try to use your textbook/notes to figure out the answers if you still can't ask a teacher and make sure you understand it.. Good luck

When is the actual exam? One of the issues I had with revising AS chemistry last year is that there isn't a huge number of papers available, so personally I wouldn't advise doing them in February. In my opinion past papers are often misused, a lot of people seem to use them as a substitute for learning all of the content thoroughly and to a high level. This is a very risky strategy, because while you may understand and know the answers to the typical questions, it doesn't give you a lot of scope for adapting to whatever question they can ask you. I would highly recommend that you leave the past papers alone for now, and instead focus purely on the content for the time being. What I did last year was to get a large ring binder and I then printed out the part of the specification relevant to each topic (so for example I would print out the what you need to know section for say organic chemistry) and I would then make detailed notes from mainly chemguide, with chemrevise and the textbook for more specification specific topics. Doing this took me a long time (I started probably a week before easter holidays, took me 3-4 weeks to complete) as I made roughly 150 pages of notes. The act of doing this both ingrained the knowledge in my head as well as essentially giving me a personalised revision guide to look at. Only once I knew every bit of content did I then move onto the past papers, and this meant that rather than me learning the specific answer to the questions they asked I was able to answer almost every question they asked, and I then just had to refine my answers so that instead of getting say 2/3 i would get 3/3. Anyway hope this helped somewhat

im already doing that :3 i need more. A* or nothing
but thank youu



So true man. i get your point. idk why we do the old papers, they are so repetitive. the more recent papers seem more application based. however, with that being said, from my own experience I have seen past paper questions being repeated in this jan 2016 papers. i have a specification print out of all the units im doing. i already go for tutoring so i have my tutors notes to revise.

the way i use the specification for each unit is by building curiosity around each point to see if it seems clear to me. i ask myself atleast 5 questions about a certain point. nevertheless, thank you for your sight.
i have a questions for you, when do you plan to do the past papers?

Hey guys,

I did my chem AS units this jan. ill doing my A2 chem units in june(unit 4, unit 5 and unit 6). if I have to repeat any of my chem AS units, ill do them as well.

Anyway, my question for you is, how can I get an A* for chemistry?
I have finished the syllabus and now im doing topic by topic questions in my gce past paper book. Ill be getting my AS results on march 3rd and if i have to resit any of the AS units, ill do them in june.

plan for February - do all topic by topic questions for all units through past papers.
then i shall do all the ial papers, time them and mark with MS and ER.

March - make as much as model questions as possible.

April and may - not decided yet.

if you guys need more details, please let me know

Don't waste your time on useless things

Such as?
Posted from TSR Mobile

Playing video games,Facebook and other social medias,exessive hanging out with friends,watching tv shows etc.This will increase your focus and give u good grades

Create a chemical weapon and say you'll detonate it if you don't get an A*

Practice harder chemistry, and familiarise yourself with the basics to the point where everything starts coming together like a big jigsaw puzzle. At least, that helped me get an A*. It is really a lot easier than you think with some efficient study habits.

I find it really frustrating these days. I finished all my intense revision and started on past papers. There seems to be hardly any content in papers that goes back to original theory.
Example: Unit 5 There was a question where they asked the oxidation number of Mn in complex [Mn2(CO)10]
Which apparently the answer to is 0! I thought ligands were attracted to positively charged metal ions to form co ordinate bonds! Apparently not. sighhh.
Anyone else feeling me?

I feel like that's a straightforward Unit 2 calculation, but I agree with you in general

It is in that logic. But that's only if you see it as that. When it comes under complex ions it throws you off-guard.
AS was a breeze compared to this. You sometimes wonder how you are expected to know certain things.
Try this
in an experiment a student insisted wearing gloves when handling rhubard leaves, but the supervisor stated there was no necessity. Suggest why the student would think so, but the supervisor stated this was unnecessary.



Apparently Rhubarb leaves are 'toxic'. (no other words are marked for)
But the invigilator claimed there was no necessity to wear gloves because the ethandioic acid is dilute or in small quantites. (Weak acid is wrong)

I find it really frustrating these days. I finished all my intense revision and started on past papers. There seems to be hardly any content in papers that goes back to original theory.
Example: Unit 5 There was a question where they asked the oxidation number of Mn in complex [Mn2(CO)10]
Which apparently the answer to is 0! I thought ligands were attracted to positively charged metal ions to form co ordinate bonds! Apparently not. sighhh.
Anyone else feeling me?

I feel like A2 Chemistry is much more interesting though - I'll even be crazy enough to say that I find Unit 4 easier than Unit 2, but Unit 5 is... yeah...

Please tell me they gave you some background on rhubarb leaves?

That's shows a fundamental lack of understanding on your part about transition metal complexes. Nothing wrong with the paper imo

Unit 4 is a bae <3
nope. Nothing. I checked our textbooks. nothing on rhubarb leaves there either.

Arrogance.
Will beat you to an A* though. Wait and watch.