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Failing chemistry

Who else is struggling with A level chemistry? Its not even all of it its just organic chemistry which unfortunately because its AQA thats a lot of it. I've been revising the content for it by looking back at notes and doing past papers but whenever there is a mock on it I can never really get the hang of it. Is anyone else like this?

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Reply 1
Original post by Laurenafenete
Who else is struggling with A level chemistry? Its not even all of it its just organic chemistry which unfortunately because its AQA thats a lot of it. I've been revising the content for it by looking back at notes and doing past papers but whenever there is a mock on it I can never really get the hang of it. Is anyone else like this?


Yeah, I guess we're in the same boat, however, I'm doing AS OCR A. I guess with mechanisms and organic, it just needs a lot of practice, find some module tests online and try to do them.
Original post by Yesitisi
Yeah, I guess we're in the same boat, however, I'm doing AS OCR A. I guess with mechanisms and organic, it just needs a lot of practice, find some module tests online and try to do them.


Thank god I'm not the only one. Its just really frustrating as I am trying and everyone can see I'm trying. But in mocks I'm consistency getting the worst grades out of the whole class, like today I did a mock for organic chemistry. Probably flunked it even though I revised for days and I know people that are revising the night before and getting A/B.
Reply 3
Original post by Laurenafenete
Thank god I'm not the only one. Its just really frustrating as I am trying and everyone can see I'm trying. But in mocks I'm consistency getting the worst grades out of the whole class, like today I did a mock for organic chemistry. Probably flunked it even though I revised for days and I know people that are revising the night before and getting A/B.


I imagine it's much harder to pick up because it so different than other subjects and what we've done in GCSE's. Getting familiar is the first step. Then just learning every possible question and the model answer is the next step
Original post by Yesitisi
I imagine it's much harder to pick up because it so different than other subjects and what we've done in GCSE's. Getting familiar is the first step. Then just learning every possible question and the model answer is the next step


True true, its also quite annoying that my chemistry mocks often have questions from different exam boards so its really different each time.
Original post by Laurenafenete
Thank god I'm not the only one. Its just really frustrating as I am trying and everyone can see I'm trying. But in mocks I'm consistency getting the worst grades out of the whole class, like today I did a mock for organic chemistry. Probably flunked it even though I revised for days and I know people that are revising the night before and getting A/B.


What is it about organic chemistry that you find so hard?
Original post by InadequateJusticex
What is it about organic chemistry that you find so hard?


There is so much to learn! There is always a few exceptions to the rule, everything to me looks similar. It just doesn't come naturally to me
Original post by Laurenafenete
There is so much to learn! There is always a few exceptions to the rule, everything to me looks similar. It just doesn't come naturally to me


Can you give an example perhaps? No one can help you if you just talk about it generally. So maybe look up a question that you're like wtf I can't solve this and post it on here on something
Reply 8
AS Chemistry is by far the most difficult AS level. 3x as hard as FP1 id say
Original post by xyz9856
AS Chemistry is by far the most difficult AS level. 3x as hard as FP1 id say


I actually found AS chemistry fine its this year its become tricky. It was my best grade out of my 4 AS levels.
Original post by InadequateJusticex
Can you give an example perhaps? No one can help you if you just talk about it generally. So maybe look up a question that you're like wtf I can't solve this and post it on here on something


This is supposed to be a general thread, I just find A level chemistry generally difficult to learn.
If I get stuck on a chemistry question I tend to ask my chemistry teachers
Original post by Laurenafenete
Who else is struggling with A level chemistry? Its not even all of it its just organic chemistry which unfortunately because its AQA thats a lot of it. I've been revising the content for it by looking back at notes and doing past papers but whenever there is a mock on it I can never really get the hang of it. Is anyone else like this?


Original post by Laurenafenete
This is supposed to be a general thread, I just find A level chemistry generally difficult to learn.
If I get stuck on a chemistry question I tend to ask my chemistry teachers



So first you say its just organic chemistry then you say A level chemistry in general. Make up your mind.

No need to be rude about it, I was just trying to help. Good luck anyway, you clearly need it if you're struggling with organic chemistry which is by far the easiest part of A level chemistry...
Original post by InadequateJusticex
So first you say its just organic chemistry then you say A level chemistry in general. Make up your mind.

No need to be rude about it, I was just trying to help. Good luck anyway, you clearly need it if you're struggling with organic chemistry which is by far the easiest part of A level chemistry...


Thank you, will do! :smile:
Original post by Laurenafenete
Who else is struggling with A level chemistry? Its not even all of it its just organic chemistry which unfortunately because its AQA thats a lot of it. I've been revising the content for it by looking back at notes and doing past papers but whenever there is a mock on it I can never really get the hang of it. Is anyone else like this?
I'm also doing OCR A and am finding the organic chemistry/mechanisms the hardest to grasp.
Original post by muonfrisbee98
I'm also doing OCR A and am finding the organic chemistry/mechanisms the hardest to grasp.


Whats the structure of the OCR A chemistry course like? Is there a lot of organic chemistry in the course. I do AQA chemistry but OCR A physics
Original post by Laurenafenete
Whats the structure of the OCR A chemistry course like? Is there a lot of organic chemistry in the course. I do AQA chemistry but OCR A physics
So, you've got your fundamental chemistry unit (mathsy stuff, electrons, bonding, structure etc...), the periodic table and energy unit and then just organic chemistry and analysis. There's a fair bit of organic in AS I'd say. You're so lucky that you do OCR A physics - I do OCR B (Advancing Physics) and it sucks. All the physics is put into context and we brush over the maths.
Original post by muonfrisbee98
So, you've got your fundamental chemistry unit (mathsy stuff, electrons, bonding, structure etc...), the periodic table and energy unit and then just organic chemistry and analysis. There's a fair bit of organic in AS I'd say. You're so lucky that you do OCR A physics - I do OCR B (Advancing Physics) and it sucks. All the physics is put into context and we brush over the maths.


Ah ok its similar to what we have in AQA. We have chem 4 which is maths calculations like Ka Kw etc and organic stuff and then we have chem 5 which is thermodynamics and inorganic chemistry with metals etc.

Oh yeah I hear horror stories from OCR B physics. It doesn't sound very nice. Although OCR A isn't that great either. *We can cry together about the failings of OCR physics and organic chemistry*
http://chemrevise.org/

This site is beautiful.

In terms of the organic stuff I found it easier when I made shortcuts to remember the mechanisms by . Also practice questions A LOT as a lot of it is just memory.. ,
Original post by Laurenafenete
Ah ok its similar to what we have in AQA. We have chem 4 which is maths calculations like Ka Kw etc and organic stuff and then we have chem 5 which is thermodynamics and inorganic chemistry with metals etc.

Oh yeah I hear horror stories from OCR B physics. It doesn't sound very nice. Although OCR A isn't that great either. *We can cry together about the failings of OCR physics and organic chemistry*

Yeah - definitely! I wouldn't mind it much but I want to study physics at university :smile:
www.alevelrevisioncards.co.uk has great resources to use for exam preparation

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