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Tips on getting an A* in chemistry GCSE

WolfTy

title says it all :smile:

please could you all tell me your gcse exam board and grades you got in chemistry out of interest aswell :biggrin:

Reply 1

Jamie Vardy

Original post by TyanaChu

title says it all :smile:

please could you all tell me your gcse exam board and grades you got in chemistry out of interest aswell :biggrin:

Memorise and for Unit 2 (if you're studying content from AQA) learn how to do calculations - i.e. working out empirical formulae, percentage yield etc.

Reply 2

WolfTy

Original post by Jamie Vardy

Memorise and for Unit 2 (if you're studying content from AQA) learn how to do calculations - i.e. working out empirical formulae, percentage yield etc.

yeah I am doing AQA thank you!

Reply 3

n__

Original post by TyanaChu

title says it all :smile:

please could you all tell me your gcse exam board and grades you got in chemistry out of interest aswell :biggrin:

Buy the AQA revision guide..it literally saved my life! It has basically everything in it that you need to know

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Reply 4

WolfTy

Original post by _niki

Buy the AQA revision guide..it literally saved my life! It has basically everything in it that you need to know

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which one is it? cgp, collins or? :biggrin:

and what grade did you get in the end

Reply 5

samb1234

Original post by TyanaChu

which one is it? cgp, collins or? :biggrin:

and what grade did you get in the end

Just get the cgp one it has all you need to know (unless the quality has drastically gone downhill since i took gcses two years ago)

Reply 6

Sakura-Sama

I did Chemistry GCSE early for core and I got A* for C1 C2 C3
I do OCR Gateway and considering that I'm really stupid irl I think I did pretty well

Tips to getting an A*:
Don't revise non-stop; it'll only make you stressed out.
I found out I had my real exam in just 2 weeks so I revised half a module each day and done a past paper with it.
Its also helpful if you wake up in the early mornings just a couple of days before the exam to go over things
I personally didn't need notes but I needed the little things like all the formulas and the colours of bunsen flames etc.
GOOD LUCK FOR YOUR EXAMS :danceboy:

Reply 7

thefatone

Original post by Jamie Vardy

Memorise and for Unit 2 (if you're studying content from AQA) learn how to do calculations - i.e. working out empirical formulae, percentage yield etc.

also with those don't negelect titration calculations and how to perform them(for the written bit for a 6 marker) flame tests and tests for ions, the one with silver nitrate with group 7 stuff, but yea like most people said getting the revision guide hlps greatly.

Reply 8

n__

It's the revision guide supplied by AQA itself! Here's the link for reference:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/GCSE-Chemistry-Revision-Guide-Science/dp/1408508311

I got an A* literally thanks to this revision guide lool

I feel the CGP one can simplify certain topics too much such as working out moles etc..but I'm sure that'd be alright too!

Original post by TyanaChu

which one is it? cgp, collins or? :biggrin:

and what grade did you get in the end

Reply 9

Laurenafenete

Did AQA Chemistry, for gcse its memory and maths. I got an A in GCSE (shame that it went downhill at A level but thats another matter). Remember the the trends of the groups and the reactions and learn how to do the empirical formulae etc

Also the CGP revision books were quite good and inexpensive

Reply 10

WolfTy

Original post by _niki

Thank you so much! so you literally just used that textbook?

Reply 11

Dinasaurus

I got an A* in GCSE for AQA but this was back in 2013, I mainly just read the revision guide and instead of trying to answer the question myself I just read a question and turned over to the answer. I found in GCSE most of the questions were the same, so once I noticed those keywords I'd just write what I memorised in the revision guide.

There wasn't really much to it, so it was easy to memorise as most answers were a couple of lines long at most.

OIL RIG

EDIT: Yes to the guy who linked that textbook, it is literally all you need.

(edited 8 years ago)

Reply 12

n__

Original post by TyanaChu

Thank you so much! so you literally just used that textbook?

Pretty much! You don't need to bother buying the actual big textbooks because 1) they can be quite expensive 2) the revision guide condenses it all
If you happen to not understand a certain topic then I'd suggest watching YouTube videos because there's loads of good explanations..so yeah the combo of the revision guide and YouTube vids is all I used :smile:

But make sure you do learn the revision guide FULLY (especially the experiments)

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Reply 13

WolfTy

Original post by Dinasaurus

I've heard revision guides aren't detailed enough and so won't get you higher than a B and I'm not a natural with chemistry so I really need something I feel secure that If I know all the content I can get an A or higher

Reply 14

Dinasaurus

Original post by TyanaChu

Maybe GCSEs are harder now than before but I don't recall doing anything other than the work given to me at school and reading the revision guide, I think we started doing a few past papers like a month before the exam.

I'm not sure how true that is, however there is a difference between simply memorising and memorising and understanding. If you understand, then you can tweak your memorised quotes to suit the question.

Reply 15

WolfTy

Original post by _niki

But make sure you do learn the revision guide FULLY (especially the experiments)

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my only problem is that I used a revision guide for my biology exam and got a mid level B and I really want a high grade and my teacher says the guide isn't in depth enough and I need a proper textbook to get A*

Reply 16

Jamie Vardy

Original post by TyanaChu

title says it all :smile:

please could you all tell me your gcse exam board and grades you got in chemistry out of interest aswell :biggrin:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191805785325?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

This should do it. Cheaper and in PDF format, that's where I bought it from.

Reply 17

TheConfusedMedic

I have the guide mentioned above and whilst I think it covers everything you need to know, it does skip over lots of stuff mentioned in the big textbook - but i'm not sure if that stuff is necessary or not.
To make sure, I made revision notes from the textbook itself instead of the guide.
BUT the guide is really good because at the end of each topic it has about 10 questions that cover everything you need to know (and has answers in the back) and exam style questions :smile: