This year has to be better right? A-A-Aiming Higher!!

OP

FIRST UPDATE! Some Chemistry Notes! I'm doing them by hand because the internet informs me I'll retain more that way. Same with the colours :smile:

Reply 2

username2931236

Love the notes Beth! Even though I'm doing a GCSE blog I will watch this one for tips on studying for A level chemistry and bio, which I plan to take in September :smile:

Keep up the good work

Reply 3

OP

Original post by misstiah_h

Love the notes Beth! Even though I'm doing a GCSE blog I will watch this one for tips on studying for A level chemistry and bio, which I plan to take in September :smile:

Keep up the good work

Hey! Good luck with your GCSE's! I had to retake chem GCSE to get 5 A's which I needed for my uni application so I know what you're going through.
Tips for studying A Level Chem and Bio:

Chem is mainly about applying knowledge, but revising the knowledge first REALLY helps, so while it may feel like you're stuck memorising things when revising, keep at it!

The application part you can ONLY learn through practise. Hopefully the spec's will stay the same from this year so that you'll have my year groups "real" exam questions to do. Unfortunately ours is a new, mega annoying spec so the past papers aren't as similar to the new spec as could be *sigh*

Bio is a disgusting amount of long words but the concepts behind it repeat and crop up again and again in different scenarios. Natures very samey in that respect so that's nice! But the Latin sounding names like glycolysis, gluconeogenisis and glucagon are all very similar and can be confusing.

Keep going with your GCSE's! Focus on your goals and I wish you all the luck in the world! Are you doing any other subjects? Are you taking them all to AS or are you planning to drop some like most people do? Let me know if any of these little hints help!

Thanks a bunch for your support for my studies and this little bloglet :biggrin:

Reply 4

username2931236

Original post by Bhansongal98

Hey! Good luck with your GCSE's! I had to retake chem GCSE to get 5 A's which I needed for my uni application so I know what you're going through.
Tips for studying A Level Chem and Bio:

Chem is mainly about applying knowledge, but revising the knowledge first REALLY helps, so while it may feel like you're stuck memorising things when revising, keep at it!

The application part you can ONLY learn through practise. Hopefully the spec's will stay the same from this year so that you'll have my year groups "real" exam questions to do. Unfortunately ours is a new, mega annoying spec so the past papers aren't as similar to the new spec as could be *sigh*

Bio is a disgusting amount of long words but the concepts behind it repeat and crop up again and again in different scenarios. Natures very samey in that respect so that's nice! But the Latin sounding names like glycolysis, gluconeogenisis and glucagon are all very similar and can be confusing.

Keep going with your GCSE's! Focus on your goals and I wish you all the luck in the world! Are you doing any other subjects? Are you taking them all to AS or are you planning to drop some like most people do? Let me know if any of these little hints help!

Thanks a bunch for your support for my studies and this little bloglet :biggrin:

Awww thanks for the tips, they really do help! It does seem a little daunting looking at the A-Level spec, but hearing experiences from TSR does (for the most part) make me less stressed :smile:

I do enjoy chemistry and biology, and couldn't see myself doing essay-based subjects like English (ugh).. could I ask how you decided on picking those as your chosen options?

I'm thinking of doing chem, bio and Spanish up to A2 rather than taking 4 subjects and dropping one.. what is it that you are doing? Tbh Sixth Form still feels alien to me, though - who knows whether I will have completely changed my mind by results day :redface:

Reply 5

OP

Original post by misstiah_h

Awww thanks for the tips, they really do help! It does seem a little daunting looking at the A-Level spec, but hearing experiences from TSR does (for the most part) make me less stressed :smile:

I do enjoy chemistry and biology, and couldn't see myself doing essay-based subjects like English (ugh).. could I ask how you decided on picking those as your chosen options?

I'm thinking of doing chem, bio and Spanish up to A2 rather than taking 4 subjects and dropping one.. what is it that you are doing? Tbh Sixth Form still feels alien to me, though - who knows whether I will have completely changed my mind by results day :redface:

I finished my GCSEs a year early - didn't really know what to do with myself after that so I took just maths and geography to AS. I dropped out of maths and then my parents moved houses part way through the year so I self taught myself the last half of the geography spec and ended up with a C in that. Needless to say I was fed up of a levels and wanted to do something else so I took a level 3 course in animal science and management which was fun and then while I was doing that I thought that I might like to be a vet so I switched back to alevels and did the first year of maths over and picked up bio and chem as these are what the unis were asking for :P that's how I chose mine! My advice is don't stress if you pick the wrong thing - I've had several years where I've watched friends go off to uni without me but it's given me the opportunity to try different things to find what I like. My parents kicked me out when I was sixteen so have been living in a hostel but honestly it's not so bad as long as I force myself to get up and go to school each day. Even if you think your parents won't want you to stay an extra year to do something different there are many options for government funded housing - especially for 18s and under. You can do what ever you want to and with the right mindset every problem can be overcome. Do what you enjoy!! :smile:

Reply 6

katerebecca

Hey Beth!

I'm currently in year 12 doing AS, and like you want to apply for Vet Med (but 2019 as I've decided to take a gap year). Please tell me how you managed to go from an E to and A in Chemistry *cries* !! It's killing me this subject! I love the notes you made! Overall, how did you find AS?

Kate x

Reply 7

username2931236

Original post by Bhansongal98

I finished my GCSEs a year early - didn't really know what to do with myself after that so I took just maths and geography to AS. I dropped out of maths and then my parents moved houses part way through the year so I self taught myself the last half of the geography spec and ended up with a C in that. Needless to say I was fed up of a levels and wanted to do something else so I took a level 3 course in animal science and management which was fun and then while I was doing that I thought that I might like to be a vet so I switched back to alevels and did the first year of maths over and picked up bio and chem as these are what the unis were asking for :P that's how I chose mine! My advice is don't stress if you pick the wrong thing - I've had several years where I've watched friends go off to uni without me but it's given me the opportunity to try different things to find what I like. My parents kicked me out when I was sixteen so have been living in a hostel but honestly it's not so bad as long as I force myself to get up and go to school each day. Even if you think your parents won't want you to stay an extra year to do something different there are many options for government funded housing - especially for 18s and under. You can do what ever you want to and with the right mindset every problem can be overcome. Do what you enjoy!! :smile:

WOW your story is so inspiring!! :eek:

You are doing SO well considering all that you have been through! If I have any other questions about Bio or Chemistry A-level I will be sure to come to you. Thanks and good luck :smile:

Reply 8

OP

Original post by misstiah_h

WOW your story is so inspiring!! :eek:

You are doing SO well considering all that you have been through! If I have any other questions about Bio or Chemistry A-level I will be sure to come to you. Thanks and good luck :smile:

Haha I'm glad you think so! My pleasure, let me know how your GCSE's go and what you take next year. Good luck to you too and may 2017 bring you amazing grades and happiness! :smile:

Reply 9

greentron6

You're OCR (SALTERS B) for Chemistry, right? :wink:

Reply 10

OP

Original post by greentron6

You're OCR (SALTERS B) for Chemistry, right? :wink:

Hello mr stalker :wink:

Reply 11

OP

Original post by katerebecca

Hey Beth!

I'm currently in year 12 doing AS, and like you want to apply for Vet Med (but 2019 as I've decided to take a gap year). Please tell me how you managed to go from an E to and A in Chemistry *cries* !! It's killing me this subject! I love the notes you made! Overall, how did you find AS?

Kate x

Hey! I found AS hard but the grade boundaries were very low this year so clearly the feeling was mutual all around the country :biggrin:

I've got some notes on AS chem I made last year that I put up on my old TSR grow my grades blog here that you're welcome to have a look at.

I also had to retake chem GCSE which gave me a better foundation for the new chemistry that I was learning than I'd previously had which really help. I guess the main thing is to look at how you're doing and identify which parts you are finding hard. For me it was the fundamentals which meant that when I sorted my issues there, the more advanced chemistry slid into place as an extension to theories and laws I'd already re-studied. Keep at it! I wish you all the luck in the world!

Reply 12

OP

So just had my mock results back! I went from getting AAB in my AS's to CEU in the same subjects for the mocks so something has clearly gone terribly wrong. I'm glad I made the mistakes now rather than later but I'd rather not have made them at all but oh well. I've made myself a list of questions to redo and things to revise for next time. A lot of the stuff is AS things I've forgotten and I made a lot of silly mistakes not using the figures and/or not realizing what the questions were asking so I hope to do better soon.

Here's my fix-it-fast list:

Biology

Counter current flow – gas exchange systems pg 178 AS

Synapses A2 - 56

Food tests AS – 74-6

Ornithine cycle

Experimental procedure AS 102

Catalase activity AS 118-9

Steroid and non-steroid hormone action A2 pg 65

Chemistry

Water of crystallisation

Ksp

DeltaS

Nitrous oxides

Functional group properties/tests Q21 &23

Electrolysis

Using information to predict chemical structures (mass spec, ir, nmr and ‘wet’ chemistry)

Redo 28) iii

Maths

4b

Q6

7b

Q8

Q9

Improve times

Reply 13

OP