chem a level will bring death upon me
i’ve never been so distressed in my life and it’s all because of chemistry A level. i have my final two chemistry exams on the 11th and 18th and i am so unprepared for these exams... i need AAA (my other two subjects are english and history, they’ve gone fine) but i’m certain i’ll get a U in chemistry. i’ve been crying all day and in a fit of hysteria spent £50 on tailored tutors then broke down again bc i was overwhelmed with how much i have to cover before next tuesday. i feel like i’ve fudged my chances of going to uni so ... does anyone have any advice?? i really don’t know the content so i can’t move straight on to past papers but i don’t want to waste time making flash cards when i should be familiarising myself with exam technique??? any tips would be much appreciated
@gretelhouseg
Hi there
I'd recommend starting to learn the content if you feel you're not ready for papers. Tomorrow and also half of Saturday if yiu still don't have everything, I'd suggest going through your notes/revision book. Try to learn the basics and do this whatever way seems best, if I'm rushed for time I tend to try to memprise key facts as I go, making short notes of small things that will jog my memory or key formulas. Try doing this for the whole content (skimming through as much as you can). From here you can go over the quick notes you made and try to recall key facts and you should find you have a very basic understanding from here.
After this I'd say focus on the paper. If I'm not mistaken, it's organic on 11th? Write down clearly the names, mechanics and examples of key reactions you're expected to know and try to memorise these. I find highlighting key parts works for me then trying to write the reactions out from memory, each one at a time. The synthesis routes for AS and A2 are key so trying to learn as much of this as possible (try writing small sections from memory and build on it each time you memorise a new section, this works for me anyway). Reactions and synthesis tend to be the topics with the highest marked questions. You could browse through some past papers and see which topics are typically worth the most in the paper and focus more on those.
If you're finding a certain fact difficult to understand then I'm sure it'd be worth making use of tailored tutors! You could even ask them what they think the best last minute revision tips are?
Hopefully after a couple of days you'll be ready to at least attempt questions and ideally do papers, so that by Sunday you could skim through the content again but be more knowledgeable about each topics and can therefore afford to try learning the more difficult facts for that higher grade. From there you can do lots more papers and learn from the mark scheme (crucial)
Learning the basics is very important in chemistry so it's worth making sure you're very comfortable with it before expanding to the more difficult content, or else you'll probably struggle getting to grips with that.
After this you'll have time to go over all of the content from the whole course and strengthen your understand for paper 3 by more general revision and memorising and/or doing plenty of more papers!
Remember this is all just a suggestion but I wish you the very best of luck.
Hi there
I'd recommend starting to learn the content if you feel you're not ready for papers. Tomorrow and also half of Saturday if yiu still don't have everything, I'd suggest going through your notes/revision book. Try to learn the basics and do this whatever way seems best, if I'm rushed for time I tend to try to memprise key facts as I go, making short notes of small things that will jog my memory or key formulas. Try doing this for the whole content (skimming through as much as you can). From here you can go over the quick notes you made and try to recall key facts and you should find you have a very basic understanding from here. After this I'd say focus on the paper. If I'm not mistaken, it's organic on 11th? Write down clearly the names, mechanics and examples of key reactions you're expected to know and try to memorise these. I find highlighting key parts works for me then trying to write the reactions out from memory, each one at a time. The synthesis routes for AS and A2 are key so trying to learn as much of this as possible (try writing small sections from memory and build on it each time you memorise a new section, this works for me anyway). Reactions and synthesis tend to be the topics with the highest marked questions. You could browse through some past papers and see which topics are typically worth the most in the paper and focus more on those.
If you're finding a certain fact difficult to understand then I'm sure it'd be worth making use of tailored tutors! You could even ask them what they think the best last minute revision tips are?
Hopefully after a couple of days you'll be ready to at least attempt questions and ideally do papers, so that by Sunday you could skim through the content again but be more knowledgeable about each topics and can therefore afford to try learning the more difficult facts for that higher grade. From there you can do lots more papers and learn from the mark scheme (crucial)
Learning the basics is very important in chemistry so it's worth making sure you're very comfortable with it before expanding to the more difficult content, or else you'll probably struggle getting to grips with that.
After this you'll have time to go over all of the content from the whole course and strengthen your understand for paper 3 by more general revision and memorising and/or doing plenty of more papers!
Remember this is all just a suggestion but I wish you the very best of luck.
Don't know what exam board you're on but if it's AQA (like me) you've got organic and physical on Tuesday.
I would start by learning all the mechanisms, there's lots of opportunities to pick up marks for them, and if you memorise them properly you don't need to worry too much about understanding.
Then I'd move on to rates: learn the definitions for the order of the reaction and how to calculate them. Practice writing a rate equation using the orders you've just calculated, and make sure you can calculate k. Do LOTS of Arrhenius equation practice, this is probably a topic you struggle with because you don't do maths.
Print all the paper 2s on the AQA website - specimen, 2017,2018. Do these papers and MARK THEM CAREFULLY. This will give you an idea of what you need to practice more and being familiar with the mark schemes will help in the exams.
I would start by learning all the mechanisms, there's lots of opportunities to pick up marks for them, and if you memorise them properly you don't need to worry too much about understanding.
Then I'd move on to rates: learn the definitions for the order of the reaction and how to calculate them. Practice writing a rate equation using the orders you've just calculated, and make sure you can calculate k. Do LOTS of Arrhenius equation practice, this is probably a topic you struggle with because you don't do maths.
Print all the paper 2s on the AQA website - specimen, 2017,2018. Do these papers and MARK THEM CAREFULLY. This will give you an idea of what you need to practice more and being familiar with the mark schemes will help in the exams.
If you have revision too late, use chem revise which a condensed form of notes and are really good and practice papers
Original post by gretelhouseg
i’ve never been so distressed in my life and it’s all because of chemistry A level. i have my final two chemistry exams on the 11th and 18th and i am so unprepared for these exams... i need AAA (my other two subjects are english and history, they’ve gone fine) but i’m certain i’ll get a U in chemistry. i’ve been crying all day and in a fit of hysteria spent £50 on tailored tutors then broke down again bc i was overwhelmed with how much i have to cover before next tuesday. i feel like i’ve fudged my chances of going to uni so ... does anyone have any advice?? i really don’t know the content so i can’t move straight on to past papers but i don’t want to waste time making flash cards when i should be familiarising myself with exam technique??? any tips would be much appreciated
right now, just go and sleep then start fresh tmrw
Original post by gretelhouseg
i’ve never been so distressed in my life and it’s all because of chemistry A level. i have my final two chemistry exams on the 11th and 18th and i am so unprepared for these exams... i need AAA (my other two subjects are english and history, they’ve gone fine) but i’m certain i’ll get a U in chemistry. i’ve been crying all day and in a fit of hysteria spent £50 on tailored tutors then broke down again bc i was overwhelmed with how much i have to cover before next tuesday. i feel like i’ve fudged my chances of going to uni so ... does anyone have any advice?? i really don’t know the content so i can’t move straight on to past papers but i don’t want to waste time making flash cards when i should be familiarising myself with exam technique??? any tips would be much appreciated
Original post by Sharemine
If you have revision too late, use chem revise which a condensed form of notes and are really good and practice papers
thank you so much!!
Original post by Matrix123
@gretelhouseg
Hi there I'd recommend starting to learn the content if you feel you're not ready for papers. Tomorrow and also half of Saturday if yiu still don't have everything, I'd suggest going through your notes/revision book. Try to learn the basics and do this whatever way seems best, if I'm rushed for time I tend to try to memprise key facts as I go, making short notes of small things that will jog my memory or key formulas. Try doing this for the whole content (skimming through as much as you can). From here you can go over the quick notes you made and try to recall key facts and you should find you have a very basic understanding from here.
After this I'd say focus on the paper. If I'm not mistaken, it's organic on 11th? Write down clearly the names, mechanics and examples of key reactions you're expected to know and try to memorise these. I find highlighting key parts works for me then trying to write the reactions out from memory, each one at a time. The synthesis routes for AS and A2 are key so trying to learn as much of this as possible (try writing small sections from memory and build on it each time you memorise a new section, this works for me anyway). Reactions and synthesis tend to be the topics with the highest marked questions. You could browse through some past papers and see which topics are typically worth the most in the paper and focus more on those.
If you're finding a certain fact difficult to understand then I'm sure it'd be worth making use of tailored tutors! You could even ask them what they think the best last minute revision tips are?
Hopefully after a couple of days you'll be ready to at least attempt questions and ideally do papers, so that by Sunday you could skim through the content again but be more knowledgeable about each topics and can therefore afford to try learning the more difficult facts for that higher grade. From there you can do lots more papers and learn from the mark scheme (crucial)
Learning the basics is very important in chemistry so it's worth making sure you're very comfortable with it before expanding to the more difficult content, or else you'll probably struggle getting to grips with that.
After this you'll have time to go over all of the content from the whole course and strengthen your understand for paper 3 by more general revision and memorising and/or doing plenty of more papers!
Remember this is all just a suggestion but I wish you the very best of luck.
Hi there
I'd recommend starting to learn the content if you feel you're not ready for papers. Tomorrow and also half of Saturday if yiu still don't have everything, I'd suggest going through your notes/revision book. Try to learn the basics and do this whatever way seems best, if I'm rushed for time I tend to try to memprise key facts as I go, making short notes of small things that will jog my memory or key formulas. Try doing this for the whole content (skimming through as much as you can). From here you can go over the quick notes you made and try to recall key facts and you should find you have a very basic understanding from here. After this I'd say focus on the paper. If I'm not mistaken, it's organic on 11th? Write down clearly the names, mechanics and examples of key reactions you're expected to know and try to memorise these. I find highlighting key parts works for me then trying to write the reactions out from memory, each one at a time. The synthesis routes for AS and A2 are key so trying to learn as much of this as possible (try writing small sections from memory and build on it each time you memorise a new section, this works for me anyway). Reactions and synthesis tend to be the topics with the highest marked questions. You could browse through some past papers and see which topics are typically worth the most in the paper and focus more on those.
If you're finding a certain fact difficult to understand then I'm sure it'd be worth making use of tailored tutors! You could even ask them what they think the best last minute revision tips are?
Hopefully after a couple of days you'll be ready to at least attempt questions and ideally do papers, so that by Sunday you could skim through the content again but be more knowledgeable about each topics and can therefore afford to try learning the more difficult facts for that higher grade. From there you can do lots more papers and learn from the mark scheme (crucial)
Learning the basics is very important in chemistry so it's worth making sure you're very comfortable with it before expanding to the more difficult content, or else you'll probably struggle getting to grips with that.
After this you'll have time to go over all of the content from the whole course and strengthen your understand for paper 3 by more general revision and memorising and/or doing plenty of more papers!
Remember this is all just a suggestion but I wish you the very best of luck.
gosh this is great, thank you so much! really appreciated!
I'd also suggest doing Proton NMR and Carbon NMR as they are likely to come up but this year bonding could also come up also learn zwitterions those are easy and learn drawing the peptide linkages I'm amusing your good with most calculations so focus on content like placing the positive inductive effect/negative inductive effect into your answers in aromatics.
Original post by Lottile
Don't know what exam board you're on but if it's AQA (like me) you've got organic and physical on Tuesday.
I would start by learning all the mechanisms, there's lots of opportunities to pick up marks for them, and if you memorise them properly you don't need to worry too much about understanding.
Then I'd move on to rates: learn the definitions for the order of the reaction and how to calculate them. Practice writing a rate equation using the orders you've just calculated, and make sure you can calculate k. Do LOTS of Arrhenius equation practice, this is probably a topic you struggle with because you don't do maths.
Print all the paper 2s on the AQA website - specimen, 2017,2018. Do these papers and MARK THEM CAREFULLY. This will give you an idea of what you need to practice more and being familiar with the mark schemes will help in the exams.
I would start by learning all the mechanisms, there's lots of opportunities to pick up marks for them, and if you memorise them properly you don't need to worry too much about understanding.
Then I'd move on to rates: learn the definitions for the order of the reaction and how to calculate them. Practice writing a rate equation using the orders you've just calculated, and make sure you can calculate k. Do LOTS of Arrhenius equation practice, this is probably a topic you struggle with because you don't do maths.
Print all the paper 2s on the AQA website - specimen, 2017,2018. Do these papers and MARK THEM CAREFULLY. This will give you an idea of what you need to practice more and being familiar with the mark schemes will help in the exams.
rn i feel the same as you and to add to that i have two maths papers and a biology paper next week also!!! i’m defo f*****!!!! just gonna have to go mad ok revision this weekend! we can do it!!!
Yeah it's not over till it's over pulled an all nighter today just revising aromatics and aliphatics alongside re crystallisation of aspirin alongside mechanisms and the appropriate reagents and weather they are in excess or not.
Original post by anikaxox555
rn i feel the same as you and to add to that i have two maths papers and a biology paper next week also!!! i’m defo f*****!!!! just gonna have to go mad ok revision this weekend! we can do it!!!
should’ve mentioned i do OCR A chemistry - but this is really useful re: mechanisms, thank you!
Original post by Lottile
Don't know what exam board you're on but if it's AQA (like me) you've got organic and physical on Tuesday.
I would start by learning all the mechanisms, there's lots of opportunities to pick up marks for them, and if you memorise them properly you don't need to worry too much about understanding.
Then I'd move on to rates: learn the definitions for the order of the reaction and how to calculate them. Practice writing a rate equation using the orders you've just calculated, and make sure you can calculate k. Do LOTS of Arrhenius equation practice, this is probably a topic you struggle with because you don't do maths.
Print all the paper 2s on the AQA website - specimen, 2017,2018. Do these papers and MARK THEM CAREFULLY. This will give you an idea of what you need to practice more and being familiar with the mark schemes will help in the exams.
I would start by learning all the mechanisms, there's lots of opportunities to pick up marks for them, and if you memorise them properly you don't need to worry too much about understanding.
Then I'd move on to rates: learn the definitions for the order of the reaction and how to calculate them. Practice writing a rate equation using the orders you've just calculated, and make sure you can calculate k. Do LOTS of Arrhenius equation practice, this is probably a topic you struggle with because you don't do maths.
Print all the paper 2s on the AQA website - specimen, 2017,2018. Do these papers and MARK THEM CAREFULLY. This will give you an idea of what you need to practice more and being familiar with the mark schemes will help in the exams.
Electrophilic substitution has always been coming up so make sure to remember how to do it and show how the electrophile was produced !
Original post by gretelhouseg
should’ve mentioned i do OCR A chemistry - but this is really useful re: mechanisms, thank you!
Original post by anikaxox555
rn i feel the same as you and to add to that i have two maths papers and a biology paper next week also!!! i’m defo f*****!!!! just gonna have to go mad ok revision this weekend! we can do it!!!
wishing u the best of luck!! hope we end up smashing these exams!!
feel like i’m not gonna be getting a proper nights sleep till all this is done with, but it’ll hopefully be worth it in the long term! good luck with revision!
Original post by Ninja8004
Yeah it's not over till it's over pulled an all nighter today just revising aromatics and aliphatics alongside re crystallisation of aspirin alongside mechanisms and the appropriate reagents and weather they are in excess or not.
For the organic paper I recommend memorising the organic synthesis routes- this way you'll learn the synthesis routes and revise and learn all the mechanisms from throughout the 2 years. Its like killing two birds with one stone (although its many more than 2) 
Also- you've probably done better than you thought you did so try not to get hung up about it and focus on the future exams. The best thing you can do is forget about paper 1 and focus on 2 and 3.
Also- you've probably done better than you thought you did so try not to get hung up about it and focus on the future exams. The best thing you can do is forget about paper 1 and focus on 2 and 3. Original post by gretelhouseg
i’ve never been so distressed in my life and it’s all because of chemistry A level. i have my final two chemistry exams on the 11th and 18th and i am so unprepared for these exams... i need AAA (my other two subjects are english and history, they’ve gone fine) but i’m certain i’ll get a U in chemistry. i’ve been crying all day and in a fit of hysteria spent £50 on tailored tutors then broke down again bc i was overwhelmed with how much i have to cover before next tuesday. i feel like i’ve fudged my chances of going to uni so ... does anyone have any advice?? i really don’t know the content so i can’t move straight on to past papers but i don’t want to waste time making flash cards when i should be familiarising myself with exam technique??? any tips would be much appreciated
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