A-level chemistry

What is A level chemistry like? What does it involve and is it different to GCSE, given I didn't do triples? How difficult is it?

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Reply 1

captainamerica77

Given you didnt do triple its harder and its the biggest jump youll ever see in all 3 sciences from GCSE... AS is managable but A2.... OH BOY!!

A lot of memorising... energetics and stuff are ok woth simple maths but memorising the reagents and colours will take you to hell... and will show you a glimpse of satans lair.... have fun!

Reply 2

JMcGarry00

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. What's the easiest thing and hardest thing about A-level chemistry?

Reply 3

abubakr_02

How much memorising is there? Also can u send me a link or something to give me some insight on how many colours you need to remember

Original post by captainamerica77

Reply 4

captainamerica77

Original post by abubakr_02

How much memorising is there? Also can u send me a link or something to give me some insight on how many colours you need to remember

youll have all of that in your revision guides... and comparitively a lot...

Not much for jnorganic chemistry... but for organic chemistry you have to memorise reagents, conditions (temp and pressure) for every reaction and then colours if you need to identify them... and what you use etc...

At AS theres not a lot of memorisation but the jump from AS to A2 is bigger then GCSE to AS...

Good luck!!

Reply 5

JMcGarry00

What is inorganic chemistry like? Is it easier than organic?

Reply 6

YellowYellow2

Original post by JMcGarry00

Thanks for your help, I really appreciate it. What's the easiest thing and hardest thing about A-level chemistry?

The easiest for me was probably thermodynamics because it was a set method and it wasn’t much memory. I think the hardest by far is all of spectroscopy which you need to be able to read and recognise molecules from

Reply 7

Crapaud8

Original post by JMcGarry00

What is inorganic chemistry like? Is it easier than organic?

Depends what you're good at. I you're good at maths you'll probably find inorganic easier. Organic is a lot of memory of different molecules, their synthesis(how to make them from other things) and the reaction mechanisms. Inorganic is similar to physics in terms of content.

Reply 8

JMcGarry00

That doesn't sound like fun. Do you cover biochemistry at all? I'm looking to do it as an UG at uni

Reply 9

Crapaud8

Original post by JMcGarry00

That doesn't sound like fun. Do you cover biochemistry at all? I'm looking to do it as an UG at uni

Yeah you do, you cover things like amines and amides which I think comes up in biology but that's in year 13.

Reply 10

goldfvnch

I've just finished Year 12, and chemistry was actually the subject I found easiest (when I was getting around 60% in physics tests, I would get 90% in chemistry tests). Idk maybe it does get a lot harder after AS so I guess I've got that to look forward to, but we've already been taught A2 Kinetics and it was relatively easy to understand.

Reply 11

Crapaud8

I found chemistry A-level very challenging. I had to work extremely hard to try to get the results I wanted(A's and A*). Their are so many new things you have to memorize and understand which isn't always easy. Once you get it though it gets very rewarding. You just need to practice often with past paper questions and make sure you're continuously going over things you've learnt as you can easily forget things due to the volume of new content.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 12

goldfvnch

Original post by Crapaud8

I found chemistry A-level very challenging. I had to work extremely hard to try to get the results I wanted. Their are so many new things you have to memorize and understand which isn't always easy. Once you get it though it gets very rewarding. You just need to practice often with past paper questions and make sure you're continuously going over things you've learnt as you can easily forget things due to the volume of new content.

Yeah, I did so many practice questions for chemistry, they really help.

Reply 13

Crapaud8

It's also important you find ways of remembering new reaction mechanisms, different catalysts and reaction conditions early on. This is especialy useful for organic in year 13 as their are a lot of processes you have to remember so if you find a way to remembering these things early on it makes your life so much easier.

Reply 14

Crapaud8

Original post by goldfvnch

It was the same for me but that changed in year 13 (not as much as 60-90, not like 70-80 But i found the difficulty swapped over from physics to chem).

Reply 15

readingpotatonew

dude you have NO idea how much harder it is but put the work in and you'll be okay
a lot of memorising and understanding involved

Reply 16

deathnote123

It's definitely a hard a-level and for this case, I would say it depends on whether you have a good teacher or not, but then again youtube videos really helped. If you're good at maths like algebra, simultaneous equations then it'll be perfect as the questions in my retake were quite mathsy surprisingly and I must have lost loads of marks because I struggle with numbers. A lot of it was practical as well so working well in a lab doing experiments and needing to pass them. In my school, we had to take exams over both years, AS was fine but A2 was really anxiety-inducing and I suffered a lot. I did aqa and so there were 3 main modules in my spec, Physical, Inorganic, Organic chem. Physical was lengthy, Inorganic was very hard, Organic was ok but the exam questions were very hard too. I hated how we had to take AS exams but still had the need to retain that info for our year 2 exams but it kinda flowed ok this way, but I preferred the old spec as well as January exams :frown:

A piece of advice, please don't slack over in 1st year as you'll need the info regardless for 2nd year and they will test you on it. Oh and learn your resources before you start your classes and already read and learn your equations, theories before lessons.
All the best and I hope it's smooth for you............ :smile:

Reply 17

fh2712

Hi, I am also very interested in taking chemistry a-level which books and youtube channels would you recommend?

Reply 18

Scorkin123

Honestly a level chemistry is sooo bad. Its so hard and so much to remember compared to other courses in my opinion, if you're dedicated to put in a lot of effort and every night use flashcards and all of the other things then yeah you should. I think it's a thing you have to be very interested or motivated in, I seen a lot people not feel like that especially with so many new friends and so much more to do compared to being in school. Don't get me wrong all course require a lot of work a lot more than any at GCSE but chemsitry at a level is a very big jump and a very hard course. But as long as you're motivated and can handle a lot or work and sometimes accept and learn things with out proper explanation then chemsitry could be for you. I advise you have a large think and look if it's necessary to your course at uni if it's not 100% necessary then avoid it if it is necessary then prepare for a couple of years of hard work if you keep on top of it it'll be fine if you don't it'll be a couple years of hell for you

Reply 19

deathnote123

Original post by fh2712

Hi, I am also very interested in taking chemistry a-level which books and youtube channels would you recommend?

I would recommend learning from chemrevise, Full edition CGP book only and closer to exams use flashcards from alevelchemistryrevision .co.uk, also it's best not to overload yourself with different books as when it comes to things like Inorganic colours and Organic reagents it's so difficult to figure out what is true as different books say different things, I feel like I failed first time doing this as I was so scared with how hard the new spec was.
And youtube channels, either mrerintoul or allerychemistry and a subscription with Tailored Tutors right from the beginning of the year :smile:

(edited 4 years ago)