About "the jump"

From my experience, science A levels (I take bio and chem) are far more detailed. The material can be complicated but not mind boggling. It just takes work. They occupy a lot of time and you must be committed to always completing work outside of lessons; generally an hour for every hour at school is recommended but realistically it's about a one hour at home for every two in lesson ratio. Maths is difficult but, as with all A levels, the jump is doable. I got an A* at GCSE and have achieved As in tests, but at the same time, I've also only got a C on several occasions. I'd say if you get an A at GCSE, you would be expected to get a B or a C at A level but this is all dependent on your level of work. If I did no work outside of lessons, I would probably got a C despite my A* at GCSE, whereas someone with a B at GCSE might put in lots of work and come out with an A. At A level it is far easier to fail though. At GCSE, the A* mark for many papers in science can be about 60%, whereas in A level this would be a C or a D (Also take into account the material is much harder). Overall though, I think the jump is over hyped. The work is definitely far far far far harder, but it is not impossible as it is made out to be. It's all about your commitment. Those who work achieve and those who do not, fail. Getting straight A*s at A level would be a major achievement. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but you have to get 90% in a lot of modules which is incredibly difficult. Whereas at GCSE, at least a few people in every year get majority A*s. No not taking triple science wont hold you back as the material is totally new

Is it the unit with transition metals, acids and enthalpy?
I don't know what exam board that is, I do OCR
And the work load was a bit more but very doable

Yeah that bit, I do WJEC though. Imo the other unit is harder, because there is so much to learn.

The other unit looks boring aha
I don't want to start it cos the content looks dull apart from the benzene stuff

what content is in it? I'm curious as to how different the syllabuses are

Thanks so much, that was so useful. If may ask, how much work are you given to complete outside of lesson and is the amount of things you learn more then gcse for example in gcse core chemistry it was like c1.1-c1.7 and they were quite short is as or a2 chem like c1.1-c1.30

how similar is to to gcses? As you know gcses were really about past papers after learning the content which isn't difficult. So are a-levels similar in terms of revision style and past papers having similar questions. What's the biggest difference? And also is the content in one subject like 5 times larger then it was in gcses? What actually makes A-levels difficult, is it the amount of work or actually understanding the concepts?

Sorry for the bad wordings. Thank you for helping me out

You're welcome You arent given that much work to do outside of lessons. It's about having the initiative to think hmm I didn't really understand that so I might go and practice some questions. There's a general feeling from the teachers that if you dont do the homework, that's your problem. It's unlikely you'll be hassled to do work; it's up to you. Although this sounds scary, remember that you get free periods so your life doesnt revolve around work You can still have a life! There's a huge volume of content for chemistry. Far more than GCSE, but remember that at GCSE you do 9-12 subjects, at A level you only have four so the workload is meant to be about three times more.

ohhh that is so useful, thanks! You know in gcse maths, you had to self-teach a lot of topics if you wanted to get a high grade, is as similar to this or is there a specific amount of maths you learn?

I am not sure whether or not to do maths. I am doing additional maths now (ocr) and am not getting good results. My teacher said that plenty struggle with it and then do well at A level however I go to a **** school so good doesn't necessarily mean good.

I guess that all depends on the teacher. You should be taught everything you need to know though. At GCSE I guess the teacher had to keep going over things for people who were struggling and didnt get on to everything that should be taught at high level. In A level everyone is already at a high standard so theres not people preventing you learning the difficult stuff. All depends on your teacher really though