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A level chemistry revision?

I'm in AS and I'm struggling with how to revise for chemistry? Like I was good with the early stuff but now I don't know how to revise stuff like shapes of molecules, enthalpy calculations and hess law.
Does anyone have any revision tips or know of any websites that could help me? How is everyone else revising?
Original post by jiyongtoki
I'm in AS and I'm struggling with how to revise for chemistry? Like I was good with the early stuff but now I don't know how to revise stuff like shapes of molecules, enthalpy calculations and hess law.
Does anyone have any revision tips or know of any websites that could help me? How is everyone else revising?



Hiya! I did A-level chemistry and got a high A. The only way to go about it is to do loads of practice, trust me. I printed off the specification of my exam board and took notes on it, going through every single point, specifically highlighting material I needed to memorise. This way you know EXACTLY how much they can ask you, and it really is a great way to test yourself to see if you know the definitions, as they have them specifically written in it. Next thing is easy to guess. Do LOADS of past papers! Try to do as many as possible and you start to realise that the questions become quite repetitive. I know it may seem really difficult now however I'm 99% sure you feel this way because you haven't had enough practice. A good trick is to pretty much memorise the mark schemes, after you tried the paper of course :biggrin: I realised that I had lost quite a lot of marks because I had not included specific words in some of my answers. They would have these underlined in the mark scheme and won't give you the mark unless you use it!
AS isn't that bad to be honest. A2 was a lot harder (not saying this to put you off but if you don't understand this year, it is likely that you will struggle next year). I also used a CGP textbook which covered AQA AS and A2 Chemistry - they are amazing, so helpful. They included a lot of exercises after each chapter to really help you practice the material you learnt. Might be best if you got a revision book specifically made for your exam board like this.
That's about it really. Just practice a lot and try your best. Chemistry is one of the hardest A-levels out there so be prepared to put in a lot of time and effort into getting a high grade in this but also try to enjoy it!
(edited 8 years ago)
Reply 2
Original post by monica555
Hiya! I did A-level chemistry and got a high A. The only way to go about it is to do loads of practice, trust me. I printed off the specification of my exam board and took notes on it, going through every single point, specifically highlighting material I needed to memorise. This way you know EXACTLY how much they can ask you, and it really is a great way to test yourself to see if you know the definitions, as they have them specifically written in it. Next thing is easy to guess. Do LOADS of past papers! Try to do as many as possible and you start to realise that the questions become quite repetitive. I know it may seem really difficult now however I'm 99% sure you feel this way because you haven't had enough practice. A good trick is to pretty much memorise the mark schemes, after you tried the paper of course :biggrin: I realised that I had lost quite a lot of marks because I had not included specific words in some of my answers. They would have these underlined in the mark scheme and won't give you the mark unless you use it!
AS isn't that bad to be honest. A2 was a lot harder (not saying this to put you off but if you don't understand this year, it is likely that you will struggle next year). I also used a CGP textbook which covered AQA AS and A2 Chemistry - they are amazing, so helpful. They included a lot of exercises after each chapter to really help you practice the material you learnt. Might be best if you got a revision book specifically made for your exam board like this.
That's about it really. Just practice a lot and try your best. Chemistry is one of the hardest A-levels out there so be prepared to put in a lot of time and effort into getting a high grade in this but also try to enjoy it!


This is so motivating thank you so much!!:biggrin: It's not that I don't understand it I was just really confused about how to practise and get it in my head but today I spent all day on shapes of molecules and hess law and I've understood it so I'm feeling semi-confident and hopefully I'll be okay after I do some past papers!
I will definitely print off the spec, but by 'make notes on it' do you mean you made notes based off of it or around the papers?
Okay I'll start doing every past paper I can find and learning the mark schemes.:h: I was also thinking of getting those A5 index cards and writing common long mark questions on one side with ideal answers based off of the mark schemes on the other side, do you think thats a good idea?
Oh I got the CGP book for both my bio and chem and so far its simplified things for me so much!! But I've read some people saying that it was so simplified that it wasn't in enough detail so it made them lose marks do you think thats true??
And thank you!! I am trying hard to enjoy it but sometimes its hard lol. But after I got the hang of hess law I did find it kind of fun and realised it wasnt all that bad:redface:
Thank you for your reply:tongue:
Original post by jiyongtoki
This is so motivating thank you so much!!:biggrin: It's not that I don't understand it I was just really confused about how to practise and get it in my head but today I spent all day on shapes of molecules and hess law and I've understood it so I'm feeling semi-confident and hopefully I'll be okay after I do some past papers!
I will definitely print off the spec, but by 'make notes on it' do you mean you made notes based off of it or around the papers?
Okay I'll start doing every past paper I can find and learning the mark schemes.:h: I was also thinking of getting those A5 index cards and writing common long mark questions on one side with ideal answers based off of the mark schemes on the other side, do you think thats a good idea?
Oh I got the CGP book for both my bio and chem and so far its simplified things for me so much!! But I've read some people saying that it was so simplified that it wasn't in enough detail so it made them lose marks do you think thats true??
And thank you!! I am trying hard to enjoy it but sometimes its hard lol. But after I got the hang of hess law I did find it kind of fun and realised it wasnt all that bad:redface:
Thank you for your reply:tongue:



Haha I'm glad your finding it okay. :wink:
About the spec I kinda did both i guess? I included a lot of the points that they specifically asked for from the spec in my normal notes but just to have something small to look at and not a massive file of random sheets, I highlighted and wrote mini important notes on the spec. e.g. in the spec there were points like 'know thermal cracking takes place at a high pressure and temperature...'(lol can't remember much sorry haha:biggrin:) I wrote down specific values next to it (which I learnt from the mark scheme basically cause they accept a certain range of answers).

Index cards are a good trick. I actually used post-it notes. I literally drew out all the mechanisms, as I found them the most difficult, and stuck them on the wall infront of my desk. So every time I was studying it was physically infront of me and I would just memorise it by looking at it constantly. Becomes second nature in a way. I learn stuff by writing them down a lot so that may be a good idea.

I don't think the books are too simplified. Maybe when learning definitions memorise them off the spec and mark schemes as certain words need to be included in your answer however in terms of understanding the process that is going on it really helped me. You can only memorise so much if you don't understand the material. When you do, it is a lot easier to memorise certain words to write down in an exam because it starts to make sense to you. Still the most important thing in all of this is what the exam board want you to write down though. This is why learning mark schemes are crucial if you want to get a high grade, in my opinion.

You're very welcome, glad I could help. Really miss doing A-level Chem! Let me know if you have any more questions! Good Luck!

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