Is GCSE chemistry a lie

Hi there theres so much said about GCSE chemistry being a lie once you start A-level chemistry. Is this true are u taught something completly diffrent.
Is there any material that is the same?

Also how many exams do u have each year and when do u take them.

Thank You

Reply 1

Pepe Le Poosh

14

I remeber my firt week of AS chemistry and our teacher actually did a lesson along the lines of... so everything you know is a lie. The main thing you get lied to about id the arrangment of electrons but you get over it. And you dont really get lied to about its its jsut simplified... a lot.

I wouldnt worry about it. After the first week you forget about it.

Reply 2

Dionysus

15

Didn't do it at A Level but I've heard about this. Things are just simplified so much at GCSE that most of it is completely incorrect.

Reply 3

Modgem

I don't think GCSE CHemistry is a lie, it just doesn't expand enough to explain everything and include all the exceptions to the rules etc. When you do A level Chemistry you just build up on your knowledge of what you have already learnt at GCSE. You also use a lot of the principles that you have learnt and they must be virtually second nature to you. But it is not that bad!!

I took the edexcel board and there are three units for the AS year and three units for the A2 year, and they are aptly named Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3 (AS) and Unit 4, Unit 5 and Unit 6 (A2).
I took Unit 1 and Unit 4 in the January's when studying for that year, i.e. Unit 1 in January when i was studying for my AS's, and doing this certainly helped. It took a lot of work load of when studying for all the other exams in June. I would certainly recommend it!!!
Unit 3 and Unit 6 are the practical units for each corresponding year, and they consist of:
Unit 3: either a practical exam (around the end of May) or coursework, and a theory paper about practical features, i.e. tests for certain chemicals.
Unit 6: either a practical exam (around the end of May) or coursework, and a synoptic paper

Hope this helps and is some use to you

Reply 4

JUSTME1

OP

Thank You for that I am also going to do Biology at A-level. I think ill be better off revisng for that instead as I belive on that it just expands from GCSE.

How is A-level biology like can anyone plz fill me in on that.

Thank You

Reply 5

Cassie89

AS biology is a good subject to take, more memorising and less maths than the other sciences though. I found the AS course wasn't any harder than the gcse, but once you start the A2 stuff it does begin to get more challenging (especially if you don't take chemistry). The AQA unit 6 paper was IMPOSSIBLE :mad:

Praying my bad mark in that won't drag me down to a B....

Reply 6

.ACS.

19

GCSE Chemistry isn’t a lie, it’s just very simplified; the same with most GCSEs, really. Even what you learn prior to GCSE is simplified to make it easier to learn and understand; this doesn’t mean everything you learnt prior was a ‘lie’, so to speak.

To get a good idea of the actual subjects you’ll be studying, it may be a good idea to look at the specifications which are available on the exam boards’ websites.

Reply 7

Eau

15

Lie? I don't see why anyone has to think of it that way.

It's just how you could be progressively taught as you do not have the right knowledge yet.

You may want to read this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A685055

Reply 8

Excalibur

15

JUSTME1

Thank You for that I am also going to do Biology at A-level. I think ill be better off revisng for that instead as I belive on that it just expands from GCSE.

How is A-level biology like can anyone plz fill me in on that.

Thank You

I agree with the others - GCSE Chemistry isn't a lie per se, but everything is very simplified, the classic example being the electron shell arrangement. It's the same with Biology really - at GCSE, you learn that respiration is simply glucose + oxygen --> carbon dioxide + water, but at A level you learn that there's about 4 steps to respiration and the products are not formed instantaneously from the reactants as implied by the simple equation above.

Chemistry: I did the Edexcel board and I found it quite interesting.

Unit 1 was mainly inorganic chemistry - that is, atomic structure, structure & bonding (molecules have lots of pretty shapes and specific angles!), halogens and group 1 and 2 metals.

Unit 2 was mainly organic chemistry - again, it builds on the alkanes and alkenes you did at GCSE but with a lot more reactions and conditions to remember. There's also a bit of industrial chemistry as well, which leads on from the Haber process etc you did at GCSE.

Unit 3 was half coursework (for our school), which were assessed practicals, plus a Unit 3B exam paper concerned with practical techniques.

Biology: I did the Edexcel board for this too and found it really good, except for stupid coursework & ecology of unit 3...

Unit 1 was about molecules and cells. You do a bit of biochemistry like the structure of carbs, proteins and fats; enzymes; DNA and protein synthesis (this I found incredibly fascinating at the time!); cell oganisation; cell membranes; mitosis.

Unit 2 was more about body systems and how it worked as a whole. Among was sexual reproduction (which was definitely my favourite part of the whole AS because how everything works was just amazing!! ); digestion; breathing; transport in plants (xylem phloem etc); transport in mammals (heart - another fascinating topic!); adaptations to the environment.

Unit 3 was a big mehhh for me because I hate ecology. Basically, it's stuff like food chains, pyramids of biomass, transfer of energy, modes of nutrition, human influences on the environment (acid rain and whatnot), nutrient cycles like the Nitrogen Cycle... half of the unit was made up of an exam paper covering these topics, while the other half was made up of coursework. For Edexcel, the coursework has to be totally individual so you have to have your own title. Mine was on enzymes and gave me far too much stress.

So there you are. Hope that helps. And DO NOT do any work over the summer apart from refreshing a few things before you go back to school!

Reply 9

JUSTME1

OP

One point I missed out it has been 2 years since i have done my GCSE. I got a CC. This is with out hardly any revison. I didnt bother at that time. This is why I want to recap over a few stuff especially as I have lost the touch of memorising material and exams. This may be becasue the course I have just finished was all coursework.

Think I might need some fish oil to get me going LOL

Thank You for all your help

Reply 10

JUSTME1

OP

Yh also I think the college im with does OCR so the first unit is foundation,I think so in that case I will be recaping some material any way.

Reply 11

.ACS.

19

JUSTME1

Yh also I think the college im with does OCR so the first unit is foundation,I think so in that case I will be recaping some material any way.

If it has been two years, then it would be best to go over some of the things you did at GCSE. It’s important to remember that at A-Level, you’re taught on the basis of what you have already learnt at GCSE.

Obviously you’ll go over a number of things, but it would definitely help you if you go over everything you did in Chemistry and in Biology at GCSE.

Is GCSE chemistry a lie

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