How to revise for A-level Chemistry?

How are you going to be revising or studying for A-level Chemistry? Love to hear replies from people who just started the course or students from Year 13 even Univeristy students.

Start revising from the start, take all your mock seriously and dont cheat in them. I planned to finsih first half of all modules by christmas and then the 2nd half by March then the weeks afterwards was just redoing past papers again and again and again. (I did most past papers 4 times).

How i revise is.
Look at the specification sheet. There will be bullet points. Write a paragraph or more about each using information from the exam board accredited textbook. It takes around an hour a topic. (should only be from half an A4 side to 2-3 A4 sides) So takes you 10 days to finsih the first half of the years content (the first unit). Do that for all three subjects and keep the notes very tidy, leave some sapce for edits.

That way you know for a fact youve covered everything in the subject so now its just learning how to use it in exams.
All three subjects in this way takes 15-30 days (I did two topics a day, 1 topic for 2 subjects). per unit.

Now that you have your notes. Read them (takes 30 mins to an hour). Make sure you understand everything. Only remember things in lists if stated so in the spec sheet (eg the only tests you need to remember for chemistry and biology are in the spec, dont remember additional ones or alternative methods if its not on the spec, takes too much room in your head). Now do all the exam papers for that spec (and the previous spec if there arent more than 4-5 papers). and afer you do every single one, mark them extrememly harshly, IF the wording is slightly wrong etc then mark it wrong. No one ccares about your practice paper scores it only matters to you. Now every single thing you get wrong, be it a list of events or marks for a generic photosynthesis advantages question, list everything at the front of the exampaper, (the page where you write your name). Read the front page of every paper before starrting a new paper so you have your notes in your head and the mistakes youve made in the past (and things youve forggotten to mention or maybe didnt spot).
Do all the papers for each subject (takes a day per subject if you dont do anything else at all)

After doing the above do exactly the same for unit 2's then just keep doing exam papers again and again and again. Theres only a few ways examiners can word a question so you just need to learn what to look out for. Always aim for 100% on the exam. If you dont understand why you have tos ay something or why the answer is as it is then ask a teacher. You must undertsand why you have written your answer for every question thoroughly.

Also after youve done the papers all twice then write down the common questions and lists of bullet points on flash cards and read them on the walk home or to college. You can also put all the raw memory stuff on those aswell earlier on the year (all the tests and flame colours etc and equations).

I probably did all the exam papers from my exam board 4 or 5 times. Biology had like 10 past papers for one unit too.


ps i wrote this in a rush so sorry for the bad grammar.

(i got A*A*A in bio chem phys).

Hi!
I know this post is a little old but I have a question for you. How did you structure your time well enough to do all that you did??
Did you sleep late every night? Or were you just really quick?
Also do you have any tips for someone who really struggles to understand chemistry?
Thanks x

Time for what? For revision it only took 3 or 4 hours max a day. Sometimes I only had college for as little as 3 or 4 hours so it was easy to fit in. The time for past papers was done from mid afternoon till night, usually weekends. It really depends on how you spend your day. I only went to college then went straight home so I had lots of time.
I did sleep late some nights cause I left it till the evening or it was a long topic. Don't try doing things fast or allocating time slots. Just focus on finishing the topic (understanding it completely) no matter how long it takes.
What aspect of chemistry is difficult to understand?

Start revising from the start, take all your mock seriously and dont cheat in them. I planned to finsih first half of all modules by christmas and then the 2nd half by March then the weeks afterwards was just redoing past papers again and again and again. (I did most past papers 4 times).

How i revise is.
Look at the specification sheet. There will be bullet points. Write a paragraph or more about each using information from the exam board accredited textbook. It takes around an hour a topic. (should only be from half an A4 side to 2-3 A4 sides) So takes you 10 days to finsih the first half of the years content (the first unit). Do that for all three subjects and keep the notes very tidy, leave some sapce for edits.

That way you know for a fact youve covered everything in the subject so now its just learning how to use it in exams.
All three subjects in this way takes 15-30 days (I did two topics a day, 1 topic for 2 subjects). per unit.

Now that you have your notes. Read them (takes 30 mins to an hour). Make sure you understand everything. Only remember things in lists if stated so in the spec sheet (eg the only tests you need to remember for chemistry and biology are in the spec, dont remember additional ones or alternative methods if its not on the spec, takes too much room in your head). Now do all the exam papers for that spec (and the previous spec if there arent more than 4-5 papers). and afer you do every single one, mark them extrememly harshly, IF the wording is slightly wrong etc then mark it wrong. No one ccares about your practice paper scores it only matters to you. Now every single thing you get wrong, be it a list of events or marks for a generic photosynthesis advantages question, list everything at the front of the exampaper, (the page where you write your name). Read the front page of every paper before starrting a new paper so you have your notes in your head and the mistakes youve made in the past (and things youve forggotten to mention or maybe didnt spot).
Do all the papers for each subject (takes a day per subject if you dont do anything else at all)

After doing the above do exactly the same for unit 2's then just keep doing exam papers again and again and again. Theres only a few ways examiners can word a question so you just need to learn what to look out for. Always aim for 100% on the exam. If you dont understand why you have tos ay something or why the answer is as it is then ask a teacher. You must undertsand why you have written your answer for every question thoroughly.

Also after youve done the papers all twice then write down the common questions and lists of bullet points on flash cards and read them on the walk home or to college. You can also put all the raw memory stuff on those aswell earlier on the year (all the tests and flame colours etc and equations).

I probably did all the exam papers from my exam board 4 or 5 times. Biology had like 10 past papers for one unit too.


ps i wrote this in a rush so sorry for the bad grammar.

(i got A*A*A in bio chem phys).

I’m doing edexcel A level chemistry right now. I have a chapter test on structure and bonding on Monday?? Where can I get past papers and videos to do????? And how do I revise to my maximum potential with only two days. I have two maths tests on the same day as well ://

Start revising from the start, take all your mock seriously and dont cheat in them. I planned to finsih first half of all modules by christmas and then the 2nd half by March then the weeks afterwards was just redoing past papers again and again and again. (I did most past papers 4 times).

How i revise is.
Look at the specification sheet. There will be bullet points. Write a paragraph or more about each using information from the exam board accredited textbook. It takes around an hour a topic. (should only be from half an A4 side to 2-3 A4 sides) So takes you 10 days to finsih the first half of the years content (the first unit). Do that for all three subjects and keep the notes very tidy, leave some sapce for edits.

That way you know for a fact youve covered everything in the subject so now its just learning how to use it in exams.
All three subjects in this way takes 15-30 days (I did two topics a day, 1 topic for 2 subjects). per unit.

Now that you have your notes. Read them (takes 30 mins to an hour). Make sure you understand everything. Only remember things in lists if stated so in the spec sheet (eg the only tests you need to remember for chemistry and biology are in the spec, dont remember additional ones or alternative methods if its not on the spec, takes too much room in your head). Now do all the exam papers for that spec (and the previous spec if there arent more than 4-5 papers). and afer you do every single one, mark them extrememly harshly, IF the wording is slightly wrong etc then mark it wrong. No one ccares about your practice paper scores it only matters to you. Now every single thing you get wrong, be it a list of events or marks for a generic photosynthesis advantages question, list everything at the front of the exampaper, (the page where you write your name). Read the front page of every paper before starrting a new paper so you have your notes in your head and the mistakes youve made in the past (and things youve forggotten to mention or maybe didnt spot).
Do all the papers for each subject (takes a day per subject if you dont do anything else at all)

After doing the above do exactly the same for unit 2's then just keep doing exam papers again and again and again. Theres only a few ways examiners can word a question so you just need to learn what to look out for. Always aim for 100% on the exam. If you dont understand why you have tos ay something or why the answer is as it is then ask a teacher. You must undertsand why you have written your answer for every question thoroughly.

Also after youve done the papers all twice then write down the common questions and lists of bullet points on flash cards and read them on the walk home or to college. You can also put all the raw memory stuff on those aswell earlier on the year (all the tests and flame colours etc and equations).

I probably did all the exam papers from my exam board 4 or 5 times. Biology had like 10 past papers for one unit too.


ps i wrote this in a rush so sorry for the bad grammar.

(i got A*A*A in bio chem phys).

Hey I was wondering how you used the specification for notes, as “the specification at a glance” has all the topics but it doesn’t have everything there is to know about the topic just a few bullet points- surely you would be missing content out unless you used a revision guide ?

You can download the full specification and read from there. However, I don't think that writing notes and reading them through is a good way of revising since it's passive revision. Do spend some time reading your specification and make a note of any topics that you don't fully understand. Watch a revision video, ask your teacher or discuss those topics with friends/classmates to clear up any misunderstandings. Other than that, do practice Qs and exam papers. Physics and Maths Tutor has LOADS of exams Qs and past/practice papers. IMO, that is 100% the best way to revise any science subject since wording needs to match the mark scheme and since application is key.

What I did was:

Skim through specification/textbook.
Revision video + notes on difficult topics/topics I've forgotten.
Targeted exam Qs on those topics.
Use mark scheme to write down the correct wording for anything I got wrong.

Practice paper.
Use mark scheme to write down the correct wording for anything I got wrong.
Revision video + notes on topics I got the lowest marks on.
Targeted exam Qs on those topics.
Use mark scheme to write down the correct wording for anything I got wrong.
Repeat.

Anything that I kept forgetting or wording incorrectly I wrote down onto a piece of paper which I went over right before any exams.
(I got an A* in Chemistry and in Biology for which I revised similarly.)

Good luck

Where do I find the full specification as I can only find the spec at a glance- could you perhaps link it?

Sure Which specification do you do though?

I do AQA, I have a feeling it’s just the one I was looking at but I presumed there was a more detailed version but your help would be appreciated just to make sure