A level chemistry/physics

Hey!

Snap! I really enjoyed Chemistry and Physics during GCSE and really wasn't fond of biology. However, during A-levels, biology was actually my favourite.

It really depends on your school and the exam board that you do, as they differ in the depth of the course.
Chemistry - split into organic and inorganic. Overall very applied, and lots of maths
Physics - very enjoyable, however I really found it difficult answering physics applied questions - unifying concept paper.

Good luck!

If you're also good at maths and planning on doing maths a-level then they are good choices. If you aren't doing maths wouldn't recommend physics (bit of a dead end without maths plus makes it harder) but chem will be fine since the maths required to understand the content at a-level standard, is very simple. They are fairly similar to gcse though slightly more focused on actually understanding concepts than just applying random facts though there is still plenty of pointless rote memorisation.

Basically if you're passionate about physical science and want to do something scientific later at uni such as maths, physics, chemistry, engineering or compsci then maths, physics, chem (+ fm if you're allowed 4 and are v capable with maths) is the perfect combo to prepare you and keep doors open.

So I’m currently in yr 11, but was just wondering if anyone could tell me what physics and chemistry are like at a level? They’re my favourite sciences at gcse (I hate biology) so I was just wondering how the course changes form gcse to a level etc and what to expect.

I genuinely really enjoyed Chemistry these 2 years (however, not so much organic!). Everything makes sense and the required practicals are quite fun as well lol!
I took physics only due to the fact I was good at it in GCSE, but few months into the course, I felt so discouraged to carry on and I felt like dropping it so many times, but for some reason, I never did.. Only results day will tell if that was a good thing or not now lol
I hated Biology so much these 2 years and I usually enjoy it. I think it was only because of how much detail and content there is (as well as my discouraging teachers!) As you already hate biology, I suggest not taking it.

Hello
I'm currently studying Physics, Chemistry and Maths at A-Level and I too despised biology at GCSEs haha. First of all you need to check what examboard the school you're at does as content varies depending on each board. I do AQA for Physics and since I already did like Physics, the start of year 12 content was very much okay as it was Particle Physics ( reallllyyy cool). Obviously I had to actually read over things after and before class and practice more, unlike in GCSE's where i could understand something without too much difficulty. As long as you have the right work ethic you can manage Physics as it's not impossible to study but of course it will be hard- how can anyone possibly fanthom all these cool concepts and apply calculations just like that?!

I've almost finished chemistry A-level and I've done my physics. I found physics was hard at the start of year 12 and really didn't enjoy it but gradually, as I got to grips with the maths, it became a lot easier and consequently more interesting. I would recommend doing maths a-level if you do physics, it just makes it so much easier. My friends who didn't do maths found physics really challenging and have also found that if they want to do something involving physics at uni they need maths.
Chemistry is quite challenging but you just need to practice a lot and really get to grips with it. I'm aiming for an A and I know I am capable of an A* but it's all about the luck on the day.
I also did further maths AS. it wasn't that helpful for physics except for further mechanics, it helped me a bit in physics year one.
I did ocr A for both physics and chemistry, the courses for all exam boards are pretty similar, some are more modular then others though.

I genuinely really enjoyed Chemistry these 2 years (however, not so much organic!). Everything makes sense and the required practicals are quite fun as well lol!
I took physics only due to the fact I was good at it in GCSE, but few months into the course, I felt so discouraged to carry on and I felt like dropping it so many times, but for some reason, I never did.. Only results day will tell if that was a good thing or not now lol
I hated Biology so much these 2 years and I usually enjoy it. I think it was only because of how much detail and content there is (as well as my discouraging teachers!) As you already hate biology, I suggest not taking it.

Maths is also great but if your board is Edexcel... DO NOT TAKE IT, they've ****ed up too many times in a row

Chemistry - year 12 stuff not that difficult in my opinion as long as you understood (not just learnt) the content at GCSE. A lot of stuff like moles calculations is repeated so the beginning of year 12 doesn't have much new content (at least not for me). It gets more complicated with electronic structure but it actually makes things make more sense in the end. Always has been my favourite science.

Physics - Be careful because the content seems simple when you're learning it, then they ask you hard questions on it. I don't know if its my teacher but there always seems to be hard experiment questions in our end of topic tests. Some topics are SO boring but it can also be really interesting. (however this is the subject I put least effort into as I do 5 and it'd be the one I drop if my mocks were bad)

Biology - I'm gonna talk about this too because I took biology completely based off gut instinct (I didn't like it at GCSE either) and its probably the best decision I ever made. Its so much better than at GCSE and its so cool to learn how all the processes work. A lot of Module 2 content (in OCR) is related to chemistry which was really interesting so yeah.