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HELPP Struggling on how to revise alevel chem 🥲

Hello, I just started yr12 this september and im really behind in revision for alevel chem. I know the content but not sure how to memorise it... 😭. At GCSE, i used flashcards and that worked well but it doesnt seem to work for alevel chem when i tried. I am not really sure, what to do... Im starting to get worried as my mocks are in feburary and i really want an A. Any suggestion on revision methods would be helpful...💗 BTW I do OCR A chem.
(edited 1 month ago)
I do OCR A chem too! Its one of the hardest specs so no wonder your having trouble, i only found this out at the very end of my year 12 but PMT is wonderful for past paper questions and just in general notes and topic by topic papers as well which might be helpful since you haven't done a lot of chemistry yet so its best you focus on specific subjects, i found cognito is a wonderful website as well (you dont have to print the questions like PMT you can do them online) and their notes are top tier! If your struggling with understanding content rather than memorization you should try you tube channels, my favorite is allery chemistry but there are loads to try and find your own style! The most important thing is active recall, this includes doing questions but there are many other methods to help with revision blurting is a hidden gem, not a lot of people do it because its very fiddly but done right can very well raise your grade from C to A, additional methods include feymans when you teach the module your on without notes to a plushy or a cat or even your parents and then fill your gaps later on, you can record yourself speaking or normally i just catch on where i start to drift a bit and i can feel that gap in knowledge, but honestly there are loads of methods these are the ones that helped me the most! If you have any more questions about whats to come or need any more information, notes/tips to help you on the module your on feel free to ask! :smile:)
Original post by ..iugcdr4yhijh76
Hello, I just started yr12 this september and im really behind in revision for alevel chem. I know the content but not sure how to memorise it... 😭. At GCSE, i used flashcards and that worked well but it doesnt seem to work for alevel chem when i tried. I am not really sure, what to do... Im starting to get worried as my mocks are in feburary and i really want an A. Any suggestion on revision methods would be helpful...💗 BTW I do OCR A chem.

Blurting and practice questions help a lot
Also I found making flashcards from the mark schemes of practice questions I did useful because they tell you the exact points you need to make
Original post by LanguageGuruĄ
I do OCR A chem too! Its one of the hardest specs so no wonder your having trouble, i only found this out at the very end of my year 12 but PMT is wonderful for past paper questions and just in general notes and topic by topic papers as well which might be helpful since you haven't done a lot of chemistry yet so its best you focus on specific subjects, i found cognito is a wonderful website as well (you dont have to print the questions like PMT you can do them online) and their notes are top tier! If your struggling with understanding content rather than memorization you should try you tube channels, my favorite is allery chemistry but there are loads to try and find your own style! The most important thing is active recall, this includes doing questions but there are many other methods to help with revision blurting is a hidden gem, not a lot of people do it because its very fiddly but done right can very well raise your grade from C to A, additional methods include feymans when you teach the module your on without notes to a plushy or a cat or even your parents and then fill your gaps later on, you can record yourself speaking or normally i just catch on where i start to drift a bit and i can feel that gap in knowledge, but honestly there are loads of methods these are the ones that helped me the most! If you have any more questions about whats to come or need any more information, notes/tips to help you on the module your on feel free to ask! :smile:)

Thank you so much!! I didnt know i was the hardest exam board for chemistry 😭 oh dear!! I just started organic chemistry the basics, module 4 and im so confused in the structural isomerism and names🥲, any other tips specifically on organic will be appreciated.💗
Original post by DipakDhriti
Blurting and practice questions help a lot
Also I found making flashcards from the mark schemes of practice questions I did useful because they tell you the exact points you need to make
I hear people talk about markscheme specific flashcards, how long does it take to make them? They seem very time consuming😔.
Original post by ..iugcdr4yhijh76
Thank you so much!! I didnt know i was the hardest exam board for chemistry 😭 oh dear!! I just started organic chemistry the basics, module 4 and im so confused in the structural isomerism and names🥲, any other tips specifically on organic will be appreciated.💗

For organic specifically, i prefer just playing with it, maybe a white board or piece of paper make up some shapes and try to name them, add a double bond and make isomers out of it open book ofc, which just means have all your notes out to help you, or if that does not help you maybe do video tutorials that go first through the content then give you more practice questions to do and solve them in front of you, and as a final resort ask your lecturer for a 1:1 specifically on the things your struggling with which i know is terrifying but they will gladly be of help i promise you, i think the first things you learn from organic chem is the backbone of everything else so its crucial to learn it properly because year 2 organic chem is so so so so much more complicated, not to scare you or anything because if you have the basics down you should be totally fine but yeah thats as much as i can recommend! I got through organic because i found it really fun and repetitive so maybe you will too! :smile:
Original post by ..iugcdr4yhijh76
I hear people talk about markscheme specific flashcards, how long does it take to make them? They seem very time consuming😔.

Honestly it doesn’t take that long if you start early but you can probably still catch up in the holidays
Also you don’t have to make flash cards on every single question, you can skip the ones you know you would get easily in an exam

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