A-Level Chem is cooking me!!!!HELP

Hey guys,

I'm in year 13 and obviously a levels are fast approaching and I applied for dentistry with predicted A*AA and ucat 2740 B2 and unfortunately the rejections came rolling in (pre interview to add salt to the wound). :frown:

i'm feeling demotivated because I know how hard it is to get into especially first time round but a gap year wasn't anticipated.

Anyway i do bio chem and psych and i have zero concerns about bio or psych but i'm highkey struggling with chemistry and idk how to plan my time or revise for it to get at least a b because i really do not want below a B. any advice????

Reply 1

gada147

Original post by CuriousGirl25

Hey guys,
I'm in year 13 and obviously a levels are fast approaching and I applied for dentistry with predicted A*AA and ucat 2740 B2 and unfortunately the rejections came rolling in (pre interview to add salt to the wound). :frown:

i'm feeling demotivated because I know how hard it is to get into especially first time round but a gap year wasn't anticipated.
Anyway i do bio chem and psych and i have zero concerns about bio or psych but i'm highkey struggling with chemistry and idk how to plan my time or revise for it to get at least a b because i really do not want below a B. any advice????

I think that exam questions are your best bet. The questions each year are usually the same but just worded slightly differently, however the mark scheme language is pretty much the same. If you know the content and are just struggling with wording answers to the specification, then PMT is so good.

For content, I LOVE the chemrevise website for condensed notes. I also pair this with the exam board specification and PMT notes. I start off just jotting quick notes on one topic to refresh memory, mixed in with blurting and you can use ChatGPT or Quizlet for some quick revision questions. Then I go straight to exam questions and mark each question as I go.

Also, learn practicals. This is probably the biggest thing most people struggle with. You need to know the methods and the reasons for each step. This is a way to get very easy marks that lots of people miss. I get A* in chem, but literally ALWAYS miss marks on practicals because I don’t know any 😭 it kinda gives an advantage over those who don’t bother. Hope this helps!

Reply 2

TypicalNerd

Original post by CuriousGirl25

Hey guys,
I'm in year 13 and obviously a levels are fast approaching and I applied for dentistry with predicted A*AA and ucat 2740 B2 and unfortunately the rejections came rolling in (pre interview to add salt to the wound). :frown:

i'm feeling demotivated because I know how hard it is to get into especially first time round but a gap year wasn't anticipated.
Anyway i do bio chem and psych and i have zero concerns about bio or psych but i'm highkey struggling with chemistry and idk how to plan my time or revise for it to get at least a b because i really do not want below a B. any advice????

The above post is mostly useful. The only point made that I strongly disagree with is use of ChatGPT with A level chemistry in any capacity. For starters, the answers it generates may include material not required by the syllabus (leading to confusion and an unnecessary loss of marks) and my experience is that for chemistry as whole (especially with calculations), ChatGPT’s responses are woefully inaccurate and littered with flagrantly wrong statements.

It would help if you could say which exam board you are with as it would make it easier to recommend you more helpful resources.

(edited 3 months ago)

Reply 3

gada147

Original post by TypicalNerd

The above post is mostly useful. The only point made that I strongly disagree with is use of ChatGPT with A level chemistry in any capacity. For starters, the answers it generates may include material not required by the syllabus (leading to confusion and an unnecessary loss of marks) and my experience is that for chemistry as whole (especially with calculations), ChatGPT’s responses are woefully inaccurate and littered with flagrantly wrong statements.
It would help if you could say which exam board you are with as it would make it easier to recommend you more helpful resources.

I completely agree. I believe that AI is only helpful depending on the person and how they use it. I don’t focus on the answers they generate, and only ask for quick fire questions but I can mostly mark my answers myself using online resources like chemrevise, pmt, and the spec.

I guess I don’t necessarily use it for long term revision, just quick recap and recall. Maybe not the best suggestion though, there’s definitely better things out there like Quizlet and anki!