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Chemistry tips? For a current E grade student

Hi I’m in year 13. I recently achieved an E in my chemistry mock exam. I’m aiming for an A* ( bc I need to guarantee an A). I was honestly alr at chem in year 12, I got Bs in AS tests so naturally my teacher predicted me an A. I’ve fallen off so badly tho - I’m finding year 13 content rlly challenging and did not revise at all for my mock exams - which is completely my fault. Ever since my mocks I’ve been doing 5-6 hours of revision every day ( 3 hours of chem) and I’ve been relearning all organic chem as that’s where I really struggle - and I’ve been seeing some improvements! Some of the questions on my mocks I didn’t attempt I can actually answer now correctly 😭 My teacher told me today that if I work hard I could get a C, or even a B if I rlly try. And although this sounds kind of cringe , her words have sort of ignited a fire in me - like I NEED to prove her wrong. Honestly I love my teacher she’s so helpful, but I really NEED to prove her wrong and get an A* ( or A). I’m rlly glad she’s said that to me cos it’s rlly further fuelled my motivation - which has been quite hard having 4 med rejections while all your friends are prepping for interviews :frown: anyway I’m taking a gap yr cos I want to do dentistry. enough of the yapping - this post has become more like a story than a question 😭. I do OCR A chemistry, does anyone have any tips In general on how to drastically improve my grade? Any tips or advice for the organic side ?

Reply 1

Original post
by sigma_67
Hi I’m in year 13. I recently achieved an E in my chemistry mock exam. I’m aiming for an A* ( bc I need to guarantee an A). I was honestly alr at chem in year 12, I got Bs in AS tests so naturally my teacher predicted me an A. I’ve fallen off so badly tho - I’m finding year 13 content rlly challenging and did not revise at all for my mock exams - which is completely my fault. Ever since my mocks I’ve been doing 5-6 hours of revision every day ( 3 hours of chem) and I’ve been relearning all organic chem as that’s where I really struggle - and I’ve been seeing some improvements! Some of the questions on my mocks I didn’t attempt I can actually answer now correctly 😭 My teacher told me today that if I work hard I could get a C, or even a B if I rlly try. And although this sounds kind of cringe , her words have sort of ignited a fire in me - like I NEED to prove her wrong. Honestly I love my teacher she’s so helpful, but I really NEED to prove her wrong and get an A* ( or A). I’m rlly glad she’s said that to me cos it’s rlly further fuelled my motivation - which has been quite hard having 4 med rejections while all your friends are prepping for interviews :frown: anyway I’m taking a gap yr cos I want to do dentistry. enough of the yapping - this post has become more like a story than a question 😭. I do OCR A chemistry, does anyone have any tips In general on how to drastically improve my grade? Any tips or advice for the organic side ?
General Tips for Grade Improvement:

Master the command words.

Practice paper technique accurately.

Do past papers under timed conditions, then mark them brutally honestly.

Learn the specification explicitly.

Focus on your weak modules.

Organic Chemistry Specifically:

Draw mechanisms constantly.

Create a reaction summary sheet or log.

Understand, don't memorise, reaction conditions.

Practice IUPAC Nomenclature and drawing structures.

Make a functional group priority list.

Ciao,
Sandro
(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 2

Original post
by sigma_67
Hi I’m in year 13. I recently achieved an E in my chemistry mock exam. I’m aiming for an A* ( bc I need to guarantee an A). I was honestly alr at chem in year 12, I got Bs in AS tests so naturally my teacher predicted me an A. I’ve fallen off so badly tho - I’m finding year 13 content rlly challenging and did not revise at all for my mock exams - which is completely my fault. Ever since my mocks I’ve been doing 5-6 hours of revision every day ( 3 hours of chem) and I’ve been relearning all organic chem as that’s where I really struggle - and I’ve been seeing some improvements! Some of the questions on my mocks I didn’t attempt I can actually answer now correctly 😭 My teacher told me today that if I work hard I could get a C, or even a B if I rlly try. And although this sounds kind of cringe , her words have sort of ignited a fire in me - like I NEED to prove her wrong. Honestly I love my teacher she’s so helpful, but I really NEED to prove her wrong and get an A* ( or A). I’m rlly glad she’s said that to me cos it’s rlly further fuelled my motivation - which has been quite hard having 4 med rejections while all your friends are prepping for interviews :frown: anyway I’m taking a gap yr cos I want to do dentistry. enough of the yapping - this post has become more like a story than a question 😭. I do OCR A chemistry, does anyone have any tips In general on how to drastically improve my grade? Any tips or advice for the organic side ?

Which resources have you made use of? There are countless for OCR A and you have plenty of advice on how to study the subject effectively - in fact, you can find a number of resources here on TSR:

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7528254&p=99922295&page=1#post99922295

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7618914

https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7393061

Reply 3

Original post
by sigma_67
Hi I’m in year 13. I recently achieved an E in my chemistry mock exam. I’m aiming for an A* ( bc I need to guarantee an A). I was honestly alr at chem in year 12, I got Bs in AS tests so naturally my teacher predicted me an A. I’ve fallen off so badly tho - I’m finding year 13 content rlly challenging and did not revise at all for my mock exams - which is completely my fault. Ever since my mocks I’ve been doing 5-6 hours of revision every day ( 3 hours of chem) and I’ve been relearning all organic chem as that’s where I really struggle - and I’ve been seeing some improvements! Some of the questions on my mocks I didn’t attempt I can actually answer now correctly 😭 My teacher told me today that if I work hard I could get a C, or even a B if I rlly try. And although this sounds kind of cringe , her words have sort of ignited a fire in me - like I NEED to prove her wrong. Honestly I love my teacher she’s so helpful, but I really NEED to prove her wrong and get an A* ( or A). I’m rlly glad she’s said that to me cos it’s rlly further fuelled my motivation - which has been quite hard having 4 med rejections while all your friends are prepping for interviews :frown: anyway I’m taking a gap yr cos I want to do dentistry. enough of the yapping - this post has become more like a story than a question 😭. I do OCR A chemistry, does anyone have any tips In general on how to drastically improve my grade? Any tips or advice for the organic side ?

Hello,

I'd say free science lessons and machem guy on youtube are a great start. they have a playlist for each topic. I'd say start with free science lessons he has all the basics. the OCR textbook is also really good to read through it. It's almost half term, over the half term watch all of free sciene lessons videos on the content you need to learn (starting from basics is even better atomic structure etc) because you need your basics for chemistry. learn your reactions such as metal +acid/ carbonate +acid etc /ionic equations/ master your moles/titration calculations . for organic chemistry free science lessons has a playlist for year 1 it's amazing. you're very lucky to have the december half term it's the perfect opportunity to put yourself together, catch up and improve your grdaes. after learning each topic YOU MUST do exam questions such as the topic questions in PMT. there's no point in learning content and not doing exam questions because the questions will teach you how to apply your knowledge in different scenarios. you can definietly cover all year 1 and year 2 content if you do it right and if you start now. chemistry is all about understanding so if you dont undertsand anything dont skip it and move on, watch machem guy, use textbooks, ask for help from your teachers dont leave it.

just put in the effort it will all pay out and good luck!!

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