gcse chemistry and A-LEVEL options help (chemistry)
hi guys
im in y11 right now and im having some trouble picking my a-levels. i want to do either speech and language therapy or medicine, but im not sure which yet. and ideally, i would want to take biology, psychology and english lang (which would be perfect for SALT), but if i want to keep the door to medicine open too, i would drop psych for chemistry (and take bio, chem and lang). the thing is ive left it a bit late - im not 'bad' at gcse chemistry (triple), ive just not payed attention at all for the past two years stupidly, and now im needing to catch it all up by my gcse, which i think i can do. in terms of grades i can easily get a grade 5/6 on absolutely 0 revision and not listening in lesson at all, with just my fundamental knowledge, but if i revise a moderate amount i can easily get between a 7-9. for example, i didnt listen in the organic chem topic at all, but i went home and revised it all and came out with a 9 in that test. so i believe i can get a 7-9 in my gcse chem if i really try. so i would appreciate any revision tips for chem and also advise on whether to pick a level chem or not. thankuuu
im in y11 right now and im having some trouble picking my a-levels. i want to do either speech and language therapy or medicine, but im not sure which yet. and ideally, i would want to take biology, psychology and english lang (which would be perfect for SALT), but if i want to keep the door to medicine open too, i would drop psych for chemistry (and take bio, chem and lang). the thing is ive left it a bit late - im not 'bad' at gcse chemistry (triple), ive just not payed attention at all for the past two years stupidly, and now im needing to catch it all up by my gcse, which i think i can do. in terms of grades i can easily get a grade 5/6 on absolutely 0 revision and not listening in lesson at all, with just my fundamental knowledge, but if i revise a moderate amount i can easily get between a 7-9. for example, i didnt listen in the organic chem topic at all, but i went home and revised it all and came out with a 9 in that test. so i believe i can get a 7-9 in my gcse chem if i really try. so i would appreciate any revision tips for chem and also advise on whether to pick a level chem or not. thankuuu
Reply 1
Hi, I’m currently in year 12 doing A Level Chemistry and want to study medicine. I would say if you want to keep the medicine door open then definitely do chemistry but as a caveat I would personally only choose chemistry if you actually enjoy the subject otherwise you may find yourself unmotivated to revise for it for A Level. Also, don’t hold me to this, but for medicine at newcastle they don’t have specific subjects they need for medicine but they still prefer biology and chemistry so if you like chemsitry I would take chemistry and not risk it.
Another option is starting with four A Levels and then dropping one, lots of people do this. You have a long time to fully decide your A Levels so I would recommend getting some work experience over summer to see what career you might want to purse. Look for this early as there is a high demand for work experience in the healthcare sector.
I think you can definitely get a 9 in chemistry if you put the work in. To revise for chem gcse I just did loads of past papers and I mean all of them but there were lots as I did IGCSE. I found the mark schemes repeated themselves a lot so it really helped to do past papers and see what the examiners wanted you to write for each question but this may vary depending on exam boards. In terms of knowledge active recall is the best way to get it to stick. I just did past papers though for chemistry and got a 9 easily so I would really recommend.
Another option is starting with four A Levels and then dropping one, lots of people do this. You have a long time to fully decide your A Levels so I would recommend getting some work experience over summer to see what career you might want to purse. Look for this early as there is a high demand for work experience in the healthcare sector.
I think you can definitely get a 9 in chemistry if you put the work in. To revise for chem gcse I just did loads of past papers and I mean all of them but there were lots as I did IGCSE. I found the mark schemes repeated themselves a lot so it really helped to do past papers and see what the examiners wanted you to write for each question but this may vary depending on exam boards. In terms of knowledge active recall is the best way to get it to stick. I just did past papers though for chemistry and got a 9 easily so I would really recommend.
(edited 1 month ago)
Reply 2
i agree with what the other user has said here
I take bio,chem,maths at alevel for med i am in year 13, i would say just in general i really enough bio and chem i wouldn't say it is a very big jump form gcse but as you already probably gussed there is a lot more to learn and the concepts are harder like with any subject but i really enjoy bio and chem still if you put in the work they are fine subjects.
honestly, if you’re even slightly considering medicine, i’d really recommend taking chemistry, most medical schools require it, whereas SALT doesn’t, so chem keeps both doors open. you can still go into SALT with bio/chem/english, but you can’t really do medicine without chem.
from what you’ve said, you clearly can do chemistry ,getting a 9 in organic after revising it yourself shows that,a-level chem is hard, but it’s more about understanding and practice than being “naturally good”. if you’re willing to put the work in, you should be fine.
also, you can always drop chemistry early in year 12 if it turns out you really hate it, but it’s much harder to add it later. so i’d say take chem now to keep your options open.
I take bio,chem,maths at alevel for med i am in year 13, i would say just in general i really enough bio and chem i wouldn't say it is a very big jump form gcse but as you already probably gussed there is a lot more to learn and the concepts are harder like with any subject but i really enjoy bio and chem still if you put in the work they are fine subjects.
honestly, if you’re even slightly considering medicine, i’d really recommend taking chemistry, most medical schools require it, whereas SALT doesn’t, so chem keeps both doors open. you can still go into SALT with bio/chem/english, but you can’t really do medicine without chem.
from what you’ve said, you clearly can do chemistry ,getting a 9 in organic after revising it yourself shows that,a-level chem is hard, but it’s more about understanding and practice than being “naturally good”. if you’re willing to put the work in, you should be fine.
also, you can always drop chemistry early in year 12 if it turns out you really hate it, but it’s much harder to add it later. so i’d say take chem now to keep your options open.
Reply 3
Original post
by r.mclxhi guys
im in y11 right now and im having some trouble picking my a-levels. i want to do either speech and language therapy or medicine, but im not sure which yet. and ideally, i would want to take biology, psychology and english lang (which would be perfect for SALT), but if i want to keep the door to medicine open too, i would drop psych for chemistry (and take bio, chem and lang). the thing is ive left it a bit late - im not 'bad' at gcse chemistry (triple), ive just not payed attention at all for the past two years stupidly, and now im needing to catch it all up by my gcse, which i think i can do. in terms of grades i can easily get a grade 5/6 on absolutely 0 revision and not listening in lesson at all, with just my fundamental knowledge, but if i revise a moderate amount i can easily get between a 7-9. for example, i didnt listen in the organic chem topic at all, but i went home and revised it all and came out with a 9 in that test. so i believe i can get a 7-9 in my gcse chem if i really try. so i would appreciate any revision tips for chem and also advise on whether to pick a level chem or not. thankuuu
im in y11 right now and im having some trouble picking my a-levels. i want to do either speech and language therapy or medicine, but im not sure which yet. and ideally, i would want to take biology, psychology and english lang (which would be perfect for SALT), but if i want to keep the door to medicine open too, i would drop psych for chemistry (and take bio, chem and lang). the thing is ive left it a bit late - im not 'bad' at gcse chemistry (triple), ive just not payed attention at all for the past two years stupidly, and now im needing to catch it all up by my gcse, which i think i can do. in terms of grades i can easily get a grade 5/6 on absolutely 0 revision and not listening in lesson at all, with just my fundamental knowledge, but if i revise a moderate amount i can easily get between a 7-9. for example, i didnt listen in the organic chem topic at all, but i went home and revised it all and came out with a 9 in that test. so i believe i can get a 7-9 in my gcse chem if i really try. so i would appreciate any revision tips for chem and also advise on whether to pick a level chem or not. thankuuu
Do you actually enjoy chem? From your post id guess you find it possibly quite easy to learn, but maybe boring? If you dont enjoy it then dont take it, the study method youre using will not fly at all at a level so unless you have a genuine interest in chemistry dont do that to yourself. Med takes a lot of effort to apply for and it consumes your life from sixth form onwards, if you’d be equally happy pursing SALT then go for SALT!
Reply 4
Original post
by r.mclxhi guys
im in y11 right now and im having some trouble picking my a-levels. i want to do either speech and language therapy or medicine, but im not sure which yet. and ideally, i would want to take biology, psychology and english lang (which would be perfect for SALT), but if i want to keep the door to medicine open too, i would drop psych for chemistry (and take bio, chem and lang). the thing is ive left it a bit late - im not 'bad' at gcse chemistry (triple), ive just not payed attention at all for the past two years stupidly, and now im needing to catch it all up by my gcse, which i think i can do. in terms of grades i can easily get a grade 5/6 on absolutely 0 revision and not listening in lesson at all, with just my fundamental knowledge, but if i revise a moderate amount i can easily get between a 7-9. for example, i didnt listen in the organic chem topic at all, but i went home and revised it all and came out with a 9 in that test. so i believe i can get a 7-9 in my gcse chem if i really try. so i would appreciate any revision tips for chem and also advise on whether to pick a level chem or not. thankuuu
im in y11 right now and im having some trouble picking my a-levels. i want to do either speech and language therapy or medicine, but im not sure which yet. and ideally, i would want to take biology, psychology and english lang (which would be perfect for SALT), but if i want to keep the door to medicine open too, i would drop psych for chemistry (and take bio, chem and lang). the thing is ive left it a bit late - im not 'bad' at gcse chemistry (triple), ive just not payed attention at all for the past two years stupidly, and now im needing to catch it all up by my gcse, which i think i can do. in terms of grades i can easily get a grade 5/6 on absolutely 0 revision and not listening in lesson at all, with just my fundamental knowledge, but if i revise a moderate amount i can easily get between a 7-9. for example, i didnt listen in the organic chem topic at all, but i went home and revised it all and came out with a 9 in that test. so i believe i can get a 7-9 in my gcse chem if i really try. so i would appreciate any revision tips for chem and also advise on whether to pick a level chem or not. thankuuu
At this point and with your current performance it’s just past papers and thats about it, A level chemistry is quiet difficult do you need to consider whether your able to cope with it alongside your other two subjects if you really arnt sure by the time you’ve gotta pick then you can just pick 4 a levels and drop one if you don’t like it or ask to switch within the first few weeks if you don’t like it but don’t bother too much with picking A levels right now cause you can always change it
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