Success in A level Chemistry

Many students who study Chemistry at A level are ill-prepared after studying the current science GCSEs for the rigorous learning required. The course that I currently teach (OCR) has an excellent text book that has all the required definitions clearly highlighted. These definitions must be learnt. Whilst chemistry does not require essay writing skills the precision of English is essential and many candidates lose marks by simply not learning definitions. Many think that purchasing extra revision books/aids will magically help them but active revision can be as simple as writing definitions on index cards and repeated testing. Mind maps summarising topics are excellent: many topic can be covered in a two page spread. A student generated one is always better than a purchased one as the learning is in the doing.

Students who lack mathematical ability will also find aspects of A-level extremely difficult. We rarely accept any students who achieves less than BB on the higher paper. Again, modern text books contain lots of worked examples. Practice, practice, practice. The methods are all the same. You must be confident at rearranging equations and you must always convert quantities to moles.

As a examiner for A2 organic chemistry for many years I recommend the generation of your own reaction maps. About 20% of marks on the paper are simply due to remembering the correct reagents and conditions. Organic chemistry is very logical, and once you understand concepts like electron density and polarisation you should be able to predict reactions. Listen to your teacher and ask the right questions. Make sure you can answer longer questions using bullet points. Good clear precise answers are what's required. Take care with display structures, and use good clear diagrams. The majority of the marks for the stucture of benzene can be obtained from one clear disgram. Make sure mechanism diagrams have clear arrows showing exactly the path of electron movement.

Take time over your revision.... little and often produces the best results.