[Closed] advice for chemistry a level exam

get off here and rev....oh sorry

Yay! Iodine/thiosulphate (note the proper spelling 😀 ) titrations!

Good luck! Relax. And remember:

Although her life was long and placid
She added water to the acid
She didn't do what she should oughta
That's adding [b]acid[/b] to the [b]water[/b]

Old chemists never die, we just reach equilibrium.... 😀

if you don't know it by now, you aren't gonna know it by tomorrow.

go riding.

remember phenol is not an alcohol (according to the examiners the year i sat the paper)

No matter how well (or otherwise) you do in the exam, don't do chemistry as a career! How's that for advice?

Did you want any specific advice?

CATions are pussytive

no, don't thank me..

As I managed a "D" in my A-level chemistry, I don't feel qualified to advise others...

any ways to remeber conditions for reactions that sort of thing...that sticks in your head,
also should i be doing just practise papers or anything else baisically what has helped you in the past..?

What are you revising at the moment* that you're having trouble with? One thing that so many students do is make the mistake of trying to learn all the specific reactions for lots of different molecules. Do that and you'll be swamped under a mountain of paper.
Being able to identify the key functional groups and know how they react is about the only important thing you need to be able to do. Everything else is just padding.

Write down every step of the reaction, all the intermediates and by-products, push the arrows and it'll all fall into place.

*obviously you're not revising, you're wasting time on bike forums... 😉

The best piece of genuine advice i got at chemistry was that if you cant work out the answer then think could it be one of the following - in that order (there was a third thing in this list - but i can't remember it now - long time ago)

hydrogen bonding
soluble complex ions

AS then? Plussy cations and all that crap, nah just get a text book out, underline key bits and notes, that's all you've got time for now. Past papers are key as well. Had biology yesterday and an 11mark 2005 paper question came up and i recited the answer word perfect 😀

it's been a while for me but I do heartily recommend the past paper route. I did loads for maths and got an A, but didn't for chemistry and got a D - didn't get my mechanisms right 🙁

What crazy legs says. Learn the difference between thermodynamic and kinetic reaction which one is favoured under what condition. Then for standard organic chemistry it's just a matter of charges. Learn how to put the punctual charges on the atom of a molecule.
That is what I did for my degree/masters.

oil rig

You are not going to learn anything now that you don't know already!
I have a degree and PhD (in chemistry) and I still think my Chemistry A-Level exam was the hardest exam I've ever taken (this maybe something to do with the amount of preparation on my part).

If it's any consolation it's probably easier now than it was back then. Good luck!

Oh yes, OIL RIG:
Oxidation Is Loss, Reduction Is Gain (of Hydrogen or of Electrons)
Other way round for Oxygen (ie Oxidation is Gain of Oxygen, Reduction Is Loss of Oxygen).

if you don't know it by now, you aren't gonna know it by tomorrow.

I only ever revised seriously for the 2 days before any exam, mainly because I "got" the stuff in class, but I wouldn't ever have assumed that last minute revision was useless - it helps you grab those few extra marks.

Sure - you can revise topics you've previously learned, but don't expect to LEARN much new if you don't know it already.

Cehmistry is over rated anyway who will do chemistry as a living... And don't get me started on idiots that study it and even get a PhD in that bunch of idiots...

Quite 🙂

I always understood revision to be going over previous stuff learn...
now its just a case of memorising thing,i undrstand everying on syslybus just need to be able to recall formulae.
Bruce

If you are happy you understand everything you are in a good position. I used to write a list of all the vital, difficult to remember formulae, memorise it and make sure I could write it all out without thinking too hard. Sometimes I'd then write it out at the start of the exam so it was to hand when I needed it.

crazy-legs - Member
No matter how well (or otherwise) you do in the exam, don't do chemistry as a career! How's that for advice?

I 2nd that man's advice, I did a chemistry degree with subsequent career path, at 42 I wish I'd done anything but chemistry.

Good luck with the exam though.

I'll 4th crazy legs advice (pretty sure jaun was before spaceman in agreeing with crazy legs).

Have to agree, don't go down the chemistry as a career route.

Yup same here PhD in comp chem and I am not sure I'll be able to move back to the uk due to the lack of jobs 🙁
Shite for your exams though...
Angeldust what was your PhD on???

General exam technique:
For revision: If you can't know everything, make sure you know the things you do know [i][b]well[/b][/i] (If you see what I mean)

Read the whole paper first before starting. Make a few note on the paper (one or two word reminders). Answer the questions you are most comfortable with first.

At this stage you should be doing practice papers. Make sure you look at the marking scheme and pay attention to areas where you did know the answer but didn't write it down (ie. easy marks you threw away). The examiner can only reward you for what you write, not what you know.

done it now...it was pretty damn hard.
even after some decent revision.
anyway whats done is done.
thanks for the advice btw.
Bruce

yep did the degree and Phd thing and now work in IT

glad i wasent the only one to find it bloody hard ... what exam board was you doing? i did the salters AS one

I'm looking for other jobs, have been since I was made redundant. Been re-hired by the lab I was originally working for but just want out now, no real interest in it anymore. I'm good enough at my job, just not really bothered.

bikerbruce, well done on getting through it, hope you did OK.

same it was solid,its 150 ums marks tho.... 😕