Going from A to A* in A'level Chemistry

[KnackeredOldBag]

Hi All - I'm hoping that wise MNetters might be able to point me in the direction of some resources.

DD1 is resitting A'level chemistry as she wants to up her mark from a current A to an A* in order to fulfill a uni offer. She's done past papers and so on, but still feels she'd like more help. Does anyone know of any resources which would help to support her learning? I am a scientist myself, so can help to some extent, but my knowledge of the A'level syllabus and marking schemes are not enough to help her specifically.

Any pointers gratefully received!

[crazymum53]

Have you looked up the grade boundaries for the specification she is taking and is this really achievable? To obtain an A in a level Chemistry you have to obtain approx 80% or above (may vary according to exam board) across all areas of the syllabus, in a subject that is already one of the "hardest" at A level. The A was intended to be a way of rewarding able student for exceptional performance in their exams, it was never meant to be something to aim for as a university offer.
I am a Chemistry teacher and may be able to help (pm me with more details), but if one of my students was in this position, I would advise that an A grade at this subject should be enough for most university courses and not to set her heart on this offer.

[webwiz]

DD2 managed around 90% in one of the A2 chemistry papers - she didn't get an A overall because she took her foot of the gas for the second paper. The difference between the two papers was that for the higher score she knew and understood the material very well so she could apply it properly. She used a CGP guide and made masses of notes and mind maps to see the links and overlaps between the topics. Her friend who did get an A overall used the CGP book as well.

Its the questions that require application of knowledge that make the difference between the grades as students tend to get thrown by things that they think are unfamiliar. DD2 had something about making "sour" sweets on one of her papers which everyone found very difficult because it required going one step further with your understanding.

Good luck!

[KnackeredOldBag]

That's interesting crazymum. The A* is to fulfill an offer for med school, so we may need to talk about other options if she doesn't make the grade.

webwiz, that's something I also noticed with the papers! Once you know which bit of knowledge they are looking to test (usually in an unknown scenario, but with knowledge taught on the course), the questions are quite straightforward, but they have to be able to think more laterally than for A'levels in my day (I am really old).

[crazymum53]

The A grade is awarded differently to all the other grades and that is what I consider to be unfair about it. You can obtain a grade A if your overall UMS score is high enough (above the threshold) even if one of the units is a grade B. However to obtain an A you need to be above the A* threshold for all the modules.

[gelatinous]

crazy that's not right you only need an average over 90% across all the A2 modules for an A*, each individual one doesn't need to be over 90%.

I think it's good the rules are a bit different for A* in that the AS modules effectively don't count towards it as those are quite a lot easier, so this way it really does differentiate the most able from the rest.

As for revision, knowing the syllabus inside out, doing past papers and then reading around the subject as well is probably the best way forward.

KOB, best wishes to your dd. That's a high offer she has - does it specify the A* has to be Chemistry?

[KnackeredOldBag]

Thanks all.

Gelatinous, yes, the A* is specified for chemistry. She's done lots of past papers, but I think it's just whether there's more we could be doing. I can help her with the science, but obv. I don't know all the ins and outs of the syllabus.

[gelatinous]

The offers are getting steadily tougher every year it seems - I hope she makes it. I know ds's chemistry teacher didn't like to predict A*s as it was not easy to get right. Ds did manage it, but when I asked what he'd recommend just now he wasn't sure. Trying some papers from other syllabus too might have some value - sometimes a different style of question helps you see a concept in a new light. And studying the mark schemes in detail is always good too.

[mummytime]

Can she go through a past paper with a teacher, and get guidance on where she is dropping the crucial marks?

[crazymum53]

My post was unclear - meant that you have to have a high A grade in the AS modules as well as 90% in A2 to obtain an A. The link from the OCR website says ^I got an A and someone else got an A but we both have the same UMS. Why is this?
Even though you have the same UMS as another candidate, your total UMS is made up from both AS and A2 units. Therefore, you may have achieved very highly in your AS units but did not get 90% or more in your A2 units and so did not achieve the A*.^
For the full link see www.ocr.org.uk/download/learners/ocr_41397_learn_a_star_faqs.pdf
For the AQA specification grade boundaries for A are given on their website. Units 4 and 5 are marked out of 100 so it is relatively easy to work out whether you are A material by yourself. Do not rely on just the AQA revision guides - I have found mistakes in both the CGP and Collins ones which would lose you marks if repeated in the exam. Try buying a book for one of the other exam boards to supplement your reading.
OCR do not publish guideline marks for the A* grade and it is a bit more complicated to work out whether you are this standard. One unit totals 90 marks and the other 120.
The other complication is that A level specifications changed in 2009 and so relevant past papers are only available from 2010. A good school should indicate which questions for the old specification are still relevant and not expect the students to do this themselves.

[gelatinous]

but you don't need a high UMS in the AS modules for an A. The most you need is 70% average at AS, which when combined with the 90% average at A2 needed for an A gives you 80% overall (the overall requirement for both A and A*).

Hypothetically, if you scored 100% on all your A2 modules and just 60% average across your AS modules you would still get an A*. (60% and 100% averages to 80%)

Of course people achieving that highly at A2 generally do have high marks at AS as well.

[crazymum53]

The link in my previous post also says "Before we can award an A*, you need to achieve an A grade across all the A Level units ? both AS and A2."

[webwiz]

My understanding is the same as gelatinous - its an A grade average overall not an A in all units so could be 70% for AS + 90% for A2.

From the student room guide to A* grades at A level:
"you don't need to get an A at AS to get an A* at A2 if you get 90% in the A2 units, and assuming your A2 marks are high enough to pull your AS marks to an A grade overall."

[gelatinous]

Yes - that's an average of 80% across all your modules, so if you get 90% at A2 you only need 70% at AS to achieve it. It doesn't mean you need an A in every individual module. 70% at AS might be 90% in one and 50% in another module (assuming a 2 module subject, equally weighted).

In what you posted they are saying 2 candidates with the same UMS (lets say 90%) one gets an A and one gets an A. Because one say got 90% average on their AS modules and also 90% at A2 - they get an A (they got 90 or above at AS and overall averaged obver 80%), the other perhaps got 95% at AS but only 85% at A2 - still the same total UMS (90% overall), but this time an A because they didn't meet the 90% threshold on the harder A2 modules.

[KnackeredOldBag]

Thanks all. I assume the difference between A and A* varies dependent on exam board then?

[gelatinous]

No, the rules for achieving the A* grade are set by Ofqual and are common to all exam boards (there are modifications for maths A levels, but these again are common across all boards).

It's detailed here (example at the bottom shows exactly what webwiz and I were trying to explain earlier).

It's shocking how poorly understood it is though - another common misconception is that for A the grades must be achieved at the first sitting and retake grades don't count. This isn't true either. If teachers and students don't actually understand how to meet the threshold for the grade it's hardly surprising few are meeting it. I really hope crazy* that you've not been advising your best students to resit AS modules where they've just missed an A when they would possibly be better off focussing on their A2 ones for instance.

[KnackeredOldBag]

Thanks. I knew that resits were OK (she is resitting to get the A*, as she already has an A). The whole system seems so much more complex to calculate than in the days of old!

[gelatinous]

back in my day [old gimmer] there were no rules, thresholds or anything. You just sat the exams (all terminal) and when the results came back you believed them. I don't remember anyone finding out what their raw score actually was or if they had a near miss for the grade above (or below) and I never heard of anyone having anything remarked either.

In a lot of ways it was all a lot easier, but there must have been loads of marking/admin errors that were just never picked up on too.

[mummytime]

Lots of people I knew (in the real dark ages) applied for remarks. Actually I was going to get one, but abandoned it when my first choice Uni accepted me regardless.
I also know within 2 marks what I got in A'level Chemistry, but that is a freak of the grade I got and the board and year I sat it. But in my day you only needed 3 As to be a Vet, and I knew medics with BBA.

[LittleFrieda]

How close was she to the A* with her A grade?

Is it a Cambridge medicine offer? They are quite strict about the grades but I have heard of people not strictly meeting their offer getting in. AAAa offer in Chem, Bio, Maths, French and the student got AAA*a or something.

Does she have an insurance medicine place?

[crazymum53]

If a student had narrowly missed out on an A grade at AS level we wouldn't advise a resit to obtain an A grade. However if a student insisted, we would let them do it.
For the percentage of students obtaining an A* grade in Chemistry in June 2010 series see this link Chemistry Result 2010.
The guardian link below also contains statistics on the % A grades obtained (for all subjects) by region (highest in SE) and type of school.Agrade statistics.
If you narrowly miss out on the grades required, most universities would then look at a students UMS score. So if a student had the equivalent UMS to an A* they may still be awarded a place.