To do chemistry GCSE as an adult

[MiltonBook]

I know nothing about chemistry. At school we only had to do one science GCSE (many years ago) and I did physics.

It feels like a real gap in my understanding of the world so I’m thinking of doing the GCSE (with exam). I can buy a textbook and my husband has chemistry A level so could presumably help if I get stuck.

I have a PhD and work in an academic-adjacent profession so am confident I can still study. I’d be grateful for any views on this, how viable it is and how long I should give myself for the course (aiming for a 9). Thank you!

I'm sure others will have more useful advice but I believe some exam boards will have a practical assessment element so if you're going to study completely independently you would need to find a syllabus without that.
Good luck, chemistry is brilliant!

Go for it. Lifelong learning is so important. You may want to look at adult education courses, online or distance courses though. There is something nice about being in a group if you can make it work.

I really wish I had time to study. There are lots of subjects I would like to try!

I think it’s a great idea.

The standard GCSE's from the uk won't work for you. A big chunk (around 15% of the exam) is linked to a series of required practicals that you won't be able to access at home.

I've a feeling the iGCSE could be different. There must be a way to do it, as home educated students can, but I dont know how.

Go for it, I did it many years ago and I'm sure things are slightly different but I really recommend getting whatever study guide the course recommends. I used it more than my textbook and it really helped.

There are a lot of practicals involved ie one a week if you were at school but you can watch them all online.

No harm in giving it a go and just seeing how you get on

Following this with interest because I'd love to study for a couple of GCSEs (and maybe ultimately aim for another degree) but haven't got a clue how to go about it as an adult.

As PPs have pointed out chemistry will involve a large amount of lab work: is it worth talking to your local FE college or sixth form college to see if they could facilitate this?

Do the Open University do pre degree level courses or access courses? That might be another way into it.

Is it important to obtain a qualification or just learn? I'm thinking if you have to do a practical element to pass an exam, you could omit that if the actual qualification doesn't matter so much.

YANBU!
Do the gcse and then maybe you'll want to continue - imo chemistry gets more and more interesting the further you get! But the basics are so fundamental to so many things.

Why not just do an A-level? GCSE are very easy for an adult (my opinion) and you'll find it rather dull.

You've said you've got a PhD so academically very capable. Again- you'll have practical elements you'll have to complete, but you can do that at a college on set days/planned.

But yes- learning at any age is always a good move!

Go to your local college and sign up for an evening class, that way you can complete the practicals.

I did this a few years ago and really enjoyed it (carried on studying to post grad level as I was so inspired and loved the learning again!).

I got full marks in the GCSE, so certainly doable - even more so with an academic background.

I live in a major city, and it's not terribly easy to do these courses at a local college as an adult. I would suggest IGCSEs because of the practical element, and then perhaps Open University courses for extended study.

Why do you need a gcse in it? Why can’t you just read a textbook if you want to learn?

College/night school would probably be ideal because of the practicals but as others have mentioned this may be easier said than done. I decided to do maths A level when I retired but I couldn't find anywhere near me that taught it to adults. I would have had to hire a 1:1 tutor, which given I was only doing it for fun was a bit too much of an extravagance. I was surprised and a bit disappointed as I had assumed I would just be able to sign up at the local FE college for night classes.
I would think GCSEs would be quite easy to teach yourself though, if you can find a way around the practical requirements.

Thanks everyone. I will have a look at the igcse and see whether that needs practicals. Doing an actual taught college course would be hard as I work full time and have kids.

Don’t need the qualification but I think I’d find it motivating to aim for it rather than just reading the text book.

Thank you. This is a such a 1 January plan 😂

You can absolutely do this self-taught, learning the content won't be an issue for your level of academia and whilst it's obviously preferable to be able to do the GCSE required practicals in person, to fully understand and develop the skills involved, for a mature student with a good understanding of the world you can learn the theory of those skills just fine from virtual labs and videos of which there are now many of high quality (one great side effect of lockdown and subsequent investment and development in online learning). For GCSE the practicals are assessed within the examinations there is no separate internal assessment. The only problem with this is the GCSE exam boards require your centre to sign a declaration that you've 'done' them (that doesn't necessarily have to be physically but that you have practiced the skills and theory for them) but it's unlikely any centre will do that for an external candidate that hasn't studied with them.

IGCSE would be easier and the content is broadly similar - so long as you can find a centre where you will be able to sit the exam - usually a private school that accepts external candidates. Or you could approach an online school that offers individual courses as an option. Quite a few are now accredited by CIE and/or the DfE. I suspect you would be limited in those too, as the ones that run live lessons won't want an adult in the class, so look for the ones that do self taught/flipped learning models. It might be possible to negotiate what you need as it's quite unusual. 'Oxbridge' is one company that do self-taught with tutor marked assessments for A level - I think maybe also GCSE.

If I were you I would self-teach the IGCSE and research quality resources, get a few subscriptions (there's also a lot of rubbish out there) then find a school to pay to sit the papers as an external candidate.

I forgot to say - the practicals for IGCSE (certainly with CIE board) have the option of being assessed as an 'alternative to practical' extra exam paper - that's what I mean by easier - the course isn't easier! Been a while since I taught that but have taught both versions.

That’s incredibly helpful @chemteacher - thank you.

That's boring. And not everyone can learn by just reading a text book.

Pearson IGCSE doesn't need the practicals to be completed and can be sat as an external candidate at registered centres. Go for it!

Chemistry graduate here. You won’t get full benefit of learning chemistry without practicals. The point about science is doing experiments to back up theories. A lot of people don’t get that chemistry required an element of physical engagement and not just book learning.
only exception is theoretical physics really, and maths.
also to really do well in chemistry and make sense you need at least gcse in physics or be doing both at same time. Maths as well. Fundamental to all science

so college course only way really. Unless you set up lab in your house🫣🤭 . Not a good idea with small kids, but entirely possible . Have good extractor and fire extinguisher 🤣🤣🤣

perosnally, if you’re not going*p to do a job or degree in chemistry, or other science , or degree where science is needed, I’d go for a much wider self taught approach on physical and natural sciences from a theoretical perspective. Devise your own curriculum. Explore how chemistry and physics are linked . Hone your maths skills to learn how it fits into physics . Learn about biochemistry . There is so much material available on line. Fantastic lectures and videos of experiments high explain stuff way better than average school and college lecturer. Start with back catalogues of Christmas lectures- so,e are bloody brilliant. Without a curriculum to stick to you can follow your nose and interests, be completely unihibited by the this is chemistry and this is physics. Let’s face it that’s what Marie Curie did , she ended up with noble prize in both physics and chemistry.

it’s wonderful you’re interested. Don’t let anyone crush your curiosity becuase thst curiousity is at the heart of every good scientist (or any intelligent perosnally for thst matter) . But I think doing academic exams at this stage of your life with other committents isn’t going to work, doing your self learning, then whizz through a course in a year later in life when you have time to do the evening practicals needed.

had a very quick search, maybe do more searching , came up with this as first return,.must be loads other you could look into
https://brilliant.org/s/sem/science/?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=search&utm_term=166423271274_science%20lessons_CTG_Science_Science_Learn&utm_content=702018199907_&utm_campaign=21373697719_Mixed_Search_Category_AllNonMath_RoW&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADwPohX78Rj8D8mgE542e-e6qLzeS&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7NO7BhDsARIsADg_hIYCd_MnlxoMJR3EUgnRFyWMNazg_nk0YhjVqCAlkQONFSMNDP9JAtkaAoztEALw_wcB

I can see the appeal of doing the exam. Taking a particular course keeps you focused and gives structure to your study, plus there's the challenge of getting a good exam mark.
Why do people time their runs, enter races, climb to the top of high mountains or any number of other things? It's about being able to reach a measurable goal surely.

AQA chemistry you need to be able to write about the practicals and understand them, but it's 100 percent written examination so you don't need to have ever actually carried out the practicals your self.
You can just watch them on YouTube or a revision site and it's easy to properly understand them

When the students do the practicals at school , it's quite haphazard. 30 secondary kids all doing it at the same time and rarely goes well. My daughter learnt the practicals much better just using an exam bank and watching them. She certainly learnt them quite well enough to get a very high grade GCSE. For Alevel or degree I'm sure you really need to do the practicals, but for you at GCSE with a PHD already, honestly you can just learn them easily.

Have done chemistry IGCSE’s with my home ed kids. I really enjoyed it - more than they did I think although they did quite like it. If you want a video course which is complete and shows the practicals Southwest Science school does a good one (with questions for every topic). I think you’d definitely get a 9 if you worked through it all. The lessons might be a bit slow for you but there are lots of practice questions and they mark a couple of practice papers.
Would also be totally possible of course with the text book but less engaging.