How to get an A in Chemistry

[FinlayRd]

Super bright kids probably just suss it out (or do they?) but what about bright science loving kids who have to work a bit harder?

My ds is interested in medicine or vet med. Bright but not 'exceptionally' so. Academic, but not high flying.

Is it achievable and if yes, how? If your dc achieved an A in chemistry, what did they do?

Disclaimer, I went to school in another country and have no first hand experience of doing a-levels.

Got one-to-one tuition with their grandfather, who was a chemist.

Not really very helpful. Sorry.

Understanding, not just rote learning.
Maths ability (graphs and formula in particular)
Keep on top of it
Past papers, then mark it with the mark scheme to understand where you dropped marks.

The advice mine has been given is to do a revision timetable to cover all topics but more importantly past papers at least once a week - to pick up areas they are not getting marks.

Understanding mark schemes seems to be almost as important as understanding chemistry!

Dd got an A*. She worked really hard. I think the main thing was having the maturity to realise she had to take responsibility for her learning and not rely on anyone else to take charge of it. She knew the syllabus and all the topics and had a plan at home. She used lots of different methods of revision.. online questions, past papers .. made her own flash cards ..read text books .. kept her maths strong . Another thing that she said really helped was mentoring younger students in science classes and helping A level peers with topics that they struggled with ( it consolidates your own understanding when you have to explain I guess) . She did not have a private tutor. State school

Practice papers. Every one that is available and going through them with a fine toothed comb to pick up marks otherwise missed.

My daughter, who is now a qualified doctor, also needed an A in chemistry to get into study medicine. Her teacher’s highest qualification in chemistry in her small, state sixth form was a C in A level and she ended up teaching herself a lot of the course. She used this website www.docbrown.info/page13/page13.htm and got a lot of help from The Student Room chemistry A level forums. Knowing the specification back to front so that you know what should be being covered is important and she also did every past paper she could get her hands on. She didn’t need a tutor but if your daughter does want one, get in early there aren’t loads of people that can teach A level chemistry. There is a lot of maths involved, is your daughter doing A level maths too because that certainly helps.

As @Emelene says. Do all the past papers you can get your hands on.

Unfortunately aiming for an A is unlikely to be enough. My daughter had 3As for A level and not even an interview for med school. She is similarly bright but not a high flyer. She'll make a great doctor, but the way the applications are handled, the kids who will make good doctors don't necessarily get a place. Too much emphasis is on academic brilliance. I'm a doctor and probably would t have got into medical school today. I'm now a senior clinician and manager in the NHS and have passed several post graduate exams!
My daughter is now doing a degree in a different subject and plans on trying to get a place on a graduate entry scheme. She is extremely determined and I'm sure she will make it.
You need to be very tactical when applying for med school and target the universities which have application strategies best suited to the candidate. Some want excellent GCSE grades, some want a top UCAT score etc.
Regarding the chemistry, as others have said use all available online resources including you tube tutorials and past paper questions. We've been able to give ours a private tutor, but that isn't always necessary.
The other thing to bear in mind is that other allied health professionals end up doing very similar roles to doctors. Senior radiographers, physiotherapists and nurses can do almost identical jobs. They are often slightly less paid, but have less ultimate responsibility and therefore stress.

For all science/maths/MFL subjects ds followed the same method.

• Do a past paper
• Mark critically and note down for every question exactly why marks were missed, then make a plan from the notes.
• Understand the stupid mistakes that drop precious marks such as missing units/calculation typos, not explaining fully (big problem for him, he would say "temperature" expecting the examiner to read his mind instead of "change in temperature" etc
• Study the topics where there are gaps in knowledge including answering questions in revision guides until feeling more confident
• Repeat with next past paper

No idea how he is going to cope at uni where there are no past papers to check yourself against!

I know of a couple of people who studied Biomedical Science as a first degree as a kind of relevant back route into medicine. A three-year biomedical science degree gave them exemption from the first year of medical school so it's a bit of a long way round, but if you're DD is determined that is what she wants to do but can't get directly into medicine, it's worth considering.

Thank you everyone, great advice.

My DS got A* in chemistry...he did past papers, marked them using the grade marking scheme, then did more past papers...and more...and went back to the beginning. Until eventually he was getting average 95% on all of them. This was five years ago so I'm not sure if the marking scheme/course has changed since then. He was doing this from the start of year 13.