Tips for A Level Biology & Chemistry
I got an ask about tips for A Level Chemistry and Biology, so I thought Iâd make a post with all my advice. For reference, I got an A in Chemistry and an A* in Biology (both on the AQA exam board).Â
Iâm going to split this into general advice for sciences, and after that specific tips for Chemistry, then Biology.
So Iâve kind of talked about this before, but in my opinion the key to success in A Level science is based off 3 things:
Why itâs important - at A Level there are usually fewer questions that require you to know facts, and more that require you to apply your knowledge to an unfamiliar scenario
try to keep on top of understanding from the get go, and avoid burying your head in the sand (something I can be guilty of aha)Â
instead be reflective, and clearly identify which topics you understand and which you struggle with
a good way to do this is by explaining concepts to other people (friends/classmates/family), because if you canât teach a topic, that usually means itâs a weaker area. In my class, we used to RAG topics after getting a test / mock exam back, which is another good method
then, ofc you have to deal with it. Donât be afraid to ask a teacher or a classmate, but other resources you can use include YouTube videos (for example Khan Academy, which is for an American audience but has really great explanations), multiple textbooks, and/or a revision guideÂ
try to use more than one source (e.g. my sources were the textbook, a revision guide, YouTube, and class notes / PowerPoints from my teachers)
towards the end of the year I stated using a different system to make notes. I made them like q&a sheets that I could fold over to cover the answer and test myself immediately
I think if Iâd done this from the start it would have saved me so much time, as you donât then have to make flashcards too
the only things I wouldnât use this method for are:
mechanisms in chem (see below in the âchemistryâ section)
photosynthesis / respiration in bio (I made very visual posters / mindmaps for this, as itâs such a hard topic to get your head around!)
Why itâs important - thereâs no use understanding the content if you canât remember it for the exam (obvs)
I am 100% a supporter of the combination of active recall and spaced repetition as the best way to memorise info for exams (check out the evidence and a more detailed explanation for both in these 2 youtube videos - here and here - by Ali Abdaal)
it basically means making your brain work hard to retrieve information, and repeating this at intervals to establish a strong neural pathway, which makes it easier to retrieve the same info next time
you can put this into practice by using effective revision techniques that incorporate active recall
so, unless it really works for you, avoid reading through or highlighting notes as your sole revision technique - theyâre both incredibly passive, so for most people the content doesnât sink in well, and I also find them far more time consuming than other methods
instead, I âblurtâ a topic (by basically writing down as much as I can remember about a topic on a piece of paper and then filling in what I missed). This is much quicker and far more effective!Â
This is a picture of what it looks like when Iâve blurted a topic and then âmarkedâ it using my notes:
another good revision technique with active recall that I use is testing myself with flashcards. It only takes about half an hour and I remember the info a lot better
crucially, repeat these activities at intervals to help your brain retain this information! (thatâs the âspaced repetitionâ part)
Why itâs important - thereâs no use understanding and remembering the content if you canât then get the marks in the exam
try to get to this stage ASAP. Srly thereâs no such thing as too early - start doing exam style questions literally from day 1, alongside learning the content (I started âearlyâ relative to my class, and even then I wished Iâd started sooner!)
itâs so important because not only do questions and past papers highlight what you do/donât know (so can target your revision to those topics and make it more effective), but they also teach you the specific way to word your answer in order to tick the right points on the mark scheme
I would start off with the questions in your textbook / revision guide and question packs for specific topicsÂ
then move to old spec papers (biology and chemistry)
and finally, closer to the exam because there arenât that many, go to your exam board website for current spec past papers (and donât forget to do the specimen papers! theyâre not as accurate as past papers but take anything you can get from the exam board aha)
also check out this post I made on how I use past papers to get the most out of them, which basically explains what I do before, during, and after doing a past paper to make full use of it as a revision resource
use the exam boardâs practical handbook - this is essential reading as it lists all the rules about significant figures, doing tables / graphs correctly (which you can be asked to do in the exam), statistical tests (for biology), uncertainties etc.
make sure you donât lose silly marks for giving an answer to the wrong number of decimal places - especially in chem they are very unforgiving with it
practicals are horrible tbh but the best advice I was given was not to spend too much time revising them
things I would learn: the basic method and equipment used for each, the key flaws / things that could lose accuracy, and potential improvements
but donât go overboard because youâre better off really nailing the content
e.g. if thereâs a 6 marker on bond angles in chem, and also a 6 marker on a practical, chances are far fewer people will score 5-6 on the practical one. Thatâs basically because at the moment there is very little information out there about what the exam board is looking for, and often some of the marking points are really obscure. So youâre better off using the extra time you might have spent trying to get into the 5-6 category in the practical question on securing a 5-6 on the content, which is far more achievable!Â
oh and I highly recommend CGP revision guides -Â I used them so much for both bio and chem, and they include practical content unlike the textbookÂ
for practicals, this pdf has really useful notes, especially if youâre on AQA
question packs by topic on âA Level Chemistryâ (for AQA): Year One and Year Two
E Rintoul on YouTube is really really good (mostly for AQA though)
chemguide is a website with very good explanations of topics at an A Level standard, although itâs not exam board specific
Itâs so important to get these down, because there are so many marks available for mechanisms in the organic paper. I highly recommend making/using a reaction map. I also made flashcards to test myself, with the name of the mechanism, an example drawn out with curly arrows, and the conditions.Â
This is the reaction map I used - you can see I colour coded the different mechanisms so it was easy to understand. (I had a separate one for benzenes.) In the picture you can also see my flashcards:
definitions are very important so some people made glossaries, which I thought was a good idea
I found drawing lots of diagrams useful, to better visualise whatâs going in in various processes, especially with human biology topics like the heart, lungs, or kidney
the dreaded essay⌠it isnât actually as bad as you might think, I promise
always start off by making a plan and brainstorming ideas - you should try to have 5-6 main points / paragraphs
itâs important to balance detail and breadth - you have to ensure you reach an âA Level standardâ of biology in each point you make, but you also have to cover a range of topics (if you can, a mixture of animals / plants / bacteria etc)
to get full marks, you have to include content beyond the specification. I wouldnât waste too much time on this, unless youâre feeling confident. I had a point prepared but in the end it didnât link to my title so I didnât use it, and I donât think it really made a big impact overall
itâs more important that you never ever include something that is completely irrelevant to the title; sometimes people panic and try to throw in everything they know, but the examiners are harsh on this so stick to relevant points only!Â
to emphasise to the examiner how relevant you are being lol, always link back to the title at the end of each point / paragraph
e.g. if it was âthe importance of cycles in biologyâ one of your points may be on photosynthesis, in particular the Calvin cycle. You would describe the process in lots of detail, then link it to the title at the end by saying something like âthis cycle is important because it produces organic compounds such as glucose, which is required for respiration and thus the survival of the organismâ
another good way to show the coherence of your essay is to link between paragraphs. It doesnât have to be fancy, just a simple âanother important cycle isâŚâ will do
practice lots - my teachers marked an essay a fortnight in Year 13 using all the old spec ones - and after the first few start doing them timed. I think I left like half an hour for mine in the exam, so start trying to replicate that time pressure as soon as youâve got more used to how to write them
closer to the exams I did loads of essay plans for broad themes like shapes, water, movement (which was actually my essay title in the exam!), membranes, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, proteins, energy transfer etc
And that concludes my advice! I really hope you found this helpful, and good luck :)
