A-Level Chemistry Week 2 Exam Preparation Tips

TLDR: mark the papers you did last week and use the results to prepare for another round of past papers.

Well done again for getting those papers done – that is the hard part done! Now that those are out of the way, we must make sure to learn as much as we can from the experience. The main thing to practice this week is to think like an examiner. Unfortunately, especially at A-level, knowing the content is only half the battle. You also need to know how to answer the questions effectively, and for this, it is important to work through the questions with the mark schemes and examiners reports in mind. At this point in the year, I am sure you’ve heard all your teachers bang on about the importance of mark schemes and examiners reports, so bear with me while I bang on about them some more. Here are some tips to properly mark your papers and avoid feeling like the poor student referenced in the meme above.

- Be harsh, but not too harsh. Mark schemes are always split up into individual marks. Make sure you follow the mark scheme closely. Don’t give yourself credit if the mark scheme says not to, even if you think the mark scheme is being unfair. The ‘OOOh I’ll give myself a cheeky half-mark mindset’ is not going to help you in the long run.. The mark scheme will be very clear on what is and what isn’t allowed. For example, in calculation questions, you often get error carried forward marks (or ECF), so if you messed up one step you might still be able to get marks for working out.

- Be honest with yourself. If you got the mark, well done! But do you really understand why you got it? This is particularly important for multiple choice questions: did you get the mark because you understand the concept or was it just a lucky guess? Even if it wasn’t a lucky guess, would you feel comfortable explaining your working to a friend / teacher / house pet?

- Talk your thinking through. One of the best ways to learn is to teach other people, or even things (bear with me). Some research has shown that even explaining a topic to an inanimate object like a plant, or bored sibling, improves your understanding and retention of knowledge. Try talking through your thought process as you work through the papers, both for questions you got right and ones you got wrong.

- Read through the examiner’s reports. These reports aren’t useful for all questions, but they do sometimes talk about common mistakes students have made. Ask yourself – did you make the same mistake? Can you see how and why those mistakes could be made? Understanding why you misunderstood a particular point or made a certain error will help prevent you from making the same mistake in future.

After you’ve finished marking:

Yay! You’ve finished marking and now have your grade. If you’re disappointed with your result, remember that getting things wrong now is a whole lot better than getting them wrong in the real exam! Now that you know where you are open to making mistakes, you can revise these points and make sure you don’t make the same mistakes again, saving future you plenty of marks...

If you’re happy with your result, well done! But don’t celebrate just yet. Click here for a visual representation of people doing just that and instantly regretting it.

Next week we’ll be looking to do another round of past papers, so we want to make sure that mistakes we made last week are ironed out before then. Below are some things you may find useful when preparing for more past papers:

- Write a priority list for topics to revise based on the papers you’ve just marked. Got completely stuck on a transition metal question and left the whole thing blank? Prioritise revising transition metals above everything else. Absolutely smashed a buffer calculation that you weren’t sure about. Looks like you don’t need to spend so much time on this topic before next week! (Can we also just pause for a second to appreciate the buffer calculation meme I found).

- Put reminders of key points on flashcards to carry with you or stick around your workspace. Repeatedly looking at a list of the flame colours or a flashcard that reminds you how to convert between cm and dm will familiarise these points and help them stick.

- Redo questions you just missed out marks on and refer to the mark scheme to write a perfect answer. Really practice “unlearning” any mistakes you made in your last round of papers.

If this is the first round of papers you’ve done – don’t worry, it gets easier! The first is always the hardest, and when you’ve living your best life this summer, you’ll thank your past self for putting in the hard work now. Take a good break over the weekend and prepare to do another set of papers, mark, rinse, and repeat.

Have any questions about how to prepare for your A-Level exams? Having problems with any hard to understand content or tricky past exam questions? Then ask Martha. Martha will be hosting a series of Q&A webinars in the 2 weeks before final exams. Post your questions here, and Martha will answer them in these sessions.