01/09/2026
For those of you starting A level Chemistry in the next few days, I want to alleviate any potential worry or nerves there may be around Chemistry being 🪨 hard!
I’m not going to lie and say it’s easy, because it is one of the hardest A levels you can choose… BUT it is definitely doable, with the right work ethic, commitment and study skills!
This image shows the organic chemistry content you covered at GCSE, and how this will appear over the two years of A level. You can see that some of what you did last year won’t be coming up again until you’re in year 13 (which might feel somewhat crazy!), and that everything else you covered will be revisited! Again, I’m not going to lie and say it’s literally just the GCSE content, with nothing new, or no developments or add-ons, but what I can say is that you will review each of these homologous series, starting with your GCSE basics, before kicking it up a gear 🙌🏼
So there’s plenty of opportunity for consolidation before you get onto the more difficult stuff, especially if you have a planner from school or college as to the order you’re going to work through the topics, or know you’re working through them in order as they appear on the specification! With a bit of forward planning you can independently review what you already know (albeit it might need dredging up a little bit!), hit the ground running and then be in the best place possible to understand the new content that comes after ✨
I’m sure the prospect of A levels, or maybe just Chemistry A level, feels daunting, but the transition doesn’t have to be as terrifying as you might think! 🤩
To everyone returning to school or starting at a new 6th form or college, I hope you have the best few days setting into your new chapter 🤓
