A Level Chemistry

Everything you see around you involves chemistry in some way!

Chemistry is the study of substances, what they are made of, how they interact and what role they play in living things and the environment. Everything you see around you involves Chemistry! Chemists provide many of the materials used in everyday life, together with the knowledge to improve healthcare and tackle the major environmental problems that face us all.

About the Course

If you enjoy finding out about how the world around you works, and recognising and explaining different patterns of behaviour then you are likely to enjoy Chemistry. Throughout the course, you will carry out practical work to develop your skills and to enhance your learning and enjoyment of the subject. You will be encouraged to participate in competitions such as the RSC Schools, Analyst Competition and the International Chemistry Olympiad, and there are opportunities to attend conferences and university taster events. There are also lots of opportunities to develop your scientific thinking outside of lessons, such as a peer mentoring scheme whereby Year 13 students spend time helping Year 12 students and explaining difficult ideas. We run extra classes for those who want to extend their knowledge, possibly in order to take part in the Chemistry Olympiad, or to apply to Oxbridge universities.

Opportunities unique to this course

As well as your A level, you will be working towards the Practical Endorsement in Chemistry. You will develop competence in a wide range of practical skills and laboratory practices during the 50+ practicals you complete as part of your course.

Foundation Chemistry: atomic structure, the mole, acids, bases, salts, bonding and structure.

Physical and Inorganic Chemistry: the Periodic Table, groups 2 and 7, energy changes, entropy, rates of reaction, chemical equilibria, pH, buffers, redox reactions, electrochemical cells and the transition elements.

Organic and Analytical Chemistry: alkanes, alkenes, haloalkanes, alcohols, infra-red spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, arenes, carbonyls, carboxylic acids, esters, amines, nitriles, polymers, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and chromatography.

Practical Techniques: titrations, calorimetry, tests for inorganic ions, synthesis of organic liquids and solid, electrochemical cells, rates of reaction and tests for organic compounds.

Three written papers, as well as a practical component that must be passed.

Paper 1: Periodic table, elements and physical chemistry (2hrs 15mins, 37%)

Paper 2: Synthesis and analytical techniques (2hrs 15mins, 37%)

Paper 3: Unified chemistry (1hr 30mins, 26%)

You need to be qualified by both the relevant Admissions Score AND the predicted GCSE grade for each A level you apply for.

Please go to the College website to find the most up-to-date entry requirements for each A level that we offer: https://www.hillsroad.ac.uk/study-with-us/a-level-subjects

You can also visit www.hillsroad.ac.uk/apply to find out more about making your application.

The vast majority of students move on to higher education to study courses that are either Chemistry-related (e.g. forensic chemistry etc., pharmacy, biochemistry, chemical engineering), STEM-related (e.g. biological sciences, physics, mathematics, engineering) or require Chemistry (e.g. medicine, dentistry, veterinary science).

For more information and to read the FAQs for this subject visit www.hillsroad.ac.uk/chemistry