Course profile

AS and A Level Chemistry

Entry Requirements:
To gain entry to the course the minimum qualification is a grade CC Dual Award Science or grade C Chemistry GCSE. An interest in practical work and a willingness to work hard are also important.

About the Subject:
Chemistry at Advanced GCE is a prerequisite for many courses in Higher Education and for many areas of employment. It is also a long-established and respected qualification that can allow progression into a number of career areas. The AS qualification provides for candidates who may wish to follow a chemistry course for only one year in order to broaden their curriculum, and universities and employers value the strengths of the broader student. It is also essential for those wishing to progress on to an A level in the subject. Those who have Medicine, Pharmacy, Veterinary Science, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Food Science/Nutrition, Forensic Science, Biological or Engineering Careers in mind, will find A level Chemistry essential. Those with other careers such as Food Technology, Nursing, Physiotherapy, Radiography and other paramedical courses in mind, will find the A level desirable. The AS level is very attractive to universities and other HE institutions. The three main areas of chemistry - physical, inorganic and organic - will be covered in roughly equal amounts. Some familiar topics will be treated in more depth (e.g. atomic structure, rates of reaction) but many new topics will be introduced (e.g. equilibrium, spectroscopy). The course is modular and this enables a degree of choice and specialisation by individual students in the A level course. Practical assessment is continuous in both the AS and A level courses and will cover familiar areas from GCSE.

Suitable Subject Combinations:
Chemistry at this level is often studied in combination with other subjects like Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Human Biology, Geography and Geology and these combinations are particularly useful when considering science based careers and college and University courses. However, the advent of AS levels means that Chemistry could be considered as a way of broadening many courses in combination and these can be selected to suit particular individuals. The Science for Public Understanding AS should also be considered in combination as a means of illustrating the everyday relevance of many of the areas studied.

Course Content:

'AS' Level - First year of course:

The course will consist of three modules. These are Foundation Chemistry (atomic structure, the mole, bonding, the Periodic Table), Chains and Rings (basic concepts, hydrocarbons, alcohols, halogenoalkanes) and a third module made up of How Far, How Fast? (enthalpy changes, reaction rates and chemical equilibrium) combined with practical coursework assessment.

'A' Level - Second year of course:

The course will consist of three further modules. The first module is Chains,

Rings and Spectroscopy (arenes, carbonyl compounds, carboxylic acids and esters, nitrogen compounds, stereoisomerism and synthesis, polymerisation and spectroscopy). The second module is made up of Trends and Patterns (lattice enthalpy, periodicity and transition elements) and an option. The option allows students to make a choice of a specialist study from the topics Biochemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Methods of Analysis and Detection or a more advanced study of Transition Metals. The third and final module is the made up of Unifying Concepts and a further more advanced assessment of practical coursework.

Special features of the course:

The laboratory facilities are excellent and the range of equipment extensive, enabling an individual approach to practical work. The LRC and private study facilities are second to none and wide-ranging resources are in constant development to support study.

Assessment:

The AS level qualification is assessed by three written exams and experimental skills coursework (20% of the final AS mark). The three module exams will be set on Foundation Chemistry (1 hour 30 mins, 30% of the final AS mark), Chains and Rings (1 hour 30 mins, 30% of the final AS mark) and How Far, How Fast (1 hour, 20% of the final AS mark). The A level qualification will be made up of 50% from the AS level qualification and 50% from the new module exams. This final 50% is made up as follows: written exams in Chains, Rings and Spectroscopy (1 hour 30 mins, 15% of the final A level mark), Trends and Patterns (1 hour, 7.5% of the final A level mark), The Option module (50 mins, 7.5% of the final mark) and Unifying Concepts (1 hour 15 mins, 10% of the final A level mark) and an experimental skills coursework assessment (10% of the final A level mark).

Progression:

The range of courses available is almost endless and depends of course on the other courses studied at A and AS level. Successful A level chemists in previous years have obtained places on courses as wide-ranging as Optical Management, Optometry, Microbiology, Biochemistry, Law, Natural Sciences, Pharmacology, Software Engineering, Chemistry and German, Veterinary Science, Zoology, Medicine, Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Radiography, Biology, Chemistry and Business Studies and, of course, Chemistry, Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering!