Chemistry

Course summary

Chemistry A level will inspire and nurture your passion for the subject and lay the groundwork for further study. It is important that you like and are confident in mathematics, as 20% of the course involves the application of maths. Students gain many transferable skills such as logical thinking, problem solving, team work, communication and independent study skills, and develop their ability to apply their scientific knowledge and these skills to unfamiliar contexts. Many students go on to study medicine, chemistry, biochemistry, biomedical sciences, pharmacy and chemical engineering. Those with exceptional grades go on to study chemistry or natural sciences at Oxford or Cambridge or vocational courses like medicine, veterinary sciences or dentistry. The Chemistry in Action conference, Cambridge Chemistry Challenge, summer schools, the RSC Chemistry Olympiad, guest speakers, and an expedition to Iceland are all available to our students. We also run a spectroscopy workshop and take groups of students to UCL. Course content: The course is divided into three disciplines: Physical chemistry topics: atomic structure, amount of substance, bonding, thermodynamics, kinetics, equilibria, redox and electrode potentials. Inorganic chemistry topics: groups 2 and 7, periodicity, transition metals and reactions of ions in aqueous solution. Organic chemistry topics: functional group chemistry, mechanisms, isomerism, polymers, proteins and DNA, organic synthesis and analysis.