How to revise for A Level chemistry and get an A* (the missing ingredient most students forget)
Chemistry has a reputation for being one of the toughest A Level subjects. Even hardworking students often find themselves revising for hours but not seeing the results they hoped for.
The truth? Revision isn’t just about how much time you spend — it’s about how effectively you use it. And one of the most important (but often overlooked) ingredients for effective revision is… feedback!
Before we get there, let’s look at some proven strategies for revising A Level Chemistry.
Use Retrieval Practice Instead of Just Reading Notes
Simply reading or highlighting notes feels productive, but it doesn’t really test your memory. Retrieval practice does. For example:
- Close your book and write down everything you know about a topic
- Use flashcards to quiz yourself on definitions and reactions
- Mix up topics so you’re not always revising in the same order
This is far more effective at strengthening long-term memory.
Want to have your retrieval practice all ready for you? Make sure you sign up to my free mailing list for A Level students and teachers, so you get a free quiz every week straight to your inbox.
Save Past Papers for the Right Time
Past papers are essential, but they’re a limited resource. If you use them too early in your revision, you risk memorising mark schemes rather than testing true understanding.
A better approach:
- Start with topic-based questions and checklists (text books and revision guides are useful for this)
- Gradually move to mixed-topic questions – you can also try AS Level papers when you’ve finished the content for this
- Reserve full past papers for the final stage, when you’re pulling everything together
Make Feedback Part of Your Revision
Practising questions without feedback is like rehearsing a play without ever performing in front of anyone — you don’t know what to fix. Feedback shows you:
- If you’re using the right keywords examiners expect
- How to apply the mark scheme to extended response questions
- Where you’re losing easy marks
- How to improve exam technique, not just knowledge
- How to award working or ‘consequential’ marks in longer calculations
Without it, you risk repeating the same mistakes over and over – or being too generous with your marking (and getting very surprised when it comes to the real exam result!).
Practise with Unseen Questions
Exams don’t just test recall — they test how well you can apply knowledge in new contexts. That’s why it’s vital to practise with original, unseen questions, not just recycled past papers you’ve used lots of times before.
Unseen questions challenge you to think flexibly, spot misconceptions, and handle those tricky “curveball” questions that examiners love.
How My New Silver Masterclass Membership Brings It All Together
This year, alongside my free resources, basic online membership and group classes, I created the Silver Masterclass Membership — to give students a complete system for independent but effective revision.
Here’s what’s included for just £30 per month:
- 20+ Masterclass Recordings covering the most challenging topics in A Level Chemistry
- Calculations Course that takes you from basics to complex multi-step problems
- Practice Questions with Answers for topic-by-topic testing
- Monthly Assessment with Original Unseen Questions
- Personalised Examiner Feedback with a summary of strengths and next steps
Who is the Silver Masterclass Membership for?
Silver Membership is ideal if you:
- Want to work independently, but need accountability
- Struggle to turn revision into marks on the page
- Want examiner-level insight without the cost of weekly tuition
- Prefer flexibility — fitting revision around your own schedule
How to Revise Smarter, Not Just Harder
If you want to improve your grade in A Level Chemistry, focus on:
✅ Retrieval practice over passive revision
✅ Saving past papers for the right stage of revision
✅ Practising with unseen, exam-style questions
✅ Getting regular feedback on your work
With these strategies, you’ll stop wasting hours and start making real progress.
And if you’d like a ready-made system that builds these strategies into your revision plan, the Silver Membership could be exactly what you need. Like my group classes, this option is limited on the number of students I can take on – I want to make sure I can give quality feedback, so I’ve limited enrollment on this programme. If you have any more questions, check the FAQs below or drop me an email.
I currently offer silver memberships for students taking AQA, OCR A and Edexcel (including International A Level) – this is because these are the exam boards I have experience teaching, examining and producing predicted papers and exam style questions for.
I offer a free trial to the materials available on my bronze monthly membership level – this allows you to try out the practice questions and exam masterclass recordings but not the monthly assessment and feedback. You can easily upgrade from bronze to silver level, assuming there are places available.
You can sign up at any time – assuming there are spaces available! Since most of my gold membership spaces are sold out mid-September and the silver membership is limited, I recommend not leaving it too late. Also, this programme works best with regular, spaced assessments and feedback – not as a last minute panic before exams.
Many schools have excellent programmes of exam practice, assessment and feedback and I know there are loads of brilliant chemistry teachers out there. However, I know this isn’t true for all students so wanted to offer the option for regular feedback from an experienced teacher and examiner which is more affordable than regular tuition.
I do, but I’m usually booked up for groups and one to one! Feel free to email me if you’d like to enquire about this – I can also arrange ad hoc sessions during the holidays and I run Easter and May half term revision courses as well.
Part of the purpose of this programme is to give you a weekly revision schedule to keep you on top of past content, so I provide a monthly topic focus for each assessment. If you are joining later in the school year, you can request previous topics – I always make sure I am testing material that you have already covered in school.
Once you complete and submit an assessment, I will mark and annotate your work. I then record a video going over the questions that require the most feedback and advice, giving other examples where appropriate or suggestions for further revision.
Just access to the internet, and a way to scan your work. You don’t need a printer, stylus or tablet – you can simply write your answers on paper and use your phone camera to scan to a pdf file.
