How to revise for A Level chemistry (without using all your past papers)

Now that Paper 1 is just one month away, what is the best way to revise for A Level chemistry? There’s a lot of pressure to be seen to be doing ‘past papers’ at this point – no doubt teachers are handing them out in school and maybe recommending you do several in every subject every week. It’s understandable – past papers are the ‘gold standard’ of preparing for an exam. But is it enough to do every paper you get your hands on – and are you actually getting the most from your past papers or predicted papers?

Are you using past papers effectively?

If you’re sitting in a classroom or in a busy student study area with your headphones in, replying to a message from a friend while eating lunch and having a go at 2019’s Paper 2, I have to ask – what exactly are you practising right now? 

One of the main reasons to practise past papers is to prepare yourself for the real exam. In a real exam, you only have your calculator and periodic table, and you have a fixed amount of time. You know what topics are covered in each paper, but you don’t know which questions will come up (although, with enough practice, you’ll have seen a lot of similar questions). 

If you dive into past papers too early, you won’t have done enough actual revision to use them properly – that is, as practice for the exam. If you don’t know the content, you’re wasting time trying the exam papers because you’ll not get a real idea of what you know or don’t know.

So if you want to save your past papers until you feel a bit more ready, what can you do instead?

1. Multiple choice questions

MCQs at A Level should not be overlooked – practising multiple choice questions is a skill in itself. You can download a set of 50 practice questions for A Level chemistry (suitable for all exam boards) – best of all, each question has a video walkthrough on my YouTube playlist so you can see not only what the answer is, but how to avoid mistakes and answer similar questions efficiently. You can also head to the Cram Now website for more A Level chemistry (and other sciences) MCQs.

2. Retrieval practice quizzes

If you’re signed up to my weekly chemistry email, you should have already been receiving regular retrieval practice quizzes for A Level chemistry. You can also find them here on the website – if you’re in Year 13, why not also try the Year 12 quizzes to check you haven’t missed anything obvious? When I’m tutoring, I often find that students aiming for high grades are really good at all the complex ideas, but are losing easy marks through not having practised the real ‘fundamentals’ of chemistry knowledge.

3. Other retrieval practice exercises

Stuck on how to revise without practice exam questions? Think retrieval practice is ‘too easy’ and won’t make you think? Challenge accepted – try my 202 retrieval practice activities for A Level chemistry. Even if you start when I first publish this post, you’ll still have enough for more than 5 a day every day until Paper 1. I recommend you actually do about 5-10 each day, so that you have more time for past papers and predicted papers closer to the exam. The activities are split into 101 for AS content and 101 more for the rest of A Level, so you can use the first set if you’re preparing for your year 12 mocks or AS Level exams.

4. Other sources of practice questions

Where else can you find questions that aren’t past exam questions? To help bridge the gap without making yourself over familiar with precious past papers, you can use textbook questions and revision workbooks, along with questions your teacher might have provided. Chemsheets has a huge stock of booklets and practice questions for a reasonable subscription. My A Level resources section has some free sets of questions with video walkthroughs, and I also have booklets of extended response and calculations questions to purchase for each exam board here.

5. AS Level past papers

Don’t forget the useful resource that is AS Level past papers. As I mentioned above, it’s often the areas from earlier on in the course, real essentials like bonding and structure, calculations or periodic trends that students have forgotten about. AS Level papers are another good ‘bridge’ revision exercise as they are a little easier than full papers, while still testing your knowledge on important topics. 

Predicted Papers

Predicted papers are not a magic way to ‘cheat’ your way into a top grade in chemistry – but they can be an additional tool to help prepare you to sit an exam in more realistic conditions. My A Level chemistry predicted papers for 2025 are available for OCR A and AQA exam boards (OCR Paper 3 coming very soon!) and are full exam papers and mark schemes based on the content of previous papers and the topics most likely to be assessed. All papers come with mark schemes and you can also buy them with video walkthroughs to give you a more detailed explanation as well as advice about related topics.

You can also purchase packages that include predicted papers from 2024 and 2023, giving you 9 more exam papers to practice.

Looking for more support to prepare for your A Level chemistry exams?

I’m also running one day revision intensives and exam prep courses for AQA and OCR A Level chemistry during May half term – these are small group classes focusing on the most important topics and essential exam technique to boost your grade. Students attending also get access to my full A Level chemistry masterclass revision package, including the predicted papers and walkthroughs.