What should I revise for OCR A Level chemistry Paper 2 (2025)?

How did Paper 1 go? Hopefully there weren’t too many nasty surprises – if it didn’t go to plan, the best thing is always to focus on moving forwards! In this post, we’ll look at the content you should revise for OCR A Level* chemistry Paper 2, including the topics that almost always come up, predictions for 2025, and common areas that students find difficult.

You can purchase predicted papers and practice papers for OCR A Level chemistry using the link below.

Looking for last-minute revision classes and a more complete revision course? My A Level masterclass membership is only £5 and includes access to last year’s predicted papers and walkthroughs, as well as practice questions and exam masterclass recordings on a huge range of topics. Alternatively, the masterclass materials are also available as part of the pre-exam revision classes and recordings.

*This post is focused on the OCR A syllabus and not OCR B as the structure of the exam papers is different. However, if you do take OCR B you may still find the A Level masterclasses useful to revise specific topics.

Because Paper 1 is over, the predicted papers, exam classes and recordings are all now on sale!

Topics included in A Level chemistry OCR A Paper 2

Paper 2 (synthesis and analytical techniques) focuses pretty much entirely on organic chemistry from modules 4 and 6, but it can also draw in elements from modules 1 and 2. You can get a comprehensive list of topics on the OCR specification, but the topics that can be covered are:

• ALL of the organic functional groups and reactions
• Organic synthesis
• Organic analysis
• Calculations*
• Bonding and structure*
• Relevant practical skills**

*Although these topics are included, they will be examined in the context of organic chemistry. So you could have a calculation to find the empirical formula of an organic compound or the percentage yield or atom economy of an organic reaction. You may also have questions related to types of bonds or bond angles within organic compound, and of course lots of questions related to intermolecular forces and the boiling points of organic compounds.

**Practical skills will focus on organic practical techniques, such as reflux, distillation, recrystallisation and purification of organic liquids. They could also include fundamental techniques such as titrations, for example to determine the identity of an organic acid – however titrations are much more likely to come up in Papers 1 and 3.

Need a recap and some useful tips for organic analysis? The video below is a free online class I gave to A Level students earlier this year:

What are the most common topics for OCR A chemistry A level Paper 2?

There are certain topics and types of question that are VERY LIKELY to come up and you should know these well, including:

• Carboxylic acids and esters (especially condensation and hydrolysis reactions)
• Alkanes, alkenes and isomerism
• Spectroscopy – especially NMR
• Testing for organic functional groups
• Empirical formulae calculations
• Percentage yield calculations

What’s most likely to come up for 2025 in OCR A chemistry A Level Paper 2?

Looking through past papers, I have a few extra predictions that you should focus on for this year’s paper:

• Reactions of alcohols (oxidation especially)
• Preparation of amines (aliphatic and aromatic)
• Stereoisomerism (E/Z and optical)
• Recrystallisation
• Distillation
• Comparison of polymers (addition and condensation)
• ‘Green’ chemistry – ozone layer, greenhouse effect and pollutants from combustion of fuels

The video below summarises my predictions for OCR A Level chemistry paper 2 for 2025 – remember these are just educated guesses, so make sure you revise thoroughly and check out the predicted papers and revision classes if you’d like some more support!