Cgp A2 Level Chemistry Revision Guide
A-level Chemistry Revision
The new A-Levels start in 2015, and with new course come new text books. I've had a look at them and this is what I think. Before we start you may not need to spend any money at all, has loads of great videos! Workbooks And before you spend out on text books, (packed full of questions) are going to be more helpful with your revision. Free E-Books E-Books are good for a number of reasons, sometimes they're free, they're lighter to carry around, you can take them anywhere, and they have a lower impact on the environment. Neil Goalby, Head of Chemistry at Bancroft’s School has produced an excellent free e-text book Head Start to A-Level Chemistry These are a great way to spend your summer holiday, I know you don't think so, but I'm right. So many students forget everything and turn up for their first A-Level class claiming they've never seen a periodic table before.
This book takes the harder bits of GCSE, makes sure you know them really well and extends you. Maths books for A-Level Science There is a lot of maths at A-Level and it's a big, big jump from GCSE. If you're not taking A-Level Maths as well you're going to find this bit particularly hard. These are books I highly recommend to my own students. The books have a double page spread on each topic, with an explanation and questions ranging from GCSE to undergrad level, so with cover all abilities at A-Level.
The downside is there there are only a few question at each level so you'll need to use something else to become fully confident in a subject. I'm going to make as many videos as I can full of worked examples for you. These are general text books so may cover bits that don't come up in your course The answers aren't included in the book but can be downloaded General Text Books. General text books are great if you're keen to take a subject further. If your know you want to study Chemistry or Physics at university this might be the option for you. The downside is they are going to contain topics that don't come up on your course.
This can also be considered a positive, since you'll have a better basis for your university course. These are (IMHO) the best general books on the market, they are fully comprehensive, have questions based on past exam papers, they start from a basic level but extend far enough that you'll still find them useful at university. They are large and pricey (£40ish) Exam Board Specific Text Books Exam board specific text books are great, they contain wording specific to your specification (like how OCR have decided to use some very old fashioned terms, instead of the names I've been teaching for years - why do they do this to me?!?!?). Past paper questions, only have the content you need for the course you're sitting and have tips from the examiners. The downside is if you're going on to student at university you'll be missing some subjects. Just make sure if you buy a book that it is for the new specification.
The other thing to be careful of is that publishers have split AS/year 1 A-Level and year 2 A-Level into separate books. So if you're not sure about a full A-Level the best idea might be to go for one book then the other.
CGP Text Books I'm sure the majority of you had CGP revision guides for GCSE, so you know what to expect from the text book. They have produced a set of text books for OCR-A and AQA, they comes with an online edition and can be bought on kindle instead of text book. They have a comprehensive set of testing question, with answers included.
My only reservation with these, is that they don't always extend the most able students (as the general text book above would) but are great, cheaper, all round options. Revision Guides Some of these revision guides are so large they might as just well be called small text books.I know most of you had the ever popular CGP guides for GCSE (and they are great) but I'm going to throw you a curve ball and recommend a newcomer to the market. Its not a text book so not fully comprehensive but the main selling point for me is the tips it includes. As much as I nag you, you won't listen.
This is the one I have told my students to buy. OCR-A This is the exam board that I teach so I've looked at these books the most, the CGP text book (above) is a cheap, all - round option but not the one that we've gone for. I'm using the Pearson books (below), these have a really clear lay out, have a large number of questions (but not the answers) They come with an on-line book but the code can only be used once and only last for 3 year, so if you're buying second hand this may not work. So far, I haven't noticed any mistakes, they are very comprehensive and are very closely aligned to the specification. I'm a big fan of the next set of books, loads of questions to practice but it didn't take long to find a mistake; the year 13 content is not available separately so if you're not sure that you want to do the full A-Level you could end up spending a lot of money, and they are expensive. If this is the one you go for, be sure you get the correct one from Amazon they have mislabeled the OCR-A and OCR-B textbooks. AQA CGP do a good, cheaper option for AQA - see above This text book is great, it's very closely aligned to the syllabus, with large colourful pictures and detailed descriptions.
It has examiners tips - but whether are from a real examiner is hard to know! The exam style question at the end of sections are useful but the answers aren't included so for an independent student not so great. Again the year 13 content is only available as part of the larger text book, so if you start on the AS then switch you'll end up spending a lot of money.
OCR-B (Salters) The bad news is you don't get a choice of text book as there is only one. The good news is the text book is excellent! This is an updated version of the text book I used and loved for many years, finally with colour, it is laid out more like a undergrad text book than an A-Level one. With chapters (instead of topics on double page spreads) and a large number of questions at the end of each chapter. It is expensive, but the quality of this means it will be useful at the start of university, and has the option of buying the years separately or together. Edexcel I have not been paid for any of these reviews nor received free copies of any of these books.
The ones I highly recommended are the ones I have paid for myself, and I have pointed out the one I use in school. Karcher pressure washer troubleshooting guide. The links in here are affiliate links, for each click through purchase I receive a tiny percentage of sales. If you like my videos and website please support me!