Chemistry

Course summary

We offer the OCR Chemistry A course. The course includes units on Organic Chemistry, including hydrocarbons alcohols and haloalkanes, Physical Chemistry including enthalpy and Hess’s Law, Analysis and Organic synthesis which can be summarised as mass spectrometry and infra-red spectroscopy. Bonding and the periodic table obviously feature. Whilst the course builds on many of the GCSE topic areas, the demands are far greater, especially in terms of the maths, literacy and diagrammatical skills you are expected to use. The course has a significant practical element. There are a certain number of experiments and investigations which you are required to undertake, as well as many more which are used to help you understand concepts or develop important skills. There is an expectation that you will do a great deal of work as homework so that lesson time can be devoted to clearing up any problems you have encountered in your private or small group study. When students prepare properly in advance, much of your lesson time can then be spent discussing science instead of doing written work.