Advanced/Advanced Subsidiary GCE Chemistry

Advanced/Advanced Subsidiary GCE Chemistry

Entry Requirements
It is expected that you will have at least a grade C in GCSE Science and GCSE Additional Science, or GCSE Chemistry, at the higher level, although in exceptional cases foundation level students may be considered. You should also be interested in finding out more about chemistry. A grade C or better in GCSE Applied Science would not normally be sufficient to enable you to progress to an AS course in Chemistry.

About the Course
Salters Advanced Chemistry (OCR) is a modern course in which chemical concepts are introduced within a relevant context. It aims to convey the excitement of contemporary chemistry by focusing on the ways in which chemistry is used and the work that chemists do, often at the frontiers of the subject, as well as providing an interesting and stimulating treatment of chemical principles.

The course is divided into thirteen teaching sections (themes), five in AS and eight in A2. Materials from the course texts support each theme. A Storyline text provides interesting contexts within which the chemistry and skills are developed; the Chemical Ideas text contains the theory in short, easy to learn, sections; the Activities provide laboratory work and other types of learning experiences.

The AS themes are the Elements of Life, Developing Fuels, Elements from the Sea, the Atmosphere and the Polymer Revolution. These are divided into two modules each assessed by written paper taken in January or June. There is also a coursework module called Chemistry in Practice, which enables you to build up experimental skills, assessed by teacher marked practical activities.

What's in a Medicine, the Materials Revolution, the Thread of Life, the Steel Story, Agriculture and Industry, Colour by Design, the Oceans and Medicines by Design are the themes in the two A2 modules, each assessed by a written paper. The coursework module involves a four-week practical investigation on a topic chosen by you. The analysis of aspirin, factors affecting enzyme action, the analysis of wine and the vitamin C content of foods are popular choices.

With a chemistry qualification you have a wide choice of career options from medicine, pharmacy and veterinary science to finance, law, the media, engineering, forensic science and art restoration. You could discover a new life-saving drug or help solve an environmental problem.