Welcome to Chemistry

In Year 12, the course includes the following topics of study, as well as practical experiments relating to:

• Inorganic chemistry topics
  Including periodicity, the alkaline earth metals and halogens.
• Organic chemistry topics
  Alkanes, alkenes, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones and carboxylic acids.
• Physical chemistry topics
  Atomic structure, amounts of substance, bonding, energetics, kinetics, oxidation, reduction and redox equations.

This will then be developed in Year 13 into the study of the following topics, along with their related practical experiments, such as thermodynamics, rate equations, acids and bases, transition metals, alkanes, optical isomerism, aldehydes, ketones, and aromatic chemistry.

Assessment

The Chemistry course is delivered in three assessed units.

• Paper 1: Physical & Inorganic Chemistry (plus practical skills)
  This unit is an exam-based unit, lasting for two hours. This exam is worth 105 marks, equivalent to 35% of the course certification.
• Paper 2: Physical & Inorganic Chemistry (plus practical skills)
  This unit is an exam-based unit, lasting for two hours. This exam is worth 105 marks, equivalent to 35% of the course certification.
• Paper 3: Any specification content (plus practical skills)
  This unit is an exam-based unit, lasting for two hours. This exam is worth 90 marks, equivalent to 30% of the course certification.

Career & Progression Opportunities

Chemistry is an essential qualification for careers, including dentistry, medicine and veterinary science. Other careers include dietetics, environment and health, environmental science and engineering, food science, forensic science, pharmacology and pharmacy.

Entry Requirements

If you’d like to study Chemistry, then you will need at least a Grade 6 in GCSE Chemistry (on a higher paper), or, at least a Grade 6-6 in Trilogy Science (on a higher paper).

Additionally, you will need at least a Grade 5 in Mathematics (on a higher paper).

If you’d like to, you can download this information as a PDF file. Download the Chemistry course information sheet (opens in a new tab) →