Repeating AS Chemistry: Should I?

[Saad (سعد)]

Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Raheem.

Allahumma Salli 'alaa Sayyidina Muhammadinin-Nabiyyil-Ummiyi, wa 'alaa Aalihi wa Sah-bihi wa Barik wa Sallim.

As-Salaamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu; hope whoever is reading this and his'/her's are in the best of health and faith.

I wanted to discuss whether I should go for a repeat in AS-Level Chemistry. The following was my result for AS:-

Overall Grade: B​

- Paper 1: B​

- Paper 2: A​

- Paper 3: C​

It was more bad luck than a lack of preparation, particularly in the Practicals.

Since I was aiming for an A* (I actually sorta need an A*; medical college merits are pretty high), all of my teachers recommend going for a repeat in AS alongside the A-2 (giving all 5 papers together). Personally I don't want to go for a repeat, but everyone is recommending it.

So I wanted to ask, is it impossible, with those grades, to get an A*? Or can it still be achieved? I'd much prefer to take a shot with Paper 4 and Paper 5.

What do you folk suggest?

Jazak Allah Khayr (may God reward you with good).

Allahumma Salli 'alaa Sayyidina Muhammadinin-Nabiyyil-Ummiyi wa 'alaa Aalihi wa Sah-bihi wa Sallim; wal-Hamdu lir-Rahmani Rabbil-'Alameen.

 

[Saad (سعد)]

... Anyone?

 

[XPFMember]

WaAlaikumAsSalam Wr Wb,

I'd recommend a repeat. Note that for A2 chemistry, you have to go through the AS syllabus anyways! [An examiner report (chemistry) says that candidates usually study only the A2 syllabus for the A2 paper when they should be studying both.]

You'll find the AS paper easy once you're done with A2. I don't think it's going to be a problem.


And well, in the end, I'd suggest you to do Istikhara.

 

[Saad (سعد)]

Jazak Allah Khayran Kathira.

Insha' Allah I intend to do Istikhaara at the end. But I wanted to consult people first; its Sunnah!

Anyways thanks a million for your input bro, really appreciate it. If anyone else is willing to put in his two cents, I'd appreciate that too.

 

[Beaconite007]

Jazak Allah Khayran Kathira.

Insha' Allah I intend to do Istikhaara at the end. But I wanted to consult people first; its Sunnah!

Anyways thanks a million for your input bro, really appreciate it. If anyone else is willing to put in his two cents, I'd appreciate that too.

my chem components were similar to urs. nd it was due to bad luck. i went for a repeat in november session. it is abit difficult 2 give it in one go,particulary when we r also preparing 4 entry test>>>>>

 

[Saad (سعد)]

my chem components were similar to urs. nd it was due to bad luck. i went for a repeat in november session. it is abit difficult 2 give it in one go,particulary when we r also preparing 4 entry test>>>>>

I agree, though personally I felt repeating in November would be more detrimental. I felt it would sort of hamper my A2 preparation. Bro XPFMember up there was right imo, repeating Chem isn't so hard (compared to other subjects), since one has to revise the AS and A2 syllabi anyways, for A2 papers.

The B in Chem, for me, was honestly a surprise. I'm good at Chem, Al-Hamdulillah.

I honestly don't want to repeat at all. But its what everyone suggests, I dunno.

I would like to know what the chances are of getting a B pumped up to an A*. I think it should be possible... one of my seniors turned a C in AS Chemistry into an overall A-grade after A2 (without repeating anything). So jumping 2 grades should be possible... right?

 

[Beaconite007]

seeing the fact that u have A in paper 2 makes A* possible, but 4 that u have to do realy well in ur A2... just work harder nd have a believe in ALLAH.
inshALLAH then u will turn ur dreams into reality.. A* is a dream grade in ALEVELS .... best of luck

 

[ZohaibAsad]

Wsalam,

Alright, so you had an A in p2 suggesting that your theory is good enough already, also you had a B in P1 which must be a high B that shows you are good with the concepts (just need a bit more past paper practise), the C in practicals can be owed to bad time management, a bit of more time needed on examiner reports and mark schemes.

Now, step 1: You know you are good at chemistry, but luck didn't go your way (then this time take the luck factor out, you don't want to trust luck again to convert a B into an A*)

Step 2: You're good at chemistry, if you can do A2 well, you already know p2, p1 well then why not revise p2,p1 side by side and read more examiner reports and mark schemes for the practical, see more experiment videos on google, certainly would be worth it, after all your concepts will be more fresh on the MCAT by revising AS in A2 rather than doing that over the summer (FSc and A level chem have quite a lot of common ground)

Step 3: Game theory (economic tool of predicting outcomes for a situation before hand) predicts , that in your case you will be better off giving all 5 papers, you can get a higher score this time around on the practicals, you will freak out less if your p4 or p5 didn't go as well as you had expected, your concepts will be more polished and hence you will have a higher probability of getting an A*

You do that, Allah's help will follow

 

[Saad (سعد)]

Wsalam,

Alright, so you had an A in p2 suggesting that your theory is good enough already, also you had a B in P1 which must be a high B that shows you are good with the concepts (just need a bit more past paper practise), the C in practicals can be owed to bad time management, a bit of more time needed on examiner reports and mark schemes.

Accurate analysis, ma sha'Allah. I was pretty sure I didn't get more than 4 or 5 MCQs wrong, and it was due neglecting Inorganic Chemistry (I focused too much on Organic). So it must be a high B; and I had been preparing all year for Practicals. It was almost totally bad time management. 60 seconds more and I could've completed it (I couldn't complete some of the calculations at the end of the titration in Q1) without a problem, probably.

Thanks for the advice, really helpful. Jazak Allah Khayr.