I'm retaking my A levels after 5 years, need advice

seaborgium SG

Hi all, I'm turning 23 this year and I just graduated from university. I didn't like my degree but I took it because my A level results were really poor and I didn't have a choice. I took them in 2008.

I've decided to take another bachelors degree, and I'm retaking my A levels in order to get a better result and apply. I have to do really well to make it worthwhile, ie. all As. I plan to take the same subject combination as I did in 2008.

H2 Math, physics, chemistry.

I plan to apply for an overseas university, do I need PW or Chinese language? My mandarin is really poor. Do I need to do GP? Can I combine my A level certificates?

My main question is, how should I prepare for the exam? I've had a look at MDIS, CHEC and BMC academy. The reviews are all really bad. I'm not confident of self study, I'm pretty sure I'll get stuck on the material at some point. I'm not sure if I can go back to my JC now. What should I do?

My parents are supportive of my decision.

UltimaOnline SG

H2 Math, physics, chemistry.

I plan to apply for an overseas university, do I need PW or Chinese language? My mandarin is really poor. Do I need to do GP? Can I combine my A level certificates?

My parents are supportive of my decision.

For overseas Unis :

Yes, you need GP. No, you don't need PW or 2nd language.

No, you're not allowed to combine certs. All subjects must be taken in one sitting.

Go for private tuition (one-on-one if you can afford it, cheaper group tuition if you cannot).

seaborgium SG

Thanks for the reply. Ok, not having to do PW or second language is a great relief. I did KI the first time so I have no experience with GP.

I've heard a lot about the private schools, but the reviews are very vague, people who went there just say it's 'bad' or 'awful' etc. Do you know anything about this topic? How are they 'bad' or 'awful'? I'll still need to go to a private school for practical lessons right? Could you make a recommendation?

Thanks!

UltimaOnline SG

Thanks for the reply. Ok, not having to do PW or second language is a great relief. I did KI the first time so I have no experience with GP.

Thanks!

No comments on private schools. I rather think private tuition to be rather more helpful.

You don't actually need practical practice. You already took practical lessons back in JC. That'll suffice.

And it'll be more productive to focus on your theory papers. If you do really excellently well in your theory papers, you just need to pass your practical paper (which you can easily do, based on your previous experience with practicals back in your JC), and you can still score an A grade.

One point to note : back in 2008, there was no such thing as Planning (ie. "Design an experiment to investigate..." type of question). You have to prepare for a Planning question in your H2 Chemistry and H2 Physics theory papers.

For H2 Chemistry Planning resources, links to download these are given on my website :
http://infinity.usanethosting.com/Tuition/#H2_Planning_and_other_goodies

seaborgium SG

OK I believe you. Really? it was so long ago and my practical skills were a mess. Thanks for the tips and materials.

Do you have experience teaching private A level students? How long would you say I need to prepare?

UltimaOnline SG

OK I believe you. Really? it was so long ago and my practical skills were a mess. Thanks for the tips and materials.

Do you have experience teaching private A level students? How long would you say I need to prepare?

Yes I've experience teaching private candidates. How long you need, depends on yourself (ie. your self-motivation, self-discipline, self-committment), as well as how far and how deep you wish to go into and beyond the syllabus to secure that A grade.

Speaking only for H2 Chemistry, staying strictly within the basic syllabus no longer guarantees you an A grade. It's still possible, but less of a guarantee (compared to pre-2010 years).

Accordingly, notice that many of the H2 Chemistry materials (eg. textbooks, guidebooks, etc) I recommend on my website, are University level Chemistry materials, particularly for Organic Chemistry.

Recommended books for H2 Chemistry :
http://infinity.usanethosting.com/Tuition/#Books_for_H2_Chemistry

As such, private candidates (or school candidates, for that matter) may (choose to) have to set aside additional time, to go (at least a little) beyond H2 Chemistry, to secure that distinction A grade in H2 Chemistry.

While it varies from student to student, you should set aside at least 6 months of intensive study, to secure your distinction A grade. That'll be right now, seeing how there's only 5 months left to the 2013 A levels. Better late than never.

seaborgium SG

Hi, thanks for your reply. If staying within the syllabus doesn't guarantee an A grade how much, and what, should I be studying? The A is important to me. If I use those university level texts, how much of the book do I need to know? How do I get exposure to the types of questions that will be asked?

I discussed with my parents. They are okay with me sitting for the A levels in 2014.

UltimaOnline SG

I discussed with my parents. They are okay with me sitting for the A levels in 2014.

The ideal level of depth to go into and beyond for H2 Chemistry, does partly also depend on the Uni course you intend to apply for. For instance, if you intend to do a Chemistry based course such as Medicine, Pharmacy, Chemical Engineering, then all the more it makes it worthwhile to go more deeply beyond the basic H2 Chemistry syllabus, both (ie. dual function) for securing an A grade, as well as advanced preparation for your Chemistry based Uni course.

But if you're certain you'll not be applying into a Chemisry based Uni course, eg. if you wanna do Law, Arts, Finance, Economics, etc; then perhaps it makes more economical sense to focus more thoroughly within the syllabus than beyond it.

In other words, you've to decide (varying from individual to individual) an optimum position of balance and equilibrium, how to best secure your A grade.

As a simplified illustration, to secure your A grade for H2 Chemistry (disclaimer : I can't speak for other H2 subjects), you could either (I've seen both kinds of students get distinction A grades for H2 Chemistry) :

Have a fair mastery of within-syllabus content, plus a fair exposure to beyond-syllabus content,

Have an extreme mastery of within-syllabus content, without any exposure whatsoever to beyond-syllabus content.

My personal preference for my own tuition students, is the former category, as the latter category does imply a fair degree of blind memorization without deeper understanding.

Of course, if you're really up to it (and this requires the ultra-rare, perfect storm combination of both perfect aptitude and perfect attitude), the most secure way to guarantee your distinction for H2 Chemistry is of course :

Have an extreme mastery of within-syllabus content, plus a fair exposure to beyond-syllabus content.

By beyond-syllabus content, I refer to relevant Uni level, H3 level, and Olympiad level Chemistry. I emphasize "relevant", because for instance, in my BedokFunland JC H2 Chemistry tuition, I only teach selected Chemistry content, concepts and strategies from Uni level, H3 level, and Olympiad level.

Examples of Uni/H3/Olympiad/BedokFunland JC stuff I've found to be relevant and useful, are formal charges, resonance mechanisms, further organic mechanisms (eg. nucleophilic acyl subtitutions, free radical polymerizations, keto-enol tautomerisms, etc), poly/multi-protic acid-base equilibria, Kstab/Kf, Ellingham diagrams, van Arkel's triangle, etc. These are useful stuff that are intimately relevant to, and a logical extension of, the H2 Chemistry syllabus that may well be (and indeed have been, post 2010) asked in the Cambridge H2 Chemistry exams, usually as data based synoptic application questions.

For further examples of suggested Chemistry content beyond the basic H2 syllabus, you could check out my website's "BedokFunland JC questions" and Mr Chong (aka Chemguide7)'s blogsite "Tips for *2012* JC2 H2 Chemistry Students".

BedokFunland JC questions
http://infinity.usanethosting.com/Tuition/#BedokFunlandJC_Chemistry_Qns

Mr Chong (aka Chemguide7)'s "Tips for *2012* JC2 H2 Chemistry Students" and his other relevant blog entries :

http://alevelchemistrysg.blogspot.sg/search/label/%23%23%23%20Tips%20for%20JC2%20H2%20Chemistry%20Students

http://alevelchemistrysg.blogspot.sg/search/label/%23%20%5EUpdated%20Tips%20for%20*2013%20JC2%20students

http://alevelchemistrysg.blogspot.sg/search/label/%23%20%20%20Real%20tricky%20Organic%20Chemistry%20Questions%20Updated

http://alevelchemistrysg.blogspot.sg/search/label/%23%20Novel%20Physical%20Chemistry%20Questions

http://alevelchemistrysg.blogspot.sg/search/label/%23%23%23%23%20Research%20paper%20question%20similar%20to%20A%20level%20exam%20question%202012

As for the books I recommend, first ask yourself if you'll be doing a Chemistry based course in the Uni, and then go check out these books on Amazon.com, NUS Science bookstore, etc, to decide for yourself which books would be appropriate for you to obtain. If you've the finances to do so, as well as the motivation to do so, go ahead and buy all, or almost all, of the books I recommend on my website. That's what I did. (Of course, unlike the average JC student, I've a professional reason and motivation for buying all these books, afterall H2 Chemistry tuition is my professional job and career).

Once again, do peruse to pick for yourself, from my list of BedokFunland JC recommended books :
http://infinity.usanethosting.com/Tuition/#Books_for_H2_Chemistry