Helps Fight The Chemistry Battle (A2 Level Chemistry: Revision Guide - Richard Parsons)

Member Name: DocDan3

Product:	A2 Level Chemistry: Revision Guide - Richard Parsons
Date:	07/07/09 (144 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good Layout, Easy To Read, Attractive, Good Side Tool, Practice & Exam Questions, Jokes

Disadvantages: Lacks Some Information, Some Annoyingly Sad Jokes

During my A level chemistry course, I found this revision guide to be very useful in guiding me through the topics and helping to simplify subjects to further my understanding. CGP are well known for their revision guides from KS3 level to Advanced Level. I find their revision guides easy to use as they are simple with a good layout and give a rather reliable and accurate description of topics.

You will find this book in shops such as WHSmith or Waterstones where a large variety of books are found. If you head to the revision guides section, you will find it there. If not, you can usually get the staff to order a book in for you - if not order one online yourself from somewhere like amazon.co.uk. The book has a black outer cover with a specific maroon colour at the bottom, which forms a gradient with the black background. The CGP logo and 'A2-Level Chemistry' is on the upper left of the book with 'A2-Level Chemistry' printed again in large brown-gold letters towards the centre of the book and 'The Revision Guide' is printed below in the same format. These clear large titles make the book easy to spot. On the spine of the book is exactly the same so you can easily spot it on a shelf if you know what you are looking for. The back is plain and has the RRP of £10.99 below the bar code. This price usually doesn't budge unless you buy it online.

Opening the book, CGP advertise their range of books as well as on the very back page. Next you can see the Editor, Contributors and Proofreaders for the revision guide. You then have the Contents page, which displays the general topics for the A2 level course. Note that this will only be useful for those who exceed the Advanced Subsidiary year and take Chemistry to A2 to complete the full A level. In order, the sections followed in this revision guide are: Energetics, Kinetics, Equilibria, Elements of the periodic table, Electrochemistry and Transition Elements, Organic Chemistry, Analysis and Synthesis, Biochemistry. The book covers the core material for most exam boards including: AQA, OCR, OCR Salters, Edexcel and Edexcel Nuffield. It also covers option topics for OCR modules such as Biochemistry, Methods of Analysis and Detection and Transition Elements.

Under each topic are more specific topics and their respective page numbers. The general page layout is very clear and easy to follow. At the top of each page, a new heading is displayed for each section along with the page numbers. At the bottom, it always shows the current topic. In a purple bar, the more specific title is displayed on every page and topics within these are displayed in green bars. The text is in all different colours including black, brown-gold, pink, red and green. The different colours and colours of the background boxes makes revision look a bit more exciting and attractive. It also helps to bring your attention to certain places or areas of importance. The use of bold writing is constantly used to highlight key words to help make your revision easier. At the end of each double page are Practice Questions (where the answers are not given) followed by Exam Questions with specified marks, and the answers to these are given at the back of the book. The practice questions are very general linked to what the page has told you but the exam questions usually get you applying your knowledge straight away, which is a useful skill to practice. Finally, there is a box at the end with a witty little joke or pun line and a summary of the double page including what you should really learn.

The revision guide is printed very well and includes all sorts of things to aid you in revision such as writing, diagrams, pictures, photos and tables. On the last paper page is a periodic table - perhaps the most useful table in the chemistry A level. The covers of the book seem to be card, coated with polythene (also known as polyethene - don't worry, you get to learn fun stuff about this in detail in your course). There is an index section towards the back of the book with very specific words or topics and relevant page numbers. Most of the photos in the book are primarily jokes to help add a little amusement to your revision. Many of the little snippets within the book contain little jokes, which are usually quite saddening but I find it better as it sets a better atmosphere when revising.

Perhaps the most useful sections in the book for me were Energetics and Kinetics. These weren't necessarily the easiest topics but their contents were fully and well explained. The least useful sections had to be the Organic Chemistry (when it came to unit 5) and Electrochemistry and Transition Elements. The organic chemistry lacked a few reactions and reaction mechanisms that needed to be learnt, so you had to go elsewhere for these when it came to unit 5 with the aromatic compounds and benzene derivatives. The other topic on Transition Elements and Electrochemistry was poor as the second part was not explained well and much information on the Transition Elements such as colours of hydroxide precipitates and more was missing so you had to go elsewhere for these. However, overall most of the required information was in the guide and it was simplified to make revision a lot easier.

This revision guide shouldn't be used by itself for revision. You must make your own notes from this guide and other books too. Make notes based on your exam board syllabus and make sure you have covered all the topics. Most importantly, you should go over past papers too, whilst using this guide to help you. Past papers are the key to success as the examiners usually set similar style papers (unfortunately this wasn't the case with my unit 5). Note that you are expected to know everything you have learnt up until this stage and although pure questions on unit 1 won't be asked in a unit 4 paper, you may need to know the information from unit 1 to help you understand unit 4. However, with organic chemistry, it is always necessary to know all the previous reaction schemes as they are linked to the later ones you learn. The harder papers such as unit 5 and the synoptic unit 6 will test you on your organic chemistry as they may ask you to produce more complex routes in organic synthesis. This revision guide contains two very useful reaction schemes on pages 124 and 125 for the year 12 reaction scheme learnt and the synthesis route for making aromatic compounds in the year 13 A2 course.

Overall, this revision guide is well-worth buying, as it will help you through the course by simplifying topics and improving your understanding. The layout is excellent and very clear, and the addition of some little jokes lightens up the somewhat stressed atmosphere when revising. The use of different colours, boxes, titles and the inclusion of bold writing helps to point out key topics, areas and words that are of greater importance. With diagrams, photos and tables throughout the book, learning the rather challenging A level chemistry course becomes a lot easier than anticipated, but you will still need to give a lot of effort to assure a top grade.

Thanks for reading,

Dan ©

Summary: A helpful revision guide to help you through the tough chemistry A level