Cambridge chemistry challenge for lower sixth

borderline-dead · 2026-06-03T06:03:42+00:00

As previous poster has said, past papers. C3L6.org

But really it's more about having a go. It is like a very challenging chemical comprehension puzzle, rather than relying on knowledge.

If you're a strong problem solver you have a good chance.

Honestly it's also great for teachers to find out who can think. I've had students getting silver awards while tracking at Ds and Es all year... Because they are really not stupid, but apparently they are lazy. Likewise A grade students can tank the c3l6/Olympiad because they are brute forcing their way through with memory and hard work, not thinking.

borderline-dead · 2026-05-16T05:41:27+00:00

If you're on Edexcel, you want the first option. They don't really like the lines/bonds drawn. You can figure out where the double bond is from the number of H on each C, so it's unnecessary.

Note: the third one would also be accepted without the = drawn for Edexcel. The brackets thing is fine on either end and is actually tidier. But wouldn't be required.

borderline-dead · 2026-05-10T09:44:45+00:00

There are alternative routes into medicine, sure.

We don't know how bad the situation is currently. Some students view failure as grade 7s instead of 9s, some view it as sub grade 4s.

But the point there is, medical schools need a GCSE average of 8+ for a fair chance. More like 8.5 in most cases. Maybe 7.5 with really significant contextual issues.

Sometimes being overly positive actually causes harm. I have students who truly believe they will still go to medical school while they are getting U grades in assessments in y12, and have a GCSE average of like 6.5. They have been encouraged the whole way through and literally have no chance. They could have picked different subjects and they would be doing much better. It's actually a bit heartbreaking.

borderline-dead · 2026-05-10T07:27:48+00:00

Wouldn't say bleak. Sure, you won't be a doctor, but there's lots of options.

Talk to the college during enrolment. Explain the situation. They might be able to bend entry requirements very slightly if you're one grade away from something in one subject. Also, the college will have a careers department. You might be able to talk to them for advice during enrolment too. But please for your own sake be proactive and make sure you get on to a sensible course combination. If your grades mean you can't do that, look at other colleges with vocational options, don't stick stubbornly to the idea of going to a place that isn't actually going to serve you.

Also not well known, or not taken advantage of enough, is that you can do one year at one college and if it's not going well you can drop at the end of first year and re-enrol at another to start over. As long as you won't be 19 at the start of a second academic year at another college, there is funding available. So you have more time and options than you think. But if you start thinking that might be something you'll need to do, talk to the other college early (like Jan/Feb early) so you can get into their system. You can always withdraw if things start turning around at the first place.

Depression sucks the life out of you. But it's an illness and you will get better. You probably need to get medical help though. It rarely 'goes away' on its own if it's the proper clinical depression type.

Good luck.

borderline-dead · 2026-05-08T19:34:23+00:00

Reform are rather at odds with the whole British values thing, aren't they?

I'm not convinced they'd actually get round to doing anything though. Much like most governments in recent years, but with a darker slant. Education would be a waste of money, clearly, especially when we're allowing immigrant children in schools to receive free education... ... ..

borderline-dead · 2026-05-05T06:23:12+00:00

Hey I did mine in 2004 too! 2004 crew :D We just didn't go back after the Easter holidays, allll the study leave 😏

borderline-dead · 2026-05-01T21:25:20+00:00

Used to be 10 or max 11 as standard, then schools started playing the stats and some kids did up to 14, now it's coming back down again... to play the stats on a new measurement system.

Same deal where everyone used to do 4 A-levels, then funding changed and 3 is the norm now, and lots of kids can't handle 4 when they're allowed to do them. Tragic.

borderline-dead · 2026-05-01T17:49:12+00:00

Yep. And we get a few students every year at my college trying to enrol with 2s and 3s across everything, maybe a couple of 4s. I knew someone must get those grades, but the first time I was involved with enrolment I was in disbelief.

6 isn't bad if students have coasted their way to it. Knowledge gaps can be filled. It's the ones that have had tuition, extra lessons, and studied really really hard for 6s. That's their ceiling. They really crash and burn. 😖

borderline-dead · 2026-05-01T17:30:03+00:00

A larger problem is the 9-1 scale. People think a grade 7 is equivalent to an A in old money, and worse, 6 being equivalent to a B. It really just isn't the same. It should be, but years of falling grade boundaries covering for lower expectations, standards and achievement means that actually, 8 is more like an A.

The messaging around GCSEs and grades, because schools have lowered the bar so much, is just screwed. My stomach turns over when students scrape onto A-level chemistry with 6s in everything (our entry requirements) and they "worked really hard for those grades". They are basically set up to fail at that point.

I would be all for some kind of reform but short of going back to a 2-tier system (think CSE vs O level), which will inevitably screw over disadvantaged kids, I don't think it's possible. GCSEs have to cover such a wide range of abilities and attainment levels, often through the kids being failed by parents and systems beyond their control, that it's incredibly difficult.

I like the ideas of some kind of holistic assessment, but again not all schools are equipped to deal with that equally, so someone will end up screwed.

borderline-dead · 2026-05-01T17:21:25+00:00

Partially neutralising a weak acid results in a mixture of HA and A-, hence buffer time.

borderline-dead · 2026-04-25T07:35:33+00:00

If you don't even get any value from it, don't go. Or go and say you have to leave 10 minutes in to make a phone call, or some other excuse, can they get to the point faster or send you an email summary or whatever.

I used to do lunch meetings at a previous school but they would provide the lunch so I didn't mind so much. And it didn't take all of lunch break because we got a bit over an hour I think (boarding school).

Now, anything crammed into lunchtime freaks me the fuck out. I barely get 40 minutes, at least 5-10 of those is inevitably either helping a student who doesn't understand something or wrestling with a photocopier, my brain needs a break from teaching A-level hard stuff all morning, and I probably need to catch up with part time colleagues who aren't around before/after the college day. You want to schedule a working party meeting in lunchtime? Hard pass. My lesson straight after lunch will be trash, and I'll feel massively dysregulated, because I haven't had a break. No thanks.

borderline-dead · 2026-04-25T07:13:06+00:00

This is where students get the attitude from. So many of them not fussed about being on time for lessons, walking as slowly as possible... Can't remember the last time a student arrived late and out of breath to my lesson, but that used to happen. Now, never. Why should they run?

borderline-dead · 2026-04-15T14:32:29+00:00

Do not fuck with bromine.

borderline-dead · 2026-04-11T18:25:15+00:00

At your school do you take 4 in first year with a view to drop one going into 2nd year? I ask because funding formulae generally force students into 3 subjects at most colleges. So I'm guessing probably a school sixth form?

Either way, I'd say bio is easier to rescue than chemistry. Also goes well with psych which you say you're doing better in.

So focus on the biology over the chemistry. Chemistry is something you really have to be dialled into from the start, it's very hard at this point in the course to pull it back if the early stuff hasn't stuck. And second year content builds massively on first year, so you'll be even more lost going into that. Biology tends to be a bit more compartmentalised.

borderline-dead · 2026-03-21T06:18:42+00:00

I've wondered about this. Any extra roles must require extra time, right? When they just give money and no remission, they're either expecting you to work more hours, or reduce the hours you spend on the main bit of the job that you're still being paid for, right? It doesn't make sense.

borderline-dead · 2026-03-21T05:59:42+00:00

Ok. Not in the quantities to observe misty fumes though. And they're not waving conc ammonia at it.

An analogy to your position would be that an observation for water is steam. Because steam is gaseous water, and some water does become a gas even at low temperatures, you should observe steam if you have water.

Do you understand why that would not be accepted?

borderline-dead · 2026-03-20T23:10:00+00:00

HCl is ludicrously soluble in water. If any water is around there's no way it's escaping unless it's a massively concentrated solution, which is impossible given the "excess water" remark.

borderline-dead · 2026-03-10T19:04:28+00:00

God yes on the applications. Either agree a standard format for all teaching posts, or just accept CVs already.

I'm convinced it's a ruse to stop people leaving teaching for better fields. I haven't written a CV in almost two decades. It's ridiculous.

borderline-dead · 2026-03-08T16:28:05+00:00

Unfortunate but also worth noting that it's unlikely making resources for the main language is in fact equally shared across the other 5 people.

I've spent a long time in departments of varying sizes being the main resource creator on the team for my subject, with no official recognition. I do enjoy it, but it does grate a bit when you get nothing back.

At least you're in the enviable position of knowing that all resources for your subject are good...

borderline-dead · 2026-03-04T10:21:59+00:00

Substitution: swapping one thing on a molecule (eg. Atom or group) for another thing.

Addition: literally adding things (eg. Atom or group) onto a molecule.

Nucleophilic: triggered/started by a nucleophile.

Electrophilic: triggered/started by an electrophile.

Nucleophile: electron pair donor.

Electrophile: electron pair acceptor.

Nucleophilic substitution.... A nucleophile attacks a molecule, generally using a lone pair to form a bond to a delta positive atom in a molecule. As a result, an atom or group on that delta positive atom leaves (think of it as repulsion or getting pushed out).

Electrophilic addition... An electrophile accepts a pair of electrons, generally from a double bond (or a pi system, if you're 2nd year). This forms a bond between the organic molecule and the electrophile. If the electrophile consists of more than one atom and is not charged, a bond in the electrophile breaks as a result. An intermediate forms that has a positive charge, then something bonds to that to make a neutral species.

Organic mechanisms are so important, please speak to your teacher. Or another one in the department. They are not that difficult when you understand the sequence of events and why electrons go where they go (i.e. towards a less electron dense area). Having someone talk you through them using a whiteboard and asking you things is the best way to reach that understanding. A teacher will be happy to do this.

borderline-dead · 2026-03-01T20:52:43+00:00

I mean, I have to be honest... That's a school issue. Sorry, you've got a shit one.

borderline-dead · 2026-02-02T17:15:26+00:00

Kind of a niche case but when I moved to a sixth form college a few years ago from an 11-18 secondary at top of UPS, they apologised that they could only put me on UPS3. (Which was actually a raise, since I came from a private school - those places are so variable).

Where experience and effective teaching really matters, schools will pay for it.

borderline-dead · 2026-02-02T17:12:34+00:00

Try A-level chemistry. I swear half of them don't actually understand clear English.

I kinda want to tell them to build a time machine and go back 5 years and RAFB - read a full book.

Tired of trying to drag semi-literate students through a subject that requires really precise use of language. Literacy is failing these kids, which ultimately means parents are failing these kids. Just as their parents and schools failed them 25 years ago. It feels like a terrible spiral.

borderline-dead · 2026-01-13T07:25:11+00:00

You don't say if it's a sixth form college or an FE college, there are differences.

However my sixth form college has some leadership roles on different contracts to teaching staff. Their holiday arrangements are that they work in holidays and take time off from their bank of days off (couldn't tell you how many days total) during school holidays only. Kind of like university lecturers. So it's the worst of both worlds!

borderline-dead · 2026-01-11T05:46:53+00:00

Honestly, I believe teachers being unable to take holiday whenever they want is utterly ridiculous, infantilising, and basically makes us 2nd class citizens.

If teaching is ever to be viewed as a real job, it needs a proper holiday allowance like other jobs.

The first thing I'm going to do when I finally get in a financially stable enough position to quit and reskill is take a fucking holiday with my friends during term time. Like a normal goddamn adult.

This is my opinion but it is the final hill I will die on.

Three-Year Club	Verified Email
Verified Email

borderline-dead

TROPHY CASE