Preparing for practical work

To make sure our courses help your students become capable and confident scientists, we’ve put practical work at the heart of our AS and A level Chemistry specifications. We’ve created many resources to help you and your students with each aspect of practical work – from planning and carrying out the experiments to honing investigative skills.

Read more

Core practicals directory and mapping documents

Our mapping document shows the list of core practicals, matched to the essential skills and techniques in our specifications. The mapping document also shows you our recommendations for which CPAC skills to assess on each core practical.

Worksheets

Teacher, technician and student worksheets detailing the procedure, apparatus and safety instructions for each core practical will be available for you to use.

Resources for developing investigative skills

Our teacher materials for developing investigative skills will support you with integrating practical work and the teaching of investigative skills into your lessons.

We also provide student materials for developing investigative skills that will encourage a deeper understanding of the underlying science behind practicals, guide students to think independently as scientists and help their preparations for AS and A level assessments.

Royal Society of Chemistry resources for A level Chemistry practicals

The Royal Society of Chemistry has a wealth of support for practical work on its website. As part of their support for schools teaching A level Chemistry, the RSC has mapped some of its practical resources to the techniques and apparatus that all A level students must experience (those skills in Appendix 5c). They have also indicated which resources might be suitable for schools looking at each of our core practical activities.