In short: Getting stuck in A Level Chemistry is normal, and strong students get stuck too. What matters is what you do next: act on it straight away, ask early, go back over it that evening and test yourself until it clicks.
Don't ever think for a second that strong students never get stuck. They do. After 21 years teaching this exact course, I can tell you that students at every level hit the same walls: a mechanism that won't stick, a moles calculation that falls apart, a definition that comes out wrong every time.
Why getting stuck is normal
A Level Chemistry is a big jump from GCSE. It asks you to hold a lot of ideas at once and use them in unfamiliar questions. If something doesn't make sense the first time, that is a normal part of learning it, not a sign you are not suited to the subject.
The difference between students is not whether they get stuck. It is what they do in the next few hours.
What to do straight away
When you get stuck, do something about it there and then. Waiting and hoping it will make sense later is the habit that lets small gaps grow, because later topics build on earlier ones. Moles underpins calculations in energetics, equilibria and acid–base work, so a wobble there will keep coming back.
- Write it on a "don't get it yet" list. Be specific. "Organic" is too vague. "Why the arrow starts at the lone pair in nucleophilic substitution" is something you can fix.
- Ask your teacher for a quick word. Most teachers are glad to be asked. Say what you tried and where it went wrong, because that shows them exactly what to help with.
- Go back over it that evening. Look at it again while the lesson is fresh. A short look that evening beats trying to remember it a month later.
- Test yourself until it clicks. Don't just re-read the explanation. Close the book and try to do it yourself.
Rich's tip: Act on it there and then. Ask early, go back over it that evening, and test yourself until it clicks.
Test yourself until it clicks
This last step is the one students skip. Understanding something when you read it is not the same as being able to do it. So once you have had it explained:
- Write the definition from memory, then check it.
- Redo the calculation you got stuck on, with different numbers.
- Draw the mechanism on a blank page without looking.
- Try one exam question on it, then mark it using the mark scheme.
If it still doesn't click, that is information. Add what is still unclear to your list and ask again, with a more precise question.
Common mistakes when you are stuck
- Staying quiet because you think everyone else understands. Usually they don't, and they are glad when someone asks.
- Copying out the solution and moving on. You have not tested whether you can do it.
- Skipping the topic and doing the ones you like.
- Waiting until the week before a test to ask.
For more on building these habits into your revision, see Study habits for Year 12 Chemistry.
If you are stuck on something outside school hours, Dexter, the A Level Chemistry tutor I built, can explain a topic from your course again, in different words, whenever you need it.