ABOUT THIS SITE

The Site

Aims

The site was originally intended to meet the needs of UK A level chemistry students, but I have since been widening it to cover material on all the UK-based syllabuses including A level, IB, Scottish Advanced Highers and Cambridge International. In fact it is now being used by people on equivalent (16 to 18 year old) courses worldwide and by students at the beginning of university level courses.

I started by concentrating on the bits that textbooks tend to do too quickly and that students often find difficulty with. My over-riding aim is to try to increase your understanding of these difficult bits so that you gain confidence.

I have since added lots of factual content, but always with a concentration on understanding. I'm simply not interested in the "learn this parrot fashion and you will pass" approach - it is much more of a slog than taking a bit of time to understand what is going on.

Missing details

You should be able to find what you want via the menu systems or using the Google site search in the Main Menu. However, it may well be that I haven't written exactly what you want yet - in which case, you will need to look elsewhere. Please bear with me - writing new stuff takes a long time!

If I have already written about a topic, but you find that I have left out some vital point from a particular UK syllabus, perhaps you could let me know so that I can gradually fill in the missing bits and pieces (address further down this page). Please note that this only applies to one of the UK-based exams mentioned above.

If it is something minor, I'll try to do it quickly. If it is something major, I will add it to a list of things to do "dreckly" (as we say in my part of the world) - which basically means "Don't hold your breath!"

Please help by giving me an exact reference - which syllabus you are talking about (including the date, because syllabuses change), and a pointer to the statement in the syllabus that you think I have left out.

There are some things that I shall probably never write about on Chemguide - for example:

• any calculation work, including a systematic look at chemical energetics (including enthalpies, entropy and free energy): You will find what you need to know at this level in my chemistry calculations book (see link below). I need the income from sales of this book both to live and to subsidise the running costs of this site.

• crude oil (petroleum) distillation: boring, and all over the web!

• environmental chemistry: all over the web, especially on the excellent US Environmental Protection Agency site.

• uses for things: easy to find, and largely boring!

Helping yourself

To get the best from the site you must have a clear idea of what you need to know. You will often find comments suggesting that you should refer to your syllabus or to recent exam papers. It is important that you have these to hand.

Students on UK-based courses can easily download syllabuses from their Examiners, and should be able to find other useful things on those websites. You can find links to these sites via the Main Menu.

If you are working in another examination system, you still need to know exactly what is expected of you, but will have to find that information for yourself.

About the author

Jim Clark

• is a Cambridge graduate with over 30 years of teaching experience at this level.

• was Head of Chemistry and then Head of Science at Truro School in Cornwall.

• took early retirement in 1997 and has since concentrated on writing.

• is the author of Calculations in AS/A Level Chemistry published by Longman (September 2000). Follow the link to find out more about the book.

• is the author of Longman GCSE Chemistry published by Longman (May 2002). Follow this link to find out more about the book.

• is joint author (with Ray Oliver) of Longman Chemistry for CXC (published Jan 2004). This was adapted by Ray Oliver from my GCSE book. This link will take you direct to the book on the Amazon.co.uk site.

• is joint author (with Ray Oliver) of Longman Chemistry for IGCSE (published June 2005). This book has been approved by Edexcel International for use with their IGCSE Chemistry syllabus, and was also adapted by Ray Oliver from my GCSE book. This link will take you direct to the book on the Amazon.co.uk site.

Contacting the author

Copying from this site

You may use the information on this site in any way you wish - including making multiple copies for other people's use - provided that

• you make clear where the information came from;

• nobody makes any financial gain from it.

I have come across a couple of cases of people who wanted to include entire pages of Chemguide material in their own websites. That is only acceptable if you state clearly that the page has been copied from Chemguide, and include a link to the original page. That must be done for every single page copied.