Before you book anything
- A grade can drop while your child is still revising because later questions may ask them to combine familiar topics in an unfamiliar way.
- Give your child one question they could answer in Year 12, then one that combines two familiar topics without naming the method. Where they stop can give you a clearer starting point than the grade alone.
- Stalling at the start, losing the thread halfway, or writing correct Chemistry that misses the marks are different problems, so each needs different work.
- More revision time may strengthen content recall, but it may not help your child choose a route through an unfamiliar question.
- Our UK-based tutors teach A Level Chemistry online, working from your child’s own board and past papers, at times that fit the Dubai school day.
Your child is still revising but the grade has dropped
One lower result cannot tell you whether your child has forgotten part of Year 12, cannot recognise the method, or is leaving answers unfinished. Those problems can produce the same grade but need different work. This is often when parents look for an A Level Chemistry tutor in Dubai.
Here is the first thing to hold on to. A drop like that does not necessarily mean the earlier learning was lost. The next step is to find out whether the issue is forgotten content, choosing a method or holding the answer together.
Your child reaches Year 13 and cannot see which method to use
As the course progresses, questions can combine topics that were first taught separately. Where a question sits inside one topic, the method tends to follow from it, and your child can start writing straight away. Where two or three ideas arrive in the same problem, the wording may not name the route, and the first decision is no longer obvious.
Choosing the idea and the order is a different skill from recalling the Chemistry. Topic-by-topic revision may not practise that decision directly.
Planning the route before writing
“Go through the problem and try and have a sort of view of how you’re going to get between each step. Because then you will know what the marks are for, you’ll know what you need to write down for each mark.
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Murray, A Level Maths tutor
The route comes first: work out how the answer gets from one step to the next before writing anything down.
Two answers can show where your child gets stuck
You can check for this at home using two questions from your child’s own past papers. Sit with both, give them one at a time, and watch what happens as they begin each one.
What changes between the two questions
Question one, familiar
One topic, method reasonably clear. Watch whether your child starts straight away, writes the steps down, and finishes the answer.
Question two, combined
Two familiar topics, route not named. Watch whether they can name what the question wants before any Chemistry is written, and whether the working holds together to the end.
What the difference between the two can point to
Both go well
The content and the routes may both be there. Timing and exam pressure are worth looking at next.
The mixed one does not start
Recognising the route may be the gap, rather than the Chemistry behind it.
It starts, then breaks halfway
Holding a multi-step calculation together may be the gap, especially if the working is being done in their head.
Both are shaky
A Year 12 foundation may need revisiting before the mixed questions will come right.
Two questions cannot diagnose everything, and they give you something specific to hand a tutor.
Bring both attempts to the first lesson
Run the pair this week. Keep both pieces of paper, including the unfinished attempt. Where an answer stops, and what was written before it stopped, can give a tutor a more useful starting point than the grade alone.
Your child writes correct Chemistry but still misses marks
Marks can also go missing when your child knows the Chemistry but stops before the answer is complete. What they have written may be correct, but it does not cover everything the question requires. An explanation worth several marks may include one correct idea and then stop, leaving part of the answer unwritten.
Reading the mark allocation
The mark allocation helps your child judge how much relevant detail the answer needs, so they can check whether they have stopped too early.
Will an A Level Chemistry tutor help if the method is the problem?
An A Level Chemistry tutor can help when the grade alone does not show whether the problem is knowledge, choosing a method or completing the answer. A tutor can work from your child’s own paper and the exact point where the answer stopped.
A first lesson can start from a recent paper or test, which your child can send ahead. The tutor can work through it with them, show where each mark was available, and agree what the coming lessons should cover. Then the lessons follow your child’s own exam board and past papers, so the practice matches what they will sit.
You receive a written report after every lesson. When homework is set, a reminder is sent by email before the next lesson. Our tutors are based in the UK and teach online, and lessons can be arranged around the Dubai school day.
Inside a lesson
This clip is from a real Greenhill Academics lesson, recorded live. It shows a maths lesson on the same shared board your child would use in Chemistry, with the question and the working side by side.
Did your child stall on the question that mixed two topics?
An A Level Chemistry tutor can look at both attempts and say whether the problem is choosing the route, holding the steps together, or an earlier topic that needs revisiting.
Book a LessonA Level Chemistry tutors for students in Dubai
Tutors from Oxford and Cambridge, teaching online
Gonzalo · Chemistry, Oxford
Gonzalo holds a First Class MChem in Chemistry from Jesus College, Oxford, finishing at 80% overall, and is starting a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry at Cambridge. He teaches A Level Chemistry and Maths, and achieved A*A*A*A* in Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry and Biology.
Jessica · Medicine, Cambridge
Jessica is in the fourth year of Medicine at Cambridge, after a BA in Psychology there and A*A*A*A at A Level including Chemistry. The teaching covers A Level Chemistry, Biology, Maths and Physics.
Murray · Materials Science, Oxford
Murray is in the fourth year of an MEng in Materials Science at Trinity College, Oxford, after achieving A*A*A* in Maths, Chemistry and Physics. The teaching covers A Level Maths, Chemistry and Physics, and starts from how an answer gets from one step to the next.
What Dubai parents ask before booking a Chemistry tutor
How do I find a good A Level Chemistry tutor in Dubai?
Look for a tutor who teaches your child’s exact exam board and works from your child’s own papers rather than generic worksheets. At Greenhill Academics we match each student with a specialist and teach online, which works well for families in Dubai.
My child did well in Year 12. Why has the grade dropped now?
Later questions often combine topics that were taught separately, without naming the method. That asks your child to choose a route before any Chemistry gets written, which is a skill in its own right and can be taught directly.
Which exam board do your Chemistry tutors work from?
Tell us which board your child’s school follows and we will match them with a tutor who teaches that specification, using its past papers and mark schemes.
Are your Chemistry tutors based in Dubai?
No. Our tutors are based in the UK and teach online, so your child works with a specialist while staying at home in Dubai. Lessons can be arranged around the Dubai school day.
What happens in the first lesson?
A first lesson can start from a recent paper or test your child sends ahead. The tutor can work through it with them, show where the marks were available, and agree what the coming lessons should cover.
Find out why the Chemistry grade dropped in Year 13
Send a recent Chemistry paper, or tell us what happened when your child tried the two questions, along with the exam board their school follows. We will match them with an A Level Chemistry tutor who can work out what to fix first.
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