Year 12 AQA A-Level Chemistry: AS 7404 Explained for 2027

AQA A-level Chemistry (7405) is a two-year qualification, but a Year 12 student's own content is also, in full, AQA's separate AS Chemistry (7404) qualification — examined through two 1-hour-30-minute papers worth 80 marks each, 160 marks in total. AQA's specification names sections 3.1.1 to 3.1.7, 3.2.1 to 3.2.3 and 3.3.1 to 3.3.6 as the shared AS and first-year content, and the AS specification exempts a Year 12 student from the Practical Endorsement that applies to the full A-level.

Which parts of AQA's A-level Chemistry specification does a Year 12 student actually cover?

AQA's combined AS and A-level Chemistry specification is direct on this point. Introducing its subject content, AQA states: “Sections 3.1.1 to 3.1.7 of the Physical chemistry content, sections 3.2.1 to 3.2.3 of the Inorganic chemistry content and sections 3.3.1 to 3.3.6 of the Organic chemistry content are designed to be covered in the first year of the A-level and are also the AS subject content. So you can teach AS and A-level together.” That sentence, from AQA's own AS and A-level Chemistry Specification for first teaching in 2015, is the entire basis for what a Year 12 student studies — not an estimate of "roughly the first half", but AQA's own named list of sections.

AQA's own A-level 7405 specification-at-a-glance page lists every sub-topic and labels the later ones individually: Physical chemistry runs 3.1.1 to 3.1.12, with the final five (3.1.8 to 3.1.12) marked “(A-level only)”; Inorganic chemistry runs 3.2.1 to 3.2.6, with the final three (3.2.4 to 3.2.6) marked the same way; Organic chemistry runs 3.3.1 to 3.3.16, with the final ten (3.3.7 to 3.3.16) marked “(A-level only)” too. That is 12 + 6 + 16 = 34 named sub-topics in total, of which 5 + 3 + 10 = 18 carry the A-level-only label — leaving 34 − 18 = 16. AQA's own separate AS 7404 specification-at-a-glance page independently confirms the arithmetic: it lists exactly those 16 sub-topics — 3.1.1 to 3.1.7, 3.2.1 to 3.2.3 and 3.3.1 to 3.3.6 — and none of them carry an “A-level only” label, because it is the AS-only page.

That distinction is not just academic. A Year 12 scheme of work built around a vague idea of “the first half of the specification” risks either teaching content AQA has explicitly marked “(A-level only)” too early, or under-covering content that genuinely sits inside the AS list — such as 3.1.7, Oxidation, reduction and redox equations, which AQA's own section numbers confirm is examinable at AS.

What exam does a Year 12 AQA Chemistry student actually sit, and when?

AS Chemistry (7404) is assessed through two written papers, each worth half of the qualification. AQA's specification states, for Paper 1: “Relevant physical chemistry topics (sections 3.1.1 to 3.1.4, 3.1.6 and 3.1.7); Inorganic chemistry (section 3.2.1 to 3.2.3); Relevant practical skills. Assessed: written exam: 1 hour 30 minutes; 80 marks; 50% of the AS. Questions: 65 marks of short and long answer questions, 15 marks of multiple choice questions.” Paper 2 carries the mirrored structure over the remaining content: “Relevant physical chemistry topics (sections 3.1.2 to 3.1.6); Organic chemistry (section 3.3.1 to 3.3.6); Relevant practical skills. Assessed: written exam: 1 hour 30 minutes; 80 marks; 50% of the AS. Questions: 65 marks of short and long answer questions, 15 marks of multiple choice questions.” Between the two papers, a Year 12 AS Chemistry student is examined on the whole of the AS content in a single series — 160 marks sat across two mornings in May 2027 — with no coursework or non-exam assessment to plan around.

AQA's AS 7404 key dates page lists 7404/1 for 11 May 2027 and 7404/2 for 18 May 2027, both morning sittings. AQA's own exams administration dates-and-timetables hub links the same two dates from its May/June 2027 AS and A-level timetable, filed under a heading that reads “Confirmed exam timetables — The timetables on this page are definitive.” The timetable document itself, version 1.0, carries no “provisional” marking anywhere across its 30 pages — checked 7 September 2026. A separate, superseded edition of the same document sits at its own direct AQA URL, watermarked “Provisional v1.0, January 2026”, and is not the file AQA's own hub links; the dates inside both editions agree, but only the hub-linked file carries AQA's current, definitive status.

Does the Practical Endorsement apply in Year 12?

Our generic A-level Chemistry guide covers the Practical Endorsement across the full two-year qualification. In Year 12, AQA scopes it out entirely for a student on AS Chemistry: its own AS 7404 practical assessment page states, “Assessment of practical skills in this AS specification will be by written exams only. The practical endorsement does not apply to the AS specification.”

Instead, AQA folds practical competence into the written papers. The same page states: “Questions in the papers have been written in the expectation that students have carried out at least the 6 required practical activities in section 7.2. 15% of the marks in the papers will relate to practical work.” That is half the 12 required practicals a full A-level student must complete, confirmed on AQA's parallel A-level 7405 practical assessment page: “Carrying out the 12 required practicals in section 7.2 means that students will have experienced use of each of these apparatus and techniques.”

AQA names all 6 AS-level required practicals: making up a volumetric solution and carrying out a simple acid-base titration; measuring an enthalpy change; investigating how the rate of a reaction changes with temperature; simple test-tube reactions to identify cations and anions; distillation of a product from a reaction; and tests for alcohol, aldehyde, alkene and carboxylic acid. A Year 12 student who has not personally carried out all 6 is still expected, under AQA's own wording, to answer written questions on them.

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What did an A require in AS Chemistry (7404) in June 2026?

AQA's June 2026 grade boundaries document, published 13 August 2026, gives AS Chemistry (7404) a maximum mark of 160 across both papers combined, with an A at 114, a B at 99, a C at 84, a D at 69 and an E at 55. These are the confirmed subject grade boundaries for the series just gone, not a prediction — the same document notes that any component-level figures inside it are notional and for illustration only, so the subject-level boundaries below are the ones that actually set a Year 12 student's grade.

A Year 12 student comparing a mock result against a real series has to use the AS boundaries above, not the full A-level's — the two qualifications are marked out of different totals and set independently by AQA each series, so an A-level boundary published for 7405 says nothing about what 7404 required in the same year.

Should a school enter Year 12 for the AS Chemistry qualification at all?

Because AS Chemistry is examined and graded independently — on its own five-point A-to-E scale, with no A* available, against the full A-level's six-point A*-to-E scale — entering Year 12 for the AS qualification gives a school genuine external evidence of where a student stands after one year, marked by AQA rather than estimated internally. It is a decision each school makes for itself, not a default step every A-level Chemistry student takes.

That decision can carry a consequence beyond the Year 12 result itself. Our Year 13 AQA Chemistry page covers, in full, a Department for Education discount-code rule that affects a student entered for both AS Chemistry (7404) and the full A-level (7405) — worth reading before a school commits a Year 12 cohort to the AS route.

AQA designed the AS and first-year A-level content to be taught together rather than as two separate courses run in parallel — its own specification states plainly that the shared sections “are designed to be covered in the first year of the A-level and are also the AS subject content”, adding “so you can teach AS and A-level together.” A school that chooses not to enter Year 12 for the AS qualification is not missing any teaching time as a result: the content taught is identical either way, and the only difference is whether AQA sets and marks a separate set of papers for it in May 2027.

How Leading Tuition supports Year 12 AQA Chemistry

Our expert A-level Chemistry tutors work with Year 12 students against AQA's own AS 7404 content list — sections 3.1.1 to 3.1.7, 3.2.1 to 3.2.3 and 3.3.1 to 3.3.6 — rather than a generic first-year overview, and pace revision toward the real 11 and 18 May 2027 paper dates. Because the Practical Endorsement does not apply in Year 12, sessions concentrate on the written-exam practical questions AQA does set: the 6 required activities and the 15% of marks tied to them.

That distinction also shapes how we read a mock result. Because AS Chemistry (7404) is graded independently on its own five-point scale, measuring a mock against the June 2026 boundaries above — 114 for an A, 99 for a B, out of 160 — gives a far more accurate signal of where a Year 12 student stands than comparing it to a full A-level grade boundary, which is set on a different mark total and a six-point scale entirely.

For students continuing into medicine, pharmacy or a chemistry-related degree, our tutors also work alongside our wider Chemistry tutoring support across every level. 91% of our students achieve their desired grades, and Leading Tuition is rated 4.8/5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews. Book a free consultation to discuss a Year 12 AQA Chemistry programme built around your child's own school timetable and target grade.

Frequently asked questions about Year 12 AQA A-Level Chemistry