Must know HSC Chemistry Top Tips |

Must know HSC Chemistry Top Tips

With exams just around the corner, here are our top tips for acing your Chemistry Exam, we’ve also include examples of how you would apply these tips! Keep on reading below

Tip 1 – Ensure that you are confident answering every single syllabus dot point.

The first tip which I’m sure you guys have heard a lot but is still so so important is that ensure you have notes on every single dot point in the syllabus! Remember that examiners can ask a question on anything, so making sure you have a thorough knowledge of the entire syllabus is the best way of building the foundations to excel within this course!

Tip 2 – Practice applying the theory learnt for different styles of questions.

Practice actually applying all the theory you have learnt and memorised in a wide variety of short answer, multiple choice and calculation questions. Just knowing the content is not enough, you must be able to apply it and flexibly adapt and utilise your knowledge in diverse range of questions. The best way to improve on this is to expose yourself to as many types of questions as you can by doing lots and lots of practice papers and questions.

For Example:

Whilst understanding the definitions of accuracy, reliability and validity is a good start to answering questions regarding these concepts, you must also be able to actually apply that theory across a broad range of different experiments / scenarios that they may provide you. By exposing yourself to a wide variety of questions, you will be better able to identify limitations in accuracy/reliabiltiy/validity that are not just general, but specific to that question/experiment. A very common question that is often asked is to discuss limitations in regards to heat of combustion calorimetry experiments – some common points you would want to bring up specific to this experiment are: school lab values are often lower than ‘true’ heat of combustion values (accuracy). This is often due to limitations in experimental setup such as an inappropriate calorimeter, which result in heat being loss to the environment. This could be improved upon by installing heat shields or…and so on. Notice again, how answers are specific to the question rather than general statements based off theory.

Tip 3 – Focus on the structure & clarity of your responses.

With short answer and extended response questions, spend some time focusing on the structure and clarity of your answers. Many students just dive straight into writing out a response without a plan, and that often results in a convoluted and messy response which will likely confuse the marker. To improve on this, first read the question carefully and ensure you understand everything you need to include in your response. Then spend some time planning and structuring your answer in a way that is cohesive and easy to follow along – a good way to think of this is by structuring it in a cause and effect type of way. By improving the clarity of your response, the marker is able to better understand your points and thus, maximise your marks. Another quick tip is to always take a quick look at how many marks the question is worth – this will help you understand how much you need to write and how many points you should bring up.

For Example:

A common short answer question that comes up in Module 7 is about the properties (often boiling point/melting point) of certain hydrocarbons. When structuring a response for this type of question, it’s really important to take a cause/effect type of approach – taking BP/MP as an example, the BP/MP of a substance depends on the intermolecular forces which the substance possesses, which in turn depends on the polarity of the substance. Thus, when writing out a response you would want to first identify it’s polarity, than the relevant IMF and its relative strength, and then relate this to the amount of energy required to break these forces and thus, whether it has a high MP/BP.

This approach also applies to many other sections of Module 7. For example if you are asked to account for the uses of a certain polymer, taking a cause and effect approach, the uses of a polymer depend on its properties, which in turn depend on its structure. Evidently, taking this kind of approach allows answers to flow better.

Tip 4 – Write out the equations relevant to your calculation question first

With calculation questions, I recommend writing the relevant equations and formulas first, before substituting in the relevant values. This may help you gain an extra mark if you accidentally make a substitution error. For example, with equilibrium constant or solubility product questions, ensure you first write out the constant in terms of the compounds before substituting in the relevant concentrations – thus, if you’ve made a mistake you might still be able to snag a mark for writing the correct expression. It’s also a good idea to write out all the relevant variables and values that are given in the question first, before attempting to solve it – especially when the question is quite lengthy. This will not only help you structure your working out, but also stop you from constantly rereading the question to look for the relevant values you need.

For Example:

For example, if you asked to find the equilibrium constant of the equation

HCl + NaOH —> NaCl + H2O

given the relevant concentration values, you would want to first write the constant

K=[NaCl][H2O]/[HCl][NaOH] first before subbing in the relevant values.