Edexcel A-Level Chemistry guide FAQ (9CH0)
Guide overview All 19 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
Edexcel A-Level Chemistry: questions and answers
Specification 9CH0. Two sets, because students and parents ask different things.
For students
Which topics are on which paper?
Paper 1 examines Topics 1 to 5, 8, and 10 to 15. Paper 2 examines Topics 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9 and 16 to 19. Paper 3 can draw on any topic. The full breakdown is here.
Topics 2, 3 and 5, bonding, redox and amounts of substance, appear on all three papers.
Are the calculations in it?
Yes, and they have their own subtopics rather than being folded into theory. Amount of substance and the mole, titration calculations, percentage yield and atom economy, enthalpy and Hess cycles, bond enthalpies, Kc and Kp, pH and Ka, buffers, Born-Haber cycles, entropy and free energy, rate equations, and electrode potentials.
What about the core practicals?
The sixteen core practicals are assessed two ways. The Practical Endorsement is marked by your teacher and reported separately as a pass, so it is not in the guide.
Practical technique is also examined on all three papers, and that content is in the guide: apparatus, purification and recrystallisation, titration procedure, reflux and distillation, chromatography, testing for ions and functional groups, and the handling of uncertainty.
Is the spectroscopy covered?
Yes. Modern Analytical Techniques I and II carry 96 questions between them: mass spectra, infrared, and both carbon-13 and proton NMR, with the interpretation asked as well as the theory.
How long does one session take?
About twenty minutes for one subtopic, all three steps. Topics run from 23 to 202 questions, so work by subtopic.
Can I do it in my head instead of writing?
Write. A mark scheme wants a specific reagent and a specific condition rather than the gist, and step 2 is where the working and the wording are corrected. The method page sets out the evidence.
When should I start?
9CH0 is linear, so all three papers are sat at the end of Year 13. Work each subtopic in the week it is taught, or start a full first pass in the January of Year 13.
Do I still need past papers?
Yes. Past papers train the multi-step calculation under time and the unfamiliar context. Pearson publishes them free.
For parents
What is this, in plain terms?
A PDF of 1,534 exam-style questions covering the whole of Edexcel A-Level Chemistry, with the answers printed after each topic.
How do I check it is the right course?
The specification code is on the exam timetable. Edexcel A-Level Chemistry is 9CH0.
How do I know if it is being used properly?
There should be handwritten answers on paper and three passes over the same questions, and two scores per session to compare.
My child revises for hours and the grades have not moved.
Rereading and highlighting are the two most common revision activities and Dunlosky and colleagues rated both low utility in their 2013 review of ten techniques. Chemistry punishes this harder than most subjects, because a half-remembered reagent scores nothing.
How much is it compared with a textbook?
£8.00 for the whole specification. An endorsed Edexcel A-Level Chemistry textbook is usually £30 to £40 and covers one of the two years.
How much time does the whole course take?
104 subtopics at roughly twenty minutes each is about 35 hours for a full first pass.
My child has fallen behind. Where should they start?
With Topics 2, 3 and 5: bonding and structure, redox, and formulae, equations and amounts of substance. They are examined on all three papers and every calculation in the course assumes them.
Edexcel A-Level Chemistry Active Recall Guide
1,534 questions with their answers, 104 subtopics, one file.