Chemistry New Syllabus Advice / Sample Answers by an Experienced HSC Tutor (1 Viewer)

[jazz519]

Hi seeing as there are not many resources for the new syllabus or people who actually know the syllabus properly, feel free to post questions you have regarding the new syllabus. It could be things like what to expect or actual exam questions or homework problems you are having trouble with and I will do my best to help provide as much guidance as I can with solutions and etc.

Here is a list of tips and sample answers on this thread:
- What you need to know from Year 11 for Year 12 Chemistry

- How to include chemical equations in written answers

- How to calculate equilibrium constant (K)

- How to answer boiling point questions

- How to remember titration equipment washing

- How to answer NEW syllabus Spectroscopy Questions

- How to answer buffer questions

- How to do a titration calculation

- How to find final pH from combining acid & base solutions

- How to do a back titration question

- Common errors students make when drawing organic molecules

- Common calculation errors - Avoid these mistakes & save valuable easy marks

- How to answer Le Chatelier's Principle (LCP) questions (common mistakes)

 

[Cherrybomb56]

Do you know of any chemistry tuitions for year 10 students doing chemistry in year 11 and 12?

 

[idkkdi]

Jazz519 is a chem tutor. Most at my school go to Mr Zhang though.

 

[jskeza]

Do you know of any chemistry tuitions for year 10 students doing chemistry in year 11 and 12?

Jazz519 is a chem tutor, although I haven't been to any of his lessons (I don't do chem) he seems very dedicated to teaching, evident through the physics past questions he has made freely available to his students and us.

 

[TheOnePheeph]

People should also post their chem trials here, so we all have more practice papers for the new syllabus (I'd post mine but it is independent, which I believe is not allowed to be shared here)

 

[jazz519]

Do you know of any chemistry tuitions for year 10 students doing chemistry in year 11 and 12?

I am one haha I have some places still open for year 11 students for next year if you are interested send me an email and have a read of some of the things I offer such as my resources and experience here: https://community.boredofstudies.or...s-high-quality-new-syllabus-resources.388028/

Just a brief overview I try to take the best of both worlds from individual tutoring and group tutoring

I have resources I made myself that are like a tutoring centre, but I do lessons in small groups (2-3 students) so we have more individual feedback and learning progress

 

[jazz519]

Jazz519 is a chem tutor, although I haven't been to any of his lessons (I don't do chem) he seems very dedicated to teaching, evident through the physics past questions he has made freely available to his students and us.

Thanks a lot for the kind words

 

[jazz519]

To get things kicked off I will just give you guys a brief tip on writing exam answers

Make sure to always include a chemical equation (whenever I am marking something I look for this because it shows a concrete example of your knowledge)

For instance let's say the question is: How is incomplete combustion harmful to the environment and humans?

A good answer would look something like the following:

Incomplete combustion occurs when there is a deficiency of oxygen, which causes an insufficient fuel-to-air ratio. This results in the production of products such as carbon monoxide and soot: 2CH4(g) + 5/2 O2(g) --> CO(g) + C(s) + 4H2O(l). Carbon monoxide (CO) is toxic as it binds irreversibly to haemoglobin in red blood cells restricting oxygen access, which leads to hypoxia (oxygen deprivation), while soot (C) is carcinogenic (cancer causing agent). Incomplete combustion also lowers the energy efficiency of a fuel meaning more fuel is used which also increases emissions of green house gases

Key thing above is you can see there is a chemical equation AND one thing that really distinguishes students is being specific. It is not enough to write something like CO and C is toxic. You must write why they are toxic and what effect it has because CO is a toxin that will cause harm in the immediate term (short term inhalation), while carbon (soot) is a toxin that is damaging in the long term as it causes cancer (a long term disease)

 

[jazz519]

Tip: What do I need to know from Year 11 going into Year 12????

I have told my new tutoring students about what things are a must have skill from year 11 going into Year 12

Here is a list of things you should get on top of by the start of Year 12:

Module 1:

• Understanding the difference between a chemical and physical change
• Being able to identify the basic subatomic particles in an atom
• Identifying the difference between the terms homogenous and heterogenous
• Understanding the basic diagram of a solid, liquid and gas
• Being able to define what an isotope is and giving an example
• Being able to calculate the molecular weight (synonym: molar mass or molecular mass) for different formulas
• Being able to determine the valency (electrons in the outer shell of the atom) for different elements
• Knowing what elements form diatomic structures
• Understanding the difference between an ionic and covalent compound
• Being able to write chemical formulas from the name of a covalent compound (and the other way around → going from the chemical formula to the name)
• Being able to write chemical formulas from the name of an ionic compound (and the other way around → going from the chemical formula to the name)
• Being able to recall periodic table properties (for this don’t need all of them but most important is electronegativity)

Module 2:

• Understanding that chemical reactions abide by certain laws and being able to give a short definition on what each law states
• Understanding what are the key features of a chemical equation
• Being able to write chemical equations that are balanced, have states listed, correct formulas etc.
• Understanding the concept of a mole and the relevance Avagadro’s constant has to this concept
• Being able to apply the moles formula (n=m/MM) to chemical calculations
• Being able to use simple molar ratios (this is quite important as you will be doing these molar ratios in every single module in Year 12)
• Combining the molar ratios and n=m/MM formula in calculations
• Using C=n/V to calculate the molarity (concentration in mol/L) (often we have to combine the n=m/MM formula with this as well)

Module 3:

• General practice on equations given the products (later on you will have to predict the products as well)
• General practice on writing complete combustion equations
• Understanding what is a precipitation reaction
• Knowing the chemical formulas of the common acids
• Being able to write equations for the reaction of acids with a metal
• Being able to write equations for the reaction of acids and bases (i.e. metal hydroxides)
• Being able to write equations for the reaction of acids and metal carbonates
• Be able to define what a catalyst does
• Have a basic understanding of what happens to the rate of reaction when we increase the temperature and concentration of substances
• Label a basic energy profile diagram for exothermic and endothermic reactions

Module 4:

• A basic understanding of entropy and how entropy changes through the different states (solid, liquid and gas)

 

[Kangaaroo]

What about enthalpy?

 

[Kangaaroo]

Out of curiosity, how does the HSC chemistry syllabus define enthalpy? And what does it physically represent?

The syllabus itself doesn't really define enthalpy. According to my textbook though ("Chemistry In Focus"): 'Enthalpy is a measure of the total energy possessed by substance of group of substances'

 

[jazz519]

What about enthalpy?

Yep that’s in the energy profile diagrams

 

[jazz519]

Out of curiosity, how does the HSC chemistry syllabus define enthalpy? And what does it physically represent?

In hsc Chem the syllabus per say doesn’t deal with Enthalpy but rather change in enthalpy so delta H

it’s basically defined mainly in terms of energy changes of the reactants and products in chemical reactions.

so your exothermic and endothermic reactions

They do go more into like enthalpy changes for specific types of reactions such as combustion and dissolving ionic compounds in water, so more on the application side rather than actually understanding it on a more fundamental level

 

[Kangaaroo]

Yep that’s in the energy profile diagrams

But I mean in terms of bond energy, Hess's Law, etc. Are these not relevant in year 12?

 

[jazz519]

But I mean in terms of bond energy, Hess's Law, etc. Are these not relevant in year 12?

Yeah so those won’t really be covered that much in year 12. I guess there is a slight link to equilibrium constants but no Hess’s Law or bond energy calculations. Much of module 4 is quite redundant apart from the molar heat of combustion part, but I didn’t include that as a key skill because it is basically covered from the basics in year 12 in most schools because they usually don’t finish module 4 sometimes. Only man one is entropy and not even calculations for it, just describing how entropy changes for simple reactions like combustion or photosynthesis

 

[jazz519]

Ah ok. Enthalpy wasn't in the syllabus when I did the HSC, so was just curious as to how they define it since HSC chemistry doesn't (I assume) cover thermodynamics, which is typically needed for this sort of stuff.

I guess it's good that the application side is covered. I'm doing a whole lot of thermochemistry in my propulsion course, and it definitely would've helped if I had covered some of this in high school.

Yeah it only briefly covers the thermodynamics and that is in Year 11. They just do simple calculations like Gibbs free energy and entropy change (but once again its just add up the values for the products and values for the reactants and just subtract them)

 

[jazz519]

The reason a lot of the content in Year 11 seems like it is not that useful for Year 12, is that the syllabus is actually designed so that it covers a lot of chemistry you would learn in first year uni chem subjects (but on a more basic level). For instance in the old syllabus there was no gas laws, but it comes up like first 2 weeks of uni. Same thing with Hess' Law and bond energies. So the things that seem like you just learnt them for no reason, are there so if anyone chooses a chem degree its a way easier transition to uni chemistry in the first 1 or 2 subjects you do

 

[fanxychild]

Will chemistry modules 1-4 be assessed in the HSC exam (or will it be assumed knowledge)?

 

[jazz519]

Will chemistry modules 1-4 be assessed in the HSC exam (or will it be assumed knowledge)?

So if you look above a little to the post on October 1st, you will see the main topics from Year 11 that you need to know. As for explicitly testing something in the year 11 syllabus, that doesn't show up again in year 12, no they won't test those things

 

[fanxychild]

So if you look above a little to the post on October 1st, you will see the main topics from Year 11 that you need to know. As for explicitly testing something in the year 11 syllabus, that doesn't show up again in year 12, no they won't test those things

oh I see, thank you