Hey, so exactly what does the new syllabus for chemistry actually change? I just heard that they made it more 'chemistry' with more reactions and less of how it affects the environment, but is that exactly it? Also, when would the next papers come out for the new syllabus? Appreciate it!
New Syllabus for 2021 Chemistry (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter TheShy
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Many of the topics in the old syllabus are still there but things have been moved around
For example two of the areas that used to be tested in hsc redox reactions and radioactivity are now taught in year 11.
In year 12 module 5 is basically the same as the previous one, module 6 is also almost the same. There are a few things here and there that are different maybe 1 area in module but as such past papers can still be used for this. The major changes come in module 7 (organic Chem section) which they have introduced a lot more reactions and removed previous questions that used to focus on how the chemistry affects environment. Basically it’s more problem solving based on skills specific to chemistry such as predicting products from a multi step reaction (basically like you react something make another thing react it again make another thing and you have to figure out or fill in the blanks to what the molecules are based on the conditions). Past papers are useful for about 50% of this module but there quite a few new things that weren’t taught before. Module 8 is probably the most significant changes there is a whole section on spectroscopy and structural determination where they give you some graphs and there are key things in the graphs that you can use to build up what the structure of a molecule is. In the hsc the questions on this won’t be that difficult but it’s a really good skill to have prior to uni because these techniques in uni Chem go way more detailed and complex so having some background is helpful
In terms of the papers question you had they have already released a document that is like 80 pages long to show the types of questions in the new syllabus. The papers from old syllabus can still be used though but you just have to realise what questions are relevant. Also a tip is don’t limit yourself to only practising from hsc papers. The old syllabus for hsc like way way back like 1990-2000 has a lot of questions similar to now and also vce papers have a lot of crossovers as well. The spectroscopy questions they have are very good
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Overall these changes might seem scary to students who are doing hsc but as someone who has a load of experience in uni chemistry and high school Chem tutoring, these changes are the best thing that has happened to the Chem syllabus. Because you have to realise this hsc stuff should prepare you for what uni should sort of be like for the subject, but in the old syllabus when I got to uni it was literally different. only about 30% of the stuff I learnt in year 11 and 12 was remotely useful. The rest that they are now teaching in school is not at the same difficulty as uni but it’s better to get a base first of similar questions, which makes the transition to uni Chem subjects way easier