HSC Chemistry SOLUTIONS / Thoughts / Predictions (5 Viewers)

[jazz519]

For the BEST EXAM on 9th November

Good luck with the exam Class of 2020, on behalf of us all on BOS!

Share your predictions of what will show up in the exam and thoughts here on how you found it.

SOLUTIONS:

 

[rp28]

so there's like 80ish kids doing chem at my school, I'm tied 5th do u think a state rank for chem is possible? also for a state rank do they only consider exam mark or the average internal and external mark

 

[jazz519]

so there's like 80ish kids doing chem at my school, I'm tied 5th do u think a state rank for chem is possible? also for a state rank do they only consider exam mark or the average internal and external mark

It is based on the HSC mark which is the avg of internal and external. A state rank for a 5th rank is extremely difficult to obtain as your internal mark will be lower even if you perform highly in the external. This would only really be possible at a school where the marks are very close i.e. like at a top ranking school

 

[Speed’o’sound Sonic]

Hey guys, I have 10 free days before physics and then another 2 before Chem. What revision would you guys recommend? I’ve done all the basics, just wondering if you guys had any good ideas to help me maximise my mark (I’m looking for a 92 to get me into my course)

 

[jazz519]

Hey guys, I have 10 free days before physics and then another 2 before Chem. What revision would you guys recommend? I’ve done all the basics, just wondering if you guys had any good ideas to help me maximise my mark (I’m looking for a 92 to get me into my course)

Spam papers for days like if you got that many days free you should be able to do like 10 exam papers in that time if not more. You should also have answers prepared to certain memorising based dot points. For example in chemistry things like soaps and polymers you can just memorise a good answer and rewrite it in the exam

 

[Speed’o’sound Sonic]

Spam papers for days like if you got that many days free you should be able to do like 10 exam papers in that time if not more. You should also have answers prepared to certain memorising based dot points. For example in chemistry things like soaps and polymers you can just memorise a good answer and rewrite it in the exam

Thankyou! I’ll get started on that, are there any papers in particular you would recommend?

 

[jazz519]

Thankyou! I’ll get started on that, are there any papers in particular you would recommend?

There are a couple on the THSC website. I also wrote the BOS chemistry exam which you can find here: https://boredofstudies.org/threads/bos-trials-maths-and-chemistry-2020.392093/post-7346067

Other than that you can find some exams on some sites like Peak Education: https://peakhsc.com.au/2020/10/05/your-hsc-2020-study-pack/ which has a free exam they put up. I think there are other similar tutoring sites that have some free exams like Learnable

 

[Speed’o’sound Sonic]

There are a couple on the THSC website. I also wrote the BOS chemistry exam which you can find here: https://boredofstudies.org/threads/bos-trials-maths-and-chemistry-2020.392093/post-7346067

Other than that you can find some exams on some sites like Peak Education: https://peakhsc.com.au/2020/10/05/your-hsc-2020-study-pack/ which has a free exam they put up. I think there are other similar tutoring sites that have some free exams like Learnable

Thankyou! Also mad respect for writing the BOS Chem paper!
Legend!

 

[jazz519]

These are my predictions based on things that have been in the 2020 trials and stuff that wasn't in 2019 hsc:

- esterifcation some kind of stuff asking about the prac. Could be possibly a long response kind of question. I doubt they will make it like the sample questions where it was just describe stuff ==> probably a scenario based question if they do something like that
- soaps or detergents
- polymers q probably describe a polymer or one of those multiple choice find the structure of the polymer from this monomer
- Ksp calculation in the short answer (possibly a common ion effect or molar solubility as this was missing in 2019 HSC short answers)
- entropy/enthalpy ==> was poorly answered in 2019 HSC so some different iteration of it may be used possibly in multiple choice
- multiple choice on pH when an acid or base is diluted
- question on amphiprotic substances or conjugate base/acid
- a back-titration or complicated titration, as last year exam had a very easy one
- something on bromine water
- reaction pathways as usual but maybe this time it's tied into an NMR question
- question involving precipitation rules and flame test (likely a multiple choice)
- something about factors in a chemical process (this could be a long response if they provide a scenario and you have to apply your knowledge of the important factors to it)
- gravmetric analysis

 

[Adee16]

so there's like 80ish kids doing chem at my school, I'm tied 5th do u think a state rank for chem is possible? also for a state rank do they only consider exam mark or the average internal and external mark

You should also have a look and see how many students in your school typically get state ranks for chem. If u guys typically have have 5 state ranks, then its very possible you could too.
In the free mock exam running this weekend, by learnable. They say that you can get a percentile and see where you stand against other students. Maybe that would be a good starting point to see where you stand?

 

[Speed’o’sound Sonic]

Here's the Learnable HSC Mock exam for anyone interested: learnable.education/mock-hsc-exams

Thanks! Is everyone else gonna sit this exam?

 

[Adee16]

Thanks! Is everyone else gonna sit this exam?

yee doing chem and phys

 

[Speed’o’sound Sonic]

yee doing chem and phys

When’s the physics one??

 

[Speed’o’sound Sonic]

When’s the physics one??

Never mind I found it

 

[rp28]

You should also have a look and see how many students in your school typically get state ranks for chem. If u guys typically have have 5 state ranks, then its very possible you could too.
In the free mock exam running this weekend, by learnable. They say that you can get a percentile and see where you stand against other students. Maybe that would be a good starting point to see where you stand?

Yea my school lowkey dogsh*t in their sciences so I might forget a state rank but my aim is to at least get a band 6 how badly can my internals drag me down because most of the top marks for trials at my school were in the 80s and the ranks varied by one mark.

 

[bekind2003]

do you guys reckon polymers question is gonna be hard in this exam? because

 

[Speed’o’sound Sonic]

do you guys reckon polymers question is gonna be hard in this exam? because

100% yeah polymers will definitely be in the exam. Sorry to break it to ya
What parts are you struggling with?

 

[bekind2003]

100% yeah polymers will definitely be in the exam. Sorry to break it to ya
What parts are you struggling with?

Oh God.. at most I know how the properties and uses for each but its literally a TRAVESTY when the question asks to draw polymers out and your given two reactants. omg and I suck at

 

[Modelmat]

Here's the Learnable HSC Mock exam for anyone interested: learnable.education/mock-hsc-exams

Thanks! Is everyone else gonna sit this exam?

I just tried sitting the chemistry one - I don't really recommend it:
- wanted us to explain the NMR spectrum of aspirin (which is interesting, to say the least)
- all the extended responses are drag and drop, which makes it completely not worth doing
- multiple questions had incomplete stimulus data (e.g. a Hess' Law question was missing one of the molar enthalpy of formatoin)
- the typed number answers were worth 2-3 marks and you could only enter a single number, and there was no indication of how precise they wanted
- scrolling up and down to see the stimulus was a pain
Bit hard to explain without just showing the questions, but it was extremely wack.

 

[Speed’o’sound Sonic]

I just tried sitting the chemistry one - I don't really recommend it:
- wanted us to explain the NMR spectrum of aspirin (which is interesting, to say the least)
- all the extended responses are drag and drop, which makes it completely not worth doing
- multiple questions had incomplete stimulus data (e.g. a Hess' Law question was missing one of the molar enthalpy of formatoin)
- the typed number answers were worth 2-3 marks and you could only enter a single number, and there was no indication of how precise they wanted
- scrolling up and down to see the stimulus was a pain
Bit hard to explain without just showing the questions, but it was extremely wack.

Yeah, Learnable is a bit dodgy and I can see why the exam isn't too well made. I think it'd be better to just be doing past trials, hsc exams and the like.