WJEC Chemistry for AS Level Student Book: 2nd Edition

Not all of the questions will have command words. Some questions will also ask you to answer ‘using the information given’, e.g. a graph, table, equation, etc. If that’s the case, you must use the information given and you may need to refer to it in your answer to get all the marks. Exam Data Booklet When you sit your exams as well as the exam paper, you’ll be given a data booklet. In it you’ll nd some very useful information to help you with your exam, including: ▪ Avogadro’s constant and the gas constant ( R ) ▪ Molar gas volumes at 273 K / 298 K and 1 atm ▪ Planck’s constant ( h ) and the speed of light ( c ) ▪ The speci c heat capacity of water ( c ) ▪ The relationship between m 3 and cm 3 , K and ˚C, atm and Pa. ▪ Infrared absorption values of some functional groups ▪ 13 C NMR chemical shifts of some types of carbon ▪ 1 H NMR chemical shifts of some types of proton ▪ A copy of the periodic table Make sure you use the information from the periodic table in the data booklet, even if you think it’s slightly different from something you’ve seen elsewhere. The information in the data booklet is what the examiners use to mark the exam papers. How to maximise your score We all vary in speed and natural ability but by attacking the challenge of AS Level Chemistry in the right way the best possible outcome can be achieved. There are two parts to achieving your maximum score – exam revision and exam strategy. Exam revision This is the hard work requiring private concentration. It is essential that you learn facts, concepts and information by heart. Understanding more complex concepts requires you to have a body of knowledge. The key is to get a good, clear set of notes and work on them small amounts at a time until you know them. Make lists, draw and annotate diagrams from memory; read your notes and repeat them out loud; ask your friends and relatives to test you. Give yourself plenty of time so that you can return to each topic after an interval of time to ensure that you still have it mastered. This may take more than one return trip. It is known that the unconscious mind continues to work and sort learned material. Last minute cramming is not as ef cient. There is no substitute for work. Top sports players practise thousands of serves or goal kicks. Geraint Thomas did many very long training sessions on his bicycle – winners work hard! Exam strategy ▪ Make sure you have all the correct equipment needed for your exam. ▪ Plan your time; how long you spend on each question is really important. Try to leave some time at the end of the exam to check your answers. Some questions will require lots of work for only a few marks, but other questions can be answered much more quickly. Don’t spend ages struggling with questions that are only worth a couple of marks, move on and come back to them at the end of the exam. ▪ Read the question carefully to work out what you are being asked to do. Are there any command words in the question? What is the mark allocation? How many lines have you been given to write on? All of these will give you an indication of what is required in your answer. If it’s a calculation, always show your working. Marks will be allocated for individual steps, not just the nal answer. If it’s an extended prose question (QER), plan your answer so that you structure your response logically showing how the points you make follow on from each other. ▪ Diagrams and graphs can earn marks more easily than written explanations, but only if they are carefully drawn. Diagrams do not need to be works of art, but make sure that they are clear and fully labelled. When drawing graphs, make sure that you use a sensible scale and label the axes with quantities and units. ▪ Check your answers. If a question is worth three marks, have you made three distinct points? If it’s a calculation, pay particular attention to using the correct units. Does the answer make sense? Check each stage of your working. 9 About this book