VCE Chemistry practice exams and worked solutions

What the course asks of you

Bonding and structure

Why a substance melts where it does, argued from the bonding rather than recalled.

Stoichiometry

Moles, limiting reagents and concentration, carried through to a sensible number of figures.

Energy and rates

Enthalpy, Hess's law, activation energy, and what actually speeds a reaction up.

Redox and electrochemistry

Half-equations, cell potentials, and predicting whether a reaction will go.

Sample questions

Written for this site, in the style of the exam. Answer first, then see the model response and what the marks were for.

1. Question 1

   1 mark

   Which of the following substances has the highest melting point?
   A. CO₂B. SiO₂C. H₂OD. NH₃
   Check answer

2. Question 2

   5 marks

   25.0 mL of 0.100 M NaOH is added to 20.0 mL of 0.150 M HCl. a. Write a balanced equation for the reaction. b. Determine which reactant is in excess, and calculate the concentration of H⁺ in the final mixture.
   Show the model answer

3. Question 3

   3 marks

   Explain why the first ionisation energy of magnesium is higher than that of sodium.
   Show the model answer

4. Question 4

   2 marks

   The complete combustion of 1.00 g of ethanol (C₂H₅OH, M = 46.0 g/mol) releases 29.7 kJ of energy. Calculate the molar heat of combustion of ethanol.
   Show the model answer

What the Chemistry exam is testing

Chemistry asks you to move between three levels at once — what you see, what the particles are doing, and what the symbols say. Most lost marks are a failure to move cleanly between them.

A data book is provided

So the marks are not for remembering a value but for finding it quickly and using it in the right relationship. Practise with the data book open, not from memory.

Equations must balance, including state symbols

An unbalanced equation, or one missing its states where they were asked for, loses the mark regardless of whether the chemistry behind it was right.

Calculations are marked step by step

Moles, then ratio, then the quantity asked for. Setting the working out in that order earns marks even when the final number is wrong.

Explanations name the species

"The reaction shifts right" is worth less than "the reaction shifts right to consume the added H⁺". Naming what is doing what is usually where the second mark is.

Where Chemistry marks are actually lost

In rounding too early. Carrying a rounded intermediate value through a three-step calculation produces a final answer outside the accepted range, and the marks for the method do not rescue it if the working was not shown.

In answers that describe the observation instead of the chemistry. A question asking why the colour changes wants the equilibrium or the redox reason, not a better description of the colour.

And in units and significant figures, which are marked here exactly as they are in Physics, and lost here for exactly the same reason — writing the number down before thinking about what it is a number of.

Common questions

Is the data book allowed in the VCE Chemistry exam?

A data book is provided. That is why practising with it open matters more than memorising values — the exam is testing whether you can find and use the right one, not whether you remembered it.

How should I set out a calculation?

In the order the marks are given: what you have in moles, the ratio from the equation, then the quantity asked for, with units at every stage. Method marks survive an arithmetic slip; an unlabelled answer does not.

Why do I lose marks on explanation questions?

Usually for describing rather than explaining. Naming the species or the principle involved — not restating what was observed — is what turns a one-mark answer into a full one.