Chemistry › Practicals › AQA required practicals
AQA A-level Chemistry required practicals: all 12
AQA sets twelve required practicals for A-level Chemistry, and the first six are also the AS ones. This page lists them by number, each under a short name of ours, and links each one to the lesson section that sets out its method and to the practical guide that works it in full.
All three papers can ask about practical skills, and Paper 3 gives 40 of its 90 marks to practical techniques and data analysis, so learn each method even if your own results in the lab went wrong.
Required practical 1: Volumetric solution and acid–base titration
Its method is taught in Concentration, volumetric solutions and titration calculations, and worked in full in Acid–base titration: making and using a standard solution.
Required practical 2: Measuring an enthalpy change
Its method is taught in Measuring an enthalpy change: calorimetry, and worked in full in An enthalpy change in solution: zinc and copper(II) sulfate.
Required practical 3: Rate of reaction and temperature
Its method is taught in Measuring the rate of a reaction, and worked in full in Rate and temperature: thiosulfate and acid.
Required practical 4: Test-tube tests for cations and anions
Its method is taught in Halide ions, the silver nitrate test, concentrated sulfuric acid, and chlorine in water, and worked in full in Identifying ions in solution: anions, Group 2 and ammonium.
Required practical 5: Distilling a product from a reaction
Its method is taught in Oxidation and elimination of alcohols, and worked in full in Distilling propanal from propan-1-ol.
Required practical 6: Tests for alcohol, aldehyde, alkene and carboxylic acid
Its method is taught in Test-tube reactions for functional groups, and high-resolution mass spectrometry, and worked in full in Functional group tests: alkenes, acids, aldehydes and alcohols.
Required practical 7: Rate by initial-rate and continuous-monitoring methods
Its method is taught in Finding orders from initial rates, half-lives and graphs, and worked in full in Orders of reaction: iodine and propanone.
Required practical 8: EMF of an electrochemical cell
Its method is taught in Electrode potentials and the standard hydrogen electrode, and worked in full in Measuring the EMF of a cell.
Required practical 9: pH change in weak–strong acid–base reactions
Its method is taught in Titration curves and choosing an indicator, and worked in full in Measuring pH curves.
Required practical 10: Preparing a pure organic solid and liquid
Its method is taught in Preparing, purifying and testing an organic solid and liquid, and worked in full in Organic preparation and purification: aspirin and ethyl ethanoate.
Required practical 11: Test-tube tests for transition metal ions
Its method is taught in Reactions of aqua ions with hydroxide, ammonia and carbonate, and worked in full in Identifying metal ions in solution: iron, copper and aluminium.
Required practical 12: Thin-layer chromatography
Its method is taught in Chromatography: TLC, column and gas, and worked in full in Thin-layer chromatography: separating amino acids.
The same methods filed by technique, with the calculations and the errors to avoid: A-level Chemistry practicals
Every numbered statement of this specification, matched to the lessons that teach it: AQA route map
AQA’s specification and practical handbook decide how each required practical is run and how the Practical Endorsement is assessed.