Chemistry › Practise
Practise A-level chemistry
1,647 original questions worth 5,508 marks, across 84 topics, every one written for this library with a mark scheme coded point by point.
Question practice
Flashcards
Practical skills and methods
Command words
Workbooks and downloads
Past papers
How to use them
Answer each question before opening the mark scheme. Award marks point by point and record anything you omitted or stated imprecisely.
On paper
Each lesson includes printable question workbooks, in a navy screen edition and an ink-saving print edition, and a separate answer book. They are linked from the foot of each lesson, and all of them are listed on the downloads page, unit by unit. The workbooks hold every question except the few set on a diagram, which are online only. Choose the format that suits the session.
Every question is original InkChemistry material. None is taken from a past paper or from any board’s mark scheme.
Every question set, unit by unit
Working in the laboratory
- Measurement, uncertainty and significant figures in chemistry
- Apparatus, techniques and safety: the twelve required practicals in outline
- Formulae, equations and state symbols
Atomic structure
- Protons, neutrons, electrons and isotopes
- Time-of-flight mass spectrometry and relative atomic mass
- Electron configuration: shells, subshells and orbitals
- Ionisation energies and the evidence for subshells
Amount of substance
- The mole, the Avogadro constant and molar mass
- Gases and the ideal gas equation
- Empirical and molecular formulae
- Concentration, volumetric solutions and titration calculations
- Reacting masses, percentage yield and atom economy
Bonding and structure
- Ionic bonding and ionic lattices
- Covalent, dative covalent and metallic bonding
- The four crystal structures and their properties
- Shapes of molecules and ions
- Electronegativity, polarity and intermolecular forces
Energetics
- Enthalpy change, standard conditions and the definitions
- Measuring an enthalpy change: calorimetry
- Hess's law and enthalpy cycles
- Mean bond enthalpies
Kinetics
- Collision theory, activation energy and the rate of reaction
- The Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution, temperature and catalysts
- Measuring the rate of a reaction
Chemical equilibria
- Dynamic equilibrium, Le Chatelier's principle and industrial compromise
- The equilibrium constant Kc
- Kp: equilibria in the gas phase
Redox
- Oxidation states and the rules for assigning them
- Half-equations and building redox equations
- Redox titrations: manganate(VII) and thiosulfate
Thermodynamics
- Lattice enthalpy and Born–Haber cycles
- Enthalpies of solution and hydration
- Entropy and Gibbs free-energy change
Rate equations
- Rate equations, orders of reaction and the rate constant
- Finding orders from initial rates, half-lives and graphs
- The Arrhenius equation and the rate-determining step
Electrochemistry
- Electrode potentials and the standard hydrogen electrode
- The electrochemical series and predicting feasibility
- Commercial cells, rechargeable cells and fuel cells
Acids and bases
- Brønsted–Lowry acids and bases, pH and strong acids
- Weak acids, Ka and pKa; Kw and strong bases
- Titration curves and choosing an indicator
- Buffer solutions and buffer calculations
Periodicity and Period 3
- Periodicity: trends across Period 3 and the blocks of the table
- The Period 3 elements: reactions with oxygen and water
- The Period 3 oxides: structure, bonding and acid–base character
Group 2 and Group 7
- Group 2: trends down the group and reactions with water
- Group 2 compounds: solubility, uses and the sulfate test
- Group 7: trends down the group and displacement reactions
- Halide ions, the silver nitrate test, concentrated sulfuric acid, and chlorine in water
Transition metals
- Transition metal characteristics and complex formation
- Ligands, the shapes of complexes, isomerism and ligand substitution
- Colour in transition metal complexes and colorimetry
- Variable oxidation states: vanadium, chromium and manganate(VII) titrations
- Catalysis: heterogeneous, homogeneous and autocatalytic
Ions in aqueous solution
- Metal-aqua ions and the acidity of their solutions
- Reactions of aqua ions with hydroxide, ammonia and carbonate
Introduction to organic chemistry
- Naming and representing organic molecules
- Structural isomerism and E/Z isomerism
- Reaction types, curly arrows and how a mechanism is written
Alkanes and halogenoalkanes
- Alkanes: fractional distillation, cracking and combustion
- Free-radical substitution
- Halogenoalkanes: nucleophilic substitution and rates of hydrolysis
- Elimination from halogenoalkanes, and CFCs and the ozone layer
Alkenes and alcohols
- Alkenes: structure, electrophilic addition and Markovnikov's rule
- Addition polymers
- Alcohols: hydration, fermentation and classification
- Oxidation and elimination of alcohols
Organic analysis
- Test-tube reactions for functional groups, and high-resolution mass spectrometry
- Infrared spectroscopy
- Proton and carbon-13 NMR spectroscopy
- Chromatography: TLC, column and gas
Carbonyls and carboxylic acids
- Optical isomerism
- Aldehydes and ketones: nucleophilic addition and the tests that tell them apart
- Carboxylic acids, esters and biodiesel
- Acylation: acyl chlorides and acid anhydrides
- Condensation polymers and the disposal of polymers
Aromatic chemistry and amines
- Benzene: its structure and the evidence for delocalisation
- Electrophilic substitution: nitration and Friedel–Crafts acylation
- Amines: preparation, basicity and nucleophilic reactions
- Amino acids, proteins, enzymes and DNA