Chemistry 3/4 2013 Thread

[lzxnl]

Thushan said he probably dropped around 4 marks or something throughout the whole year; that was a 50 and a Premier's award. So if you dropped 7, that's not that far off.

[thushan]

Oh wow! Okay. I'm sac rank 1 at my school so that's not a problem I don't think. I know for most subjects (big generalisation) losing one or two marks is a 50, then losing one from there roughly equates to one study score. But Thushan said 2009 was a hard midyear so I wanted to check. I'll be ecstatic if that's high 40s though.

I reckon you would have gotten about 46-49 with that kind of score.

And was rank 1 in SACs and dropped 2 marks in exam 1 in 2011, dunno how much for exam 2 (I came out thinking I didnt drop any).

[xenial]

Awesome thanks guys - a 47 pretty much guarantees me the atar I want so that puts my mind at ease! I'll see how I go on the 2011 tomorrow and use that as a guide thushan

[Edward21]

The 2009s were quite tricky. I almost got 100% but it's totally not accurate, because I had already done the questions in checkpoints so it ruined it for me :S DAMMIT

[lzxnl]

The 2009s were quite tricky. I almost got 100% but it's totally not accurate, because I had already done the questions in checkpoints so it ruined it for me :S DAMMIT

I know right? I got 100% for the 2009 exam 1 but it doesn't count because my teacher went over all of those questions in class.

[massachusetts8]

Hey,
I dont know if this has been asked, but is cracking of alkenes in the course this year, or did they take that out with fractional distillation?

[lolipopper]

Hey,
I dont know if this has been asked, but is cracking of alkenes in the course this year, or did they take that out with fractional distillation?

its out. But the basic principles of fractional distillation are still required.

[Scooby]

Also, please do NOT say that the electrodes have charges. THEY DO NOT! For starters, you could have a "positive" cathode in a galvanic cell. Besides, electrodes are electrically neutral. They have to be.

So (for VCE purposes) is it alright to refer to the cathode in a galvanic cell as "positive" (but not positively charged)?

[ray23]

on this year could we predict around a 50% on the exam would roughly be a c?

[Patches]

Not hugely important, but does anyone know the strict definition of an amino acid residue?
The answers for the sample paper suggest it's just the side chain (question 5 of SA), while others say it's the side chain and the NH and CO on either side.

[Aurelian]

Not hugely important, but does anyone know the strict definition of an amino acid residue?
The answers for the sample paper suggest it's just the side chain (question 5 of SA), while others say it's the side chain and the NH and CO on either side.

It's definitely the latter.

[neonperson]

its out. But the basic principles of fractional distillation are still required.

Basic principles of fractional distillation??? What are they? I know nothing at all about them...

I though it wasn't in the study design AT ALL anymore? *hyperventilates*

[lzxnl]

So (for VCE purposes) is it alright to refer to the cathode in a galvanic cell as "positive" (but not positively charged)?

For VCE purposes, yes, but be careful as to what they really mean.

on this year could we predict around a 50% on the exam would roughly be a c?

I don't think we can predict anything for this exam. They could make it harder because of the increased freedom with which to set questions, or they could make it piss easy to compensate for the length of exam.

I'm expecting the latter, but I'm not hoping for it.

[Patches]

Basic principles of fractional distillation??? What are they? I know nothing at all about them...

I though it wasn't in the study design AT ALL anymore? *hyperventilates*

Yeah it's not - refer to this

[SocialRhubarb]

Well, I think you should know you can separate chemicals based on boiling points. That's really all there is to the 'principles of fractional distillation', and it's a pretty straightforward concept. It may not be mentioned explicitly, but I've come across a few worded questions asking how to obtain pure solutions of a substance, or separate a mixture of chemicals, and based on their boiling points is a pretty easy way to answer it.

The actual process of fractional distillation is not on the course though.