Thoughts About the Chemistry Paper with Micheal

And thus, the final Chemistry exam of the old course is done. My ninth exam, and I'm honestly very happy with how it went. It was an exam that played to my strengths in many ways, with experiments I had predicted appearing and none of the theory questions coming from my weaker chapters.

The first question, the titration, was the widely tipped "Water of Crystallisation" experiment. The organic chemistry question, by contrast, was something of a curveball. Students were asked about parts of three separate experiments rather than the more typical focus on a single one. The third experimental question was similar; although I didn't attempt it myself, it also combined elements of three different experiments. Many people had predicted that Water and its associated experiments would feature, given that they are not in the new course. In the end, however, Water only appeared as part of Question 3, much to my delight.

After that came the theory questions. Students are examined on all aspects of the course, from Organic Chemistry to Rates of Reaction. There were a few surprises here too, but for the most part they were minor and largely avoidable. Despite that, I'm almost certain I made a few mistakes. After discussing the paper with a few of my friends, I noticed a few bluders, so to speak, but unfortunately what's done is done.

The Chemistry paper offers a considerable amount of choice: eleven questions, all equally weighted, of which students answer eight. Interestingly, it is possible, at least in theory, to avoid all of the experiment questions and answer only theory questions. As to why someone would do that, I have no idea.

Physics tomorrow will bring my main block of exams to an end, with Applied Maths—both the final exam of the Leaving Cert and my final exam on the 23rd.

I will (probably) never have to do another titration again!