Unit 3 VCE Chemistry Exam Review
By Heath McGregor on Jun 10, 2009 in VCE Chemistry, VCE Exams
Hi all,
What did you think of the Unit 3 VCE Chemistry exam for 2009?
What was hard? What was easy? How do you think you went?
Let me know your thoughts and comments below (please keep them clean!)…cheers
(5 votes, average: 2.40 out of 5)
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jessica | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
please tell me someone else found it hard too
dano | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
i did too..and i think many others would have
Jude | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
Um yes i found it VERY hard, i didnt finish… I hope i passed
But i thought it was going to be worse, which is saying something.
amelia | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
it was sooo hard.
i thought i had done enough practice exams and understood the material. obviously not!
really long as well
ben | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
I found it pretty challenging also… so ur not the only one… i did short answer first and just ended up writting what i would do because i knew i would get the wrong answer… was very hard to finish on time also.. will be lucky to pass..
georgia | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
yes i found it difficult.
noone in the room i was in finished properly and another school had people crying!
although, some questions weren’t too bad!
Squibble | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
It was quite mind stimulating. Many of the students at my school found it challenging as well. But thats the way it is; vce needs to differentiate the good students from the bad in some way.
Lucy | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
Does anyone know what mark you usually need to get an A or an A+? Not that I’m getting one, though
Michelle | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
The many practice exams I did were not enough.
Thought I was prepared, but I found it really difficult.
Jedd | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
wow crying!
My school most of us just walked out laughing because we were that dazed and confuised. It was just so long. I have like blocked it out of my memory just trying to forget it!!!
Jedd | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
Umm i think you need to get 80% to get an A and 87% A+, well that was last year i think. And a C+ is about 58%. From what i can remember…
georgia | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
i think the score for an A will be lower this year haha
Fudge | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
I go to the top school in the state – i guess you can figure it out – but a lot of people were angry and upset. A girl at my school with TOP sac marks – was crying…a lot.
Don’t worry. If everyone found it hard scaling will fix it up.
Ash | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
Hmm pretty sure these are the answers to some of the main calculations.
70%ish for the yield of aspirin
3 double bonds for the fat question
0.20mg for the last AAS question.
These may be wrong though.
Dishmij | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
Hmmmm challenging exam definitely. After some reviewing with friends some of the answers to some of the calculation questions were:
70%ish for the aspirin yield
3 double bonds for the fat
0.20 mg for the sulphur mass for the final AAS question.
These answers may be wrong so dont panic.
argh | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
kill me.. it was unbelievably hard, i was getting A’s on all my practice exams and i think i will be lucky if i passed the real thing!
tony | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
haha i got about 1.32% as my yield of aspirin
what a joke
errrr | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
I found the multiple choice not that bad, but the short answer was very hard and long… i did not finish the last question. i did not enjoy it at all.
john | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
that exam was so random.
most of the extended answer seemed pretty odd i.e. density
there were 10 extended answers as well opposed to 7 last year
jaymee | Jun 10, 2009 | Reply
the chem exam is really,really hard.i done a lot of the practice exams,i thought i was prepared well,but when i look at the exam paper,i don’t know a lot of questions,i don’t have enough time to finish the paper
Bily | Jun 11, 2009 | Reply
Yep lots of criers.
Everyone feels like they did bad so the A mark will be very low this year. Even if u feel you did bad, you may do well in the end.
Yusuf | Jun 11, 2009 | Reply
Mate, it was soooo easy….i finished with 10 mins to spare. If u practised enough you shouldve done well. The questions just looked complicated but were really easy. Relax
Sumeya | Jun 11, 2009 | Reply
i thought it hard. i didnt get to finish i run out of time. it was weird, this years exam was longer then last year. last year there was only 8 quetions. Also most of our exam was organic chem…..
did any one else pic this up…….
Will | Jun 11, 2009 | Reply
everyone should just chill out.
bottom lines:
a) it was hard. if you studied, you’ll have done fine. everyone sucked as much as everyone else. multi-choice was not too bad and most of the organic chemistry was alright.
b) vcaa sucks. hard.
Olivia | Jun 11, 2009 | Reply
It was really hard and long! Half of my class walked out early…hoping for a pass
myrcene | Jun 11, 2009 | Reply
I just managed to finish. It was harder than any of the practice exams I’d done, but all the fuss about “the hardest exam I’ve seen in 20 years” and all that is probably exaggerated. Some teacher at another school did the exam and photocopied all the answers so we could see how we went. Off the top of my head:
- around 78% aspirin yield
- 3 double bonds for the fat
- peak area of 496 units for 2-chloro-3-methylheptane
- unknown molecule was ethanoic acid
- step 1 was reduction (CO2 –> glucose)
- human viral DNA had lower m.p. due to less G-C triple hydrogen bonds
- 0.19mg sulfur remaining on grapes
etc.
Ash | Jun 13, 2009 | Reply
are there solutions for the Accoutning exam?? if there is url pls.
Jade | Jun 14, 2009 | Reply
I didn’t finish….it was too long.
I did like 10 practice exams and I seriously think they didn’t help, I never thought the exam would be so long
Sharnel | Jun 14, 2009 | Reply
hardhardhard
some asian girl ^^ | Jun 14, 2009 | Reply
T_____T–( yes it hard as!)
i was going to write 3 double bonds! but i wrote 4. cries*.
They shouldn’t make this years exam so different/ so much harder than last years.
Oh well…as long as we studied to our best..there isn’t much we can do.
but…dam VCAA! the end.
justin | Jun 15, 2009 | Reply
it was easy i think that i absolutley aced it…a lot of people thought it was really easy in my class… we didn’t really do many practise exams
our teacher had some inside information so it helped a lil
Jordan | Jun 15, 2009 | Reply
I don’t know what you guys are talking about.
I found it really easy. I had like 20 minutes to spare.
Although the questions looked complicated, they were pretty straight forward when you got your head around them.
Shay | Jun 26, 2009 | Reply
I was thrown out by the apparent complication and randomness of the questions, but on closer inspection I realised they were simpler than I originally thought. Unfortunately, it all clicked in my head a little too late and I didn’t finish/ guessed lots! The last question was a corker.
Kudos to those people who had ’20 minutes to spare’.
Good on you.
Care to share your secrets?, since I spent every waking moment doing practise exams to ensure I was prepared, I don’t feel I’ll get the mark I deserve.
chris | Jul 1, 2009 | Reply
As a Chemsitry teacher, I could see lots of traps for even the best students. As usual the exam was too wordy, particulalry for the ESL students.
Meth(ods)lab | Jul 1, 2009 | Reply
@Fudge what does the “I go to the top school in the state” have to do with the exam, just because you go to a “good” school doesn’t mean any of you will do better than anyone else on the exam.
Anyway, personally I thought the exam was bloody hard and wayyyy too long. I was very angry with the VCAA for giving us that rubbish, it means that anyone who prepared with lots of practice exams were misled, this years exam does not really compare to previous years.
Once you understood the questions they were generally not that difficult but the short answer questions were very long winded with hidden info. It was this that was the downfall of most of us, we could eventually do the question but there was not enough time overall.
I did not finnish the last short answer, to those of you who had 20mins to spare, I hope you read the questions properly etc. because it would be easy to trip up.
chiellini | Jul 9, 2009 | Reply
this may be difficult to understand but the amount of marks we received for each question was way too low. on all the practice exams i did, there were 6 or 7 short answer questions. this exam gave you less marks for the same amount of work..problem with that is that we only had 90 minutes. an extra 10 minutes would have definitely helped me. the second i walked out of the exam room i remembered the addition of mass rule..A + B -> C, which would have helped considerably for the double bonds question!! lol ah well whats done is done
Yogo | Jul 11, 2009 | Reply
I didn’t find it too difficult, it was just too darn long… It was just like the Accounting Exam in that they didn’t give us enough time to properly think about the questions… All those of you who had ’20 minutes to spare’, are you sure you read the questions properly? I just skipped that question with the amount of bonds on the fat, wasn’t enough time to figure out how to do it. Also, I don’t think that the combustion of alkanols was mentioned ANYWHERE on the actual Unit 3 course so it was mean to put a question like that in… The only thing easy about the exam for me would have to be the multiple choice. Apprantly the ‘A’ score will be brought down to 57%, of course this is just an estimate made by one of my teachers… Guess we’ll find out on August 3rd.
Xanaan | Jul 25, 2009 | Reply
its like the end of july and ive realized…its suddenly hit me.. the exam paper was a serious load of crap..i came out saying it was ok but now im really not sure..god…hopefully every1 will get the mark they deserve results r cumin!!
Liz | Aug 3, 2009 | Reply
someone told me that a friend of a friend of a friend of the chief examiner (Hahaha) said that the top mark was 73% and the average was a fail HAHA
but YES i did find it challenging =]especially the how many bonds questions haha
bal | Aug 3, 2009 | Reply
hrm ur pretty much saying accounting exam was as hard as chem..
chem average was 39%
pogo | Aug 3, 2009 | Reply
Yeah I got my results back today my Chem exam. Heh yeah the last question on the paper was slightly confusing for me. I reckon I did get it in the end and it payed off very well in my result.
@pogo:
” Also, I don’t think that the combustion of alkanols was mentioned ANYWHERE on the actual Unit 3 course”
Yeah…
me | Aug 4, 2009 | Reply
got result the other day. was hoping for a little better. is there anywhere where u can see the answers to it.
Anonymous | Aug 6, 2009 | Reply
I was shattered when I got MY chem results back… =S
only an ‘A’… Now how am I meant to become Dux of my school??!!!
Notan Erd. | Aug 6, 2009 | Reply
I’m guessing my A+ means I achieved about 60% hey? HAHAHA, what a joke.
chicka | Aug 17, 2009 | Reply
wooo…B!!! haha. i think thats like 50-60%ish…
ecstatic seeing as i thought i had actually failed not kidding.
you A+ freaks! lol. i got my statement of marks today haha what a joke! i got full marks for the last question though…win!
can’t wait for this semester though. at least we get to blow stuff up haha
macca | Oct 27, 2009 | Reply
Usually about 80% is enough for an A+, 70% for an A, though it does depend on how everyone in the state does…(due to their scaling system)
milly | Dec 19, 2009 | Reply
You know, I thought I would get at least A but I ended up getting B. aww. That’s it for my chemistry future. hehe.
person | Jan 16, 2010 | Reply
dammit im doin chem in 2011, hope it wont be that bad?!
Valerie | Mar 25, 2010 | Reply
That’s REALLY GREAT NEWS FOR ME…NOT!!!
I’m doing Yr.11 Chem and I found the unit 1 exam to be hard, I feel soooo much better knowing this one is a million times harder *sarcasm*
Oh well, our teacher used the year 12 grading system…my mark of 47% was enough to get me a C…but yeah I do better in chapter questions and practice tests…get like over 90% in those usually, thats like an A+++ lol!
elena | Apr 26, 2010 | Reply
wow after reading all these comments im scared about my unit 3 exam :O
Somebody | May 27, 2010 | Reply
2010 mid-year coming your way
fiona | May 30, 2010 | Reply
about a week to go and im so scared
Gugli | May 31, 2010 | Reply
FREAKING OUT!! =0
Heath McGregor | May 31, 2010 | Reply
Gugli, make an appointment to see your teacher, get some help (maybe attend some exam revision lectures), review your sac notes and get a study guide. Oh…and form a study group with friends. AND take a deep breath!
Hope this helps…cheers
Jess | May 31, 2010 | Reply
Well this will be interesting…..
meme | May 31, 2010 | Reply
im so ready for this chem exam, gonna ace it!!!
lucy | Jun 5, 2010 | Reply
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Ted | Jun 5, 2010 | Reply
Exam in 4 days… Marked my own 2009 exam 51percent….. Completely sh@@ing myself… Anyone got some good lastminute tips?!?!!?!?
Heath McGregor | Jun 8, 2010 | Reply
Hi Ted, I mentioned this in a previous comment but here are some lastminute tips. Make an appointment to see your teacher, review your sac notes and get a study guide. Oh…and form a study group with friends. AND take a deep breath!
Also reposted an article on lastminute exam advice. Lastly, there are a few resources (including a Unit 3 chem podcast) under the Chemistry category on the website: http://www.vcehelp.com.au/category/vce-chemistry/
Hope this helps. Good luck for the exam…cheers
Gugli | Jun 8, 2010 | Reply
Thanks alot for the advice, Heath!!
I know this is so late, but would anyone know where we can locate answers to the 2008 sample VCAA exam??
Fingers crossed for tomorrow.
Ted | Jun 8, 2010 | Reply
Thank you every much heath….i wish you all whos doing the exam good luck….!!!!!
I still cant do the 2009 exam calculations T.T
bob | Jun 9, 2010 | Reply
Hahaha, I probably got 2 questions for the short answer and half the multiple choice
gary | Jun 9, 2010 | Reply
what did everyone think? hard easy? i personally thought it was challenging but not as bad as last years.
Ted | Jun 9, 2010 | Reply
Well i did alright, i know i got last question WRONG, after my friends told me the Butanol’s Boiling point was NEGATIVE!
-3marks straight. rest went alright, anyone got 6x double bonds ^^?
gary | Jun 9, 2010 | Reply
hahaha a lot of people screwed up in that part. i got 6 bonds too. hope its correct.
Donnie Darko | Jun 9, 2010 | Reply
this years paper was a joke
does anyone have solutions??
Andy | Jun 14, 2010 | Reply
well i dont know if we all did the same exam but i found it retardedly easy and so did most of my school…this either means i aced it or completely screwed everything
should be getting results soon tho so we shall see 
Rose | Aug 2, 2010 | Reply
Hey,
I got my marks back today for Chem and Physics. Both were B+. Is that bad?
I had really hoped for an A so was a bit disappointed because i though that both exams were challenging but fair – not impossible.
Seriously though is that a bad mark do you think? Should I be upset with that as a supposed “smart” student?
And i don’t know if it was a high or low B+ – high i hope.
Its frustrating though because lots of people in my class are waving A+ around.
polly | Aug 2, 2010 | Reply
hi.
yer i got my chem and physics results today as well.
i got an A in chem and A+ in physics.
I dont think a B+ is bad as we had a lot of them at my school as well. but we also had a lot of Bs and B+s.
if u looked at the vcaa site u can see the spread of scores and the percent that gets them.
if u got a B+ u should be in the top 30% ish.
so no i dont think a B+ is the end of the world. and anyway u would probs b more motivated now.