QCE chemistry tips: Qld’s No. 1 ranked student offers up crash course

He was Queensland’s highest-achieving student in 2020 and is now studying medicine: Now he’s tapped into his fount of knowledge to help students blitz QCE chemistry.

Queensland’s top student for 2020 has tapped into his fountain of knowledge to give Year 12s the inside tips to tackle the QCE chemistry exam.

Vishaak Gangasandra graduated from The Southport School in 2020 with an ATAR of 99.95 and has since embarked on a medicine degree at the University of Queensland as a vice-chancellor’s scholar.

Further, Mr Gangasandra was named as the state’s highest achieving student for the year by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority.

With thousands of year 12 students preparing to sit the chemistry test on November 7, Mr Gangasandra has outlined his guide to chemistry.

Mr Gangasandra, an online tutor with 100Coach.com.au, said the exam was a test of a student’s understanding of the “chemical interactions underlying everyday phenomenon.

Vishaak Gangasandra has tapped into his fountain of knowledge for his Year 12 chemistry tips.

He listed the following strategies as his top five tips.

1. Know all reaction pathways and reagents.

It is guaranteed that you will be asked questions on reaction pathways (and these questions are potentially worth a lot of marks on Paper 2).

It is important you know all the reagents, products and reaction conditions (marks will be awarded for including reaction conditions).

2. Explain using chemistry

When you are asked to describe or explain a phenomenon, explain using the underlying chemistry and molecular interactions. For example, Le Châtelier’s principle is not a chemical explanation for the establishment of equilibrium, it is just a guideline.

3. Do as many practice questions as you can

Complete as many past papers as you can before your external exam. VCAA has 10-plus years’ worth of practice exams available on their website and the content overlaps really well with the QCE exam, so it is worth checking it out.

4. Learn a few principles of green chemistry

Although it won’t be a large part of your exam, it is very likely that you will be asked to recall some principles of green chemistry so read over them.

5. Practise analysing titration curves

Exam writers love putting a titration curve on the exam, so be able to interpret these curves really well and answer titration questions.

“Overall, chemistry is designed to be simple,” Mr Gangasandra said.

“When studying, always strive to understand the core principles of the content rather than simply memorising facts.

“Make analogies for the content as this is proven to help improve understanding and improve your exam answers.”