ReviZi logo ReviZi

QCE Chemistry · Year 12

QCE Chemistry: what actually gets examined

Every question from 4 official QCAA papers, coded by unit, topic and marks — so you can decide what to revise from evidence rather than a feeling.

4 QCAA papers, 2022–2025 · 236 questions · 429 marks

Three topics carry 82% of the marks in QCE Chemistry, Chemical equilibrium systems, Chemical synthesis and design and Oxidation and reduction are where the paper spends its marks. Start there.

Counted from 4 official QCAA Chemistry papers (2022–2025). 236 questions, 429 marks. Nothing estimated.

4 of 4topics in every paper on file
157marks in the single biggest topic
20multiple choice marks, every paper
50%indicative share per unit, from teaching time

The cognitive verbs that carry the paper

Share of written-response questions by QCAA cognitive verb, matched against QCAA's own Cognitive verb framework. Revising the content without revising the directive is how marks get lost. The lower / middle / higher grouping is ours — QCAA publishes the list but does not band it. Based on the 83% of written responses that open with a listed cognitive verb; the rest open with wording outside it, such as a direct question.

Identify41% · 53qlower order
Determine28% · 37qmiddle order
Explain8% · 11qmiddle order
Other8% · 10q
Describe6% · 8qlower order
Provide5% · 6q
Deduce

Lower orderMiddle orderHigher order

Each tile is one key word; its size is that key word's share of written-response questions that open with one. The smallest 7 are grouped as Other: Calculate 1% · 1q, Process 1% · 1q, State 1% · 1q, Use 1% · 1q, Classify 2% · 2q, Draw 2% · 2q, Predict 2% · 2q.

Where the marks sit

Each unit with its topics underneath. The bar is that topic's share of its own unit, and the chip says how many of the papers on file examined it.

Unit 3: Equilibrium, acids and redox reactions

248 marks

50% indicative share, inferred from equal teaching time — not a published mark weighting

Chemical equilibrium systems Every paper 157 marks

86 questions · 63% of this unit

Oxidation and reduction Every paper 91 marks

48 questions · 37% of this unit

Unit 4: Structure, synthesis and design

181 marks

50% indicative share, inferred from equal teaching time — not a published mark weighting

Chemical synthesis and design Every paper 104 marks

52 questions · 57% of this unit

Properties and structure of organic materials Every paper 77 marks

50 questions · 43% of this unit

Across 4 papers the units carried 248, 181 marks — against an indicative 50% share each, inferred from equal teaching time (QCAA: each unit has a notional time of 55 hours of teaching and learning). The QCAA Chemistry 2019 General Senior Syllabus (v1.2–v1.4) publishes no mark weighting; the counted share is the only measured figure.

How each topic gets asked

The 4 biggest topics, by the shape of the questions actually set on them. Revising the content without revising the directive is how marks get lost — the cognitive verbs below are QCAA's own, counted from the papers.

Chemical equilibrium systems

Unit 3: Equilibrium, acids and redox reactions · 157 marks across 86 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×29 · Short answer ×56 · Extended response ×1

QCAA cognitive verbs Determine ×24 · Identify ×16 · Explain ×7 · Provide ×3 · Predict ×2 · Calculate ×1 · State ×1 · Use ×1 · Deduce ×1 · Describe ×1 · Classify ×1

Chemical synthesis and design

Unit 4: Structure, synthesis and design · 104 marks across 52 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×17 · Short answer ×35

QCAA cognitive verbs Identify ×20 · Determine ×4 · Describe ×4 · Explain ×3 · Process ×1

Oxidation and reduction

Unit 3: Equilibrium, acids and redox reactions · 91 marks across 48 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×19 · Short answer ×28 · Extended response ×1

QCAA cognitive verbs Identify ×17 · Determine ×17 · Predict ×1 · Describe ×1 · Provide ×1 · Calculate ×1 · Deduce ×1

Properties and structure of organic materials

Unit 4: Structure, synthesis and design · 77 marks across 50 questions

Asked as Multiple choice ×15 · Short answer ×34 · Extended response ×1

QCAA cognitive verbs Identify ×17 · Determine ×11 · Deduce ×4 · Provide ×2 · Draw ×2 · Predict ×2 · Describe ×2 · Explain ×1 · Classify ×1

What the markers wanted

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority publishes subject reports after each paper. This is our reading of the 2022–2024 feedback, in our words, grouped by unit and cited to the year and question it was seen in. It describes what markers rewarded in papers already sat; it does not predict the next one. The originals are linked below.

Across the paper

  • Across 2022 to 2024 QCAA reported that short calculations and reading features from supplied data were handled well; the weaker ground was explaining chemistry in prose and applying it across two or more steps.
  • The verb sets the job: describe means give the features, explain means a detailed account with the extra chemistry that completes it, and compare means a similarity, a difference and its significance.
  • For compare questions QCAA named the significance of the difference as the missed element in both 2022 and 2023; it is a scored element in its own right, not a restatement of the difference.
  • The mark allocation says how many distinct points are needed; QCAA reported that repeating one idea across different aspects of a question earned nothing for the repeats.
  • Treat the response space as a cue: a concise answer that fits the lines earned full marks, and extra material written beyond the space was not needed for the marks.
  • Build answers on the stimulus values and the Formula and data book; QCAA flagged responses that contradicted the supplied graph and confused quantities the data book defines.
  • Structural formulas and IUPAC naming were flagged for practice in 2023 and 2024: draw every bond and hydrogen rather than a condensed formula, and follow the naming rules exactly.
  • Multi-step calculations should show logical working at every step; QCAA accepted different mathematical routes to a valid answer and asked students to attempt every part rather than fixate on the total.

Unit 3: Equilibrium, acids and redox reactions

Better responses

  • Calculations of cell potential, pH, Kc and Ka, oxidation numbers used to build half-equations, and Le Chatelier reasoning about dynamic equilibrium were reported as strengths in 2023 and 2024.
  • Identifying unknown solutions from data went well when indicator results sorted acids from bases and conductivity ranked strength, noting a diprotic acid conducts more than a monoprotic one.
  • For pH at the equivalence point of a weak acid titration, better responses recognised that the conjugate base sets the pH, then found hydroxide concentration, pOH and finally pH.
  • Comparing two half-cells scored when the response gave a similarity, a difference in the electrode potentials, and what that difference means for which species is reduced in a spontaneous cell.

Where marks were lost — and how to keep them

  • When a question asks for collision theory to explain an equilibrium shift, argue from particle numbers, collision frequency and the forward rate; QCAA flagged answers that quoted Le Chatelier's principle instead.
  • Keep the inverse pairs straight: as Kw rises pKw falls, and as hydrogen ion concentration rises pH falls. In water's self-ionisation the ions are products, not reactants, and the graph gives the direction.
  • Name the ion, not the salt or the spectator, as the reducing agent, and reason from its oxidation number rising. A reduction half-equation must show the electrons gained on the reactant side.
  • In a galvanic cell, say which electrode is oxidised with evidence rather than a generic anode line, and route the electrons through the external wire, never through the electrolyte or salt bridge.
  • An indicator's colour range is not just pKa plus or minus one: explain how pH sets the ratio of HIn to In- and why the colour changes as that ratio shifts about the pKa.
  • Why KHP rather than NaOH as a standard: its concentration stays fixed so it can be known accurately, or its high molar mass cuts weighing uncertainty; a weak acid neutralising a strong base is not the reason.

Seen in 2024 Paper 2 Q2, 2024 Paper 2 Q5, 2024 Paper 1 Q23, 2024 Paper 1 Q24, 2024 Paper 1 Q26, 2023 Paper 2 Q5, 2023 Paper 1 Q21, 2022 Paper 2 Q3, 2022 Paper 1 Q24, 2022 Paper 1 Q27.

Unit 4: Structure, synthesis and design

Better responses

  • Describing condensation reactions and peptide bonds with diagrams, calculating atom economy, classifying alcohols and isomers, and deducing a compound from infrared data were reported strengths.
  • In a reaction pathway, better responses worked out each compound from the evidence given, named it by IUPAC rules and drew its structural formula, rather than reciting a memorised route.
  • Comparing alpha-helix and beta-pleated sheet scored for hydrogen bonding between peptide links as the similarity, intra-chain versus inter-chain bonding as the difference, and coil versus sheet as its significance.
  • Better biomolecule answers said enzymes hydrolyse glycosidic bonds and set amylose against amylopectin on monomer, linkage type, straight versus branched chain and helix versus granule shape.

Where marks were lost — and how to keep them

  • In reaction pathways, separate reagents from reactants and organic from inorganic acids, and deduce each compound from the evidence supplied; rote pathways the data does not support lost marks.
  • Draw a full structural formula with every bond and hydrogen shown; condensed or empirical formulas were not accepted where a structural formula was asked for.
  • Name substituents in alphabetical order (chloro before methyl), with commas between numbers and dashes between a number and a word; both slips cost marks in 2024.
  • Comparing protein secondary structures: restating that both are secondary structures is not a similarity, naming the shapes is not a structural difference, and alpha and beta glucose are a different topic.
  • Amylose and amylopectin are polysaccharides; answers that described alpha and beta glucose or protein helices and sheets instead scored nothing, as did one point repeated for several features.
  • Yield calculations need a logical chain: molar masses, the theoretical mass at 100 percent yield, the mole ratio, then the mass of starting material, with each step shown.

Seen in 2024 Paper 2 Q4, 2024 Paper 1 Q28, 2023 Paper 2 Q2, 2023 Paper 2 Q4, 2023 Paper 2 Q9, 2023 Paper 1 Q26.

2024 QCAA subject report →2023 QCAA subject report →2022 QCAA subject report →

How the paper is built

Marks by question format across the same 4 papers.

Multiple choice 8020 / 20 / 20 / 20 per paper
Short answer 33474 / 85 / 85 / 90 per paper
Extended response 155 / 5 / 5 / 0 per paper

Multiple choice is exactly 20 marks in every paper. The rest moves around: short answer ran 74, 85, 85, 90 marks and extended response ran 5, 5, 5, 0 marks.

Every question, by topic

All 236 questions from the 4 papers, listed under the topic each was coded to — year, question number, marks as printed on the paper, cognitive verb and format — with QCAA's own copy of the paper linked on every row. The questions themselves are read there, not here. Open a unit to see its list.

Unit 3: Equilibrium, acids and redox reactions134 questions · 248 marks · show

Chemical equilibrium systems · 86 questions, 157 marks

Oxidation and reduction · 48 questions, 91 marks

Unit 4: Structure, synthesis and design102 questions · 181 marks · show

Chemical synthesis and design · 52 questions, 104 marks

Properties and structure of organic materials · 50 questions, 77 marks

The papers this is counted from

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority publishes every paper and its marking guidelines. These links go to QCAA's own copies — read the questions there.

2022 QCAA paper · 99 marks →2023 QCAA paper · 110 marks →2024 QCAA paper · 110 marks →2025 QCAA paper · 110 marks →

These are the external examination papers. They are not the whole subject: Chemistry is also assessed by internal assessments set and marked by your school, which QCAA does not publish — so nothing on this page covers that part of your result.

Study Chemistry on Revizi

QCE Chemistry TopicsQCE Chemistry PracticeQCE Chemistry Study NotesQCE Chemistry Past PapersQCE Past Exam PracticeQCE Exam PracticeQCE Flashcards HubAll QCE Questions by TopicQuestions by Topic — all curricula

Frequently Asked Questions

Which QCE Chemistry topics come up every year?

4 of the 4. Every topic marked "Every paper" above was examined in all 4 papers on file. That describes the papers analysed, not a prediction — examiners set each paper fresh.

Which QCE Chemistry unit is worth the most marks?

Unit 3: Equilibrium, acids and redox reactions 248, Unit 4: Structure, synthesis and design 181 marks across the 4 papers analysed. The syllabus publishes no mark weighting for them; the indicative share on this page is inferred from equal teaching time (QCAA: each unit has a notional time of 55 hours of teaching and learning), and the counted share is a different measure.

What is the biggest single topic in QCE Chemistry?

Chemical equilibrium systems, with 157 of the 429 marks counted across 4 papers.

How was this analysed?

Every question in 4 official QCAA QCE Chemistry papers (2022–2025) was counted against the QCAA Chemistry 2019 General Senior Syllabus (v1.2–v1.4): its mark value, its format and its key word, and the unit and topic it assesses. Marks are reconciled against each paper's own stated total.

Are the exam questions reproduced here?

No. Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority owns the papers. This page publishes counts and links to QCAA's own copy of each paper so you can read the questions at the source. The analysis is ours; the papers stay with QCAA.

Does this predict what will be in my exam?

No, and it is not meant to. It describes what has been set. Examiners write each paper fresh and can weight a neglected topic heavily, which is why every topic is listed here, including the ones examined least.

Can I see which QCE Chemistry questions were set on each topic?

Yes. Every question from the 4 papers is listed above under the topic it was coded to, with its year, question number, marks and cognitive verb, and a link to QCAA's copy of that paper. The question itself is read there, not here.

What did the QCAA markers say about QCE Chemistry?

Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority publishes marker feedback after each paper. The "What the markers wanted" section above is our reading of it across 3 years, in our words, grouped by unit and cited to the year and question it was seen in, with the originals linked.

Coded against the QCAA Chemistry 2019 General Senior Syllabus (v1.2–v1.4). Where a question is coded to more than one topic its marks are split evenly, so topic totals within a unit can round a mark or two above the unit total. A topic is marked "Every paper" when it appears in all 4, "Most papers" when it is missing from one, and "Comes and goes" when it is missing from more — the one-paper tolerance absorbs a single coding miss rather than publishing it. Last updated 2026-09-01 · Exam papers © Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority, linked at source.