Subject Content for GCSE Chemistry

Assessment:
Candidates may be entered for either Foundation or Higher Tier. All candidates take one 90 minute paper on the core content of the subject (Sc3). They also take a 45 minute extension paper. Coursework assessment is based on the common scheme used by all GCSE science specifications.

The core paper will be the paper taken by double award candidates for OCR Science A (code 1983). OCR publish a support document which provides cross-matching between the Salters support materials and the Science A content.

Candidates may take either extension paper option A or option B.

Coverage of Core Content:
Several different arrangements have been used in schools. These fall into two main categories.

Students for 'triple science' may be taught following the double award scheme, perhaps in classes with double award candidates. They are then given extra tuition to cover the extension material (ideally by timetabling one extra single lesson per week for each subject). Because of the common coursework scheme, sufficient coursework marks can be accumulated through investigations carried out as part of the double award lessons. Schemes of this type are particularly popular where the numbers taking separate sciences are very small.

Where classes are larger, or in FE colleges, where only one subject is being taken, the chemistry course may be taught as a completely separate course, occupying a single option band in the timetable. In this case, coverage of the core content of the specification can be based on the following units from the double award course:

Transporting Chemicals; Construction Materials; Food for Thought; Mining and Minerals; Sections 1, 2 and 4 of Restless Earth; Burning & Bonding; Making Use of Oil.

Extension content:
The extension content for option A is divided into six 'blocks' and that for option B is in three 'blocks'. Where chemistry is taught as a completely separate subject, it is often possible to treat some of the blocks as extension of work begun in a core unit, so giving a smoother progression and saving some teaching time.

Option A (a more traditional approach):
A1: Water (hard and soft water, extraction of salt, solubility curves)
A2: Acids, bases and salts (ionisation of strong and weak acids, neutralisation, formation of salts, identifying ions in solution)
A3: Metals and redox reactions (redox reactions, rusting and rust prevention, displacement reactions, alloys)
A4: Carbon Chemistry (homologous series, hydrocarbons, alcohols, isomerism, production and uses of alcohol)
A5: Quantitative Chemistry (relation between formula and composition, the mole, gas volumes, acid-base titrations)
A6: Electrochemistry and its Applications (conduction in metals and electrolytes, products of electrolysis, quantity of product, electroplating, the chlor-alkali industry)

Option B (more closely linked to the earlier Salters chemistry syllabus):
B1: Water (domestic water purification, colloids, impurities in water, causes effects and removal of hardness in water, water of crystallisation)
B2: Food and Drugs (carbohydrates, fats and proteins,hardening of oils, vitamin C, raising agents, additives, drugs and medicines, analgesics)
B3: Energy and Chemical Change (electrophoresis and electrolysis, ionic half-equations, simple cells, products of electrolysis, CFCs and free radicals)

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