HSC Chemistry

HSC Chemistry is one of the most rewarding HSC subjects you can choose. In terms of scaling, Chemistry has consistently been the highest scaled HSC science course, compared to Physics and Biology. Chemistry also provides a very useful foundation for university courses in the health sciences fields (Medicine, Pharmacy and Medical science in particular). With typically around 10,000 students doing Chemistry for their HSC each year, it is also one of the most popular HSC subjects chosen. If you can do well in Chemistry, it will greatly help your UAI and your chances of getting into the university course you desire.

-Why choose HSC Chemistry:

As mentioned, HSC Chemistry is the highest scaled science course commonly available across practically all schoolsin NSW. The first reason is that because sciences (HSC Physics in particular) generally scale well, there is an economy of scale in choosing and doing both subjects. For example, if you are a logically oriented student who tends to do well at quantitative / conceptual-based subjects like mathematics, there is a good chance you will enjoy science subjects. The sad thing about the HSC and the way schools structure their subject offerings (for most schools anyway) is that students often do not have much subjects to choose from. Therefore they are left with little choice from which they can select, and most often always end up doing the same subjects (Mathematics + science combination). While this is not a bad thing, this means that if you are a student who is intent on choosing quantitative subjects, you will most likely doing at least 2 out of the 3 subjects. Based on scaling statistics of past years, Chemistry and Physics scale the highest out of the sciences.

Students should also note that Chemistry has traditionally scaled as well as English Advanced. In the past few years, HSC Chemistry had a scaled mean (published by UAC's yearly scaling report, in their Table A3) of around 30/50. This places HSC Chemistry at around the same scaled mean as Economics, English Advanced, and slightly higher than Physics (28-29 out of 50 in recent years). While it is recommended that you choose subjects based on your talents and interests, if you are going to do at least 1 or 2 HSC science subjects, you may as well choose Chemistry as one of your science subjects in order to benefit from the good scaling.

HSC Chemistry is a very experience-based course. There are many things which a student will realise at the end of their Preliminary Chemistry course, or even halfway through their HSC year. For example, students find it hard to accept that there is no clearly defined pattern when trying to determine the valency of transition metals. Valencies of common anions and cations need to be rote-memorised, as there is no common thread of logic which can be used to derive them (not within the scope of the HSC subject, that is). Therefore many things come with experience, as time goes on and students slowly familiarise with the piecemeal bits of facts that they need to remember and use throughout HSC Chemistry. We will look at a few key examples of what we mean which makes this course experience-based.

-Common valencies:

The common valencies of anions and cations need to be remembered quite well. For example, there is no 'reason' that will be given to you throughout your HSC why carbonate ions have a charge of -2. Similarly there is no 'reason' that will be given to you to explain why silver ions have a charge of +1, whereas most other transition metals have an oxidation state of +2. These odd exceptions and facts will come with experience.

-Module-specific experience:

HSC Chemistry modules are similar to HSC Physics in that they appear quite piecemeal and separated from each other. A student can have an excellent understanding in one module but have a poor understanding of the next. Therefore it is important to keep a consistent regime of study throughout the HSC year, and gain a comprehensive understanding of each module.Within each module, a good Chemistry student would need to know about the subtle points in order to have a complete understanding. For example, in the 'Production of Materials' module, it is a good idea to read through a reputable textbook like Chemistry in Contexts or Conquering Chemistry and get a feel of all the various polymers (addition and condensation polymer types) that can be produced from various monomers. A good student would be able to identify the relationship between the monomer used and the polymer it results in, as well as some basic chemical and physical properties that can be predicted from looking at the polymer or even monomer structure. For example, if we see large functional groups, we know there will be chain stiffening, causing hardness, rigidity and tensile strength of the resultant polymer.