OCR Double Award Chemistry - how did it go?

How did everyone think that paper went? Most of it was easy, I'd say. There were loads of questions about 'Scientists and Ideas' and all that nonsense, so I did what I do best, and rambled on nicely for a few lines :biggrin:

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The only questions I had problems with were the ones asking you to draw poly-propene or something, and the mountaineering rope question. I put that it was sturdy, to support the mountaineers, and flexible, in case they had to wrap it round something << XD.

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Reply 1

chriztina27

yeh i thought it went pretty well; so glad we had an easier one after that evil biology one! i put for the rope one about its elasticy so it doesn't break if they fall, strong fibres so he can pull himself up..

what did you put for the question about the scientist testing for a new medicine and you had to list to 'contexts' that could affect his experiment or something.

and also, the symbol equation you had to balance...i thought it was already balanced! :s-smilie:

Reply 2

Naranoc

For the contexts I put about how animal testing was controversial, whether there were similar products on the market and what companies would be willing to manufacture the medicine.
And you're right about the balanced symbol equation. I think that was a trick question, but you could tell that you didn't need to balance it because it was only worth one mark.

Reply 3

Gammon

I found the last page difficult as everything was so similar.

Reply 4

Twaffy

It was okay; wasn't too hard or easy. I found the biology one easier though :biggrin:

Reply 5

Wezzo

I must have done a different paper to you guys.. are you talking about Double Award Science spec A?

Reply 6

schizoFan

I thought that the paper was easy compared to what we COULD have got.... which wasn't really fair, since I stayed up last night revising precipitation, the haber process, equilibrium etc which didn't even come up! lol... anyway for the context question I wrote:
1/ Government legalisation - animal testing may not be allowed?
2/ His work will be affected by time and money
3/ His work will be affected by the equipment available to him?
I'm not sure if that is right.... I couldnt think of 3 points :frown:

anyway I always find the ideas and evidence questions totally irrelevant. For the rope question I wrote that the polypropene had strong fibres and was also high in elasticity - although I couldn't think of why a rope will need to be elastic?

Reply 7

Naranoc

Nope Wezzo, this is Spec B. Should have made it more clear, sorry :P

Reply 8

Wezzo

Naranoc

Nope Wezzo, this is Spec B. Should have made it more clear, sorry :P

Ah, ok. No problemo! :smile:

Reply 9

kitty123

I found a lot of it easy but some of it was quite difficult! On the ionic bonding and covalent bonding dot and cross diagrams, did anybody label them or did the question say to label the ions because i think i might have stupidly missed out on a couple of marks by not reading the question properly! O and for the ideasin science thing i wrote about the issue of animal testing, cost and time? i think that might be wrong tho :frown:

.Does anyone have any idea what the grade boundaries are going to be this year> i heard A* you need 90% but i thought that seemed a bit high - i thought maybe it should be around 85%

Finally does the year 10 exam we did count for 30% of our final grade?? :biggrin:

Reply 10

chriztina27

schizoFan

.... which wasn't really fair, since I stayed up last night revising precipitation, the haber process, equilibrium etc which didn't even come up!

lol i was angry about that as well! was up till two trying to memorise all the difficult stuff and practically none came up! so annoying... that means that it's likely that the physics paper is gonna be a nasty one...nooooooooo!

Reply 11

Papillon

kitty123

Finally does the year 10 exam we did count for 30% of our final grade?? :biggrin:

The year ten exam is worth twenty five percent of your final grade. Coursework is twenty percent, and the three terminal exams (two of which we have now done) contribute towards a cumulative total of 55%. In total, there are 600 uniform marks available. Twenty five percent of this mark, 150, is available from year ten, 120 from coursework and 110 from each terminal exam.

I felt the exam today went well. Still, I'd love to know what the grade boundaries have been in previous years.

Reply 12

kitty123

Papillon

Thanks for that :biggrin:

im so glad it counts to quite a lot really! o another question for people, did anyone else get 1.08g for the question about mass of the product?

Reply 13

Papillon

Yeah, sure thing. A lot of people will do better than they think, so don't worry too much about it. What grade did you get in the exam last year, and what are you expecting in the summer? (...just curious, that's all)

Reply 14

kitty123

I really want an A* this summer. My CAG in my report was double A* and my MAG is AA. I got an A* in yr 10 and have a strong A in my cw so i would really love an A* overall - it's probably the one i value the most!. Are you taking your GCSE's at all? if yes what did you get?

Reply 15

Papillon

I am indeed taking my GCSE's. I racked up an A* last year and did the same in coursework.

That sounds good, so why on earth do you feel as if you haven't done well in the Biology/Chemistry exams?!

Reply 16

kitty123

Do you mean the same as in an A* in the cw? we werent really told the work to get an A*in the cw unfortunately, but i doubt i would have been able to get it anyway lol. As with the exams so far, i think i have done better in the chemistry than biology. I don't know whether you remember the question but there was one asking for the displayed formula when a hydrocarbon reacts with bromine. Did u just break the double bond on the carbon and add the bromine on either side of it? im really panicking about it eek! and for the ionic bonding and covalent bonding dot and cross diagrams, did they ask to label it? I think i've stupidly missed out on a couple of marks there :frown:

As for biology, i found that there was more work from year 10 than i expected and i couldn't do some of it. I didnt revise as much as i should have because it was my birthday the day before oops. This mite sound annoying but on the last question about the plant cell did you say that it would become flaccid because of the water concentration difference??

Reply 17

Papillon

Yes, sorry, I should have been more clear. I meant I also got an A* in coursework. I was in the exact same boat you you. My teachers' didn't really tell us anything for the A* either. I wasn't happy with my mark (although it was still an A*) so I did it again. I asked what I can improve, and was told stupid little things. Somehow, going through text books I realised things which I had put were totally incorrect, yet not a single teacher pointed it out. So I redrafted (with the help of text books) and secured the grade. I wasn't going to let incompetent teachers jeopardise my grade. No way.

Haha, yeah, I remember that question. I did not expect that sort of thing - at all. All I did was what you said (break double bond, stick Br on either side). Relax, there is no other way to do it, and it was balanced by default. Yes, they did say label the charge for the ionic bonding question (two were 1+ and the other 2- were they not?)

It doesn't sound annoying at all. It's reassuring if anything - for both of us. I put the cells go flaccid due to osmosis - the water diffuses from the plant cell where it is in a high concentration to the sugar solution, where it is low. This causes a decrease in pressure, hence, cells fo flaccid.

What did you put for the cells which take in water in the diagram (biology), I'm sure I made one stupid mistake there!

Reply 18

kitty123

I thought as much! theres one mark i missed out on :frown:

did they say label the covalent one? i did get 2 as 1+ and the other as 2- as well but no label :frown:

grrrrrrr thats gona b on my mind up 2 results day! lol. No - one else seemed to be too fussed about getting an A* in the cw so i didnt mention anything about it, - stupid really. You sound highly motivated! i wish i was more like that :p:

Its good to know that you got the same on the cell question but as for the other one about which one transports water and minerals to the leaf ( well i think thats the question you mean) i started off putting stomata but then further down the page i saw that it mentioned the phloem so i thought it might be xylem as the words 'minerals' and 'water' are both mostly associated with xylem. I ended up leaving xylem but they are vessels not cells so i don't really know what is right to be honest, no matter how hard i searched for the answer! wot did you put?
I'm just trying to think of some other questions we can compare answers on before one of us goes! hehe

Reply 19

Papillon

No, it didn't ask to label the covalent one. Heh, highly motivated, love it. You'd be surprised at what else I've done - I'll tell you one day :wink:

You know what, that is exactly what I did (more or less) with the leaf question. I looked at part b and saw it mentioned phloem, so I thought, that must be some sort of guide, and the answer here must be xylem. ...then I walked out the exam and realised it asked for cells, not vessels (as you said). I think the answer should have been guard cells. Well, that's two marks down the drain. (dammit)

What about the question where it asked why decane produces so many alkanes? I put because bonds are broken randomly, although I'm not convinced that it correct. What did you put?

Yeah, I have history tomorrow so will have to make a move soon. Little things (...I lie, stupidly large problems) I must prepare for.