IGCSE Chemistry Tips for paper 6 chemistry

Tips for Chemistry P6 Practical exam👌

- Labelling tools:
(notice the difference between)
‣ Tests tube vs boiling tube. (Boiling tube is used for heating)
‣ Burette vs tap funnel. (Burette has graduations)
‣ Measuring cylinder vs gas jar. (Measuring cylinder has graduation)

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‣ Conical flask vs round bottom flask. (Conical flask has a flat bottom)

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‣ Beaker Vs Trough (Trough is bigger, it has no scale & usually used with inverted

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measuring cylinders)

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- Mistakes in given diagrams in Q.1 you are asked to mention :

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‣ Heat under the wrong container

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‣ Collection of gas using the wrong method as (upward for dense gases/ downward

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for light gases / over water for soluble gases)

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‣ Escape of gas (no bung is fitted when there should be one).

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‣ Stirring with a metal spatula instead of glass rod.

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‣ Drying of gas: (the delivery tubes carrying the gas into the drying agent should be
immersed in the drying agent & the one carrying the dry gas out shouldn’t be
immersed).

- Safety Precautions:
‣ Use fume cupboard for experiments releasing toxic/ harmful gases: as Halogens ,
Sulfur dioxide or Nitrogen dioxide.

‣ Use electric heater instead of bunsen burner for heating alcohols as alcohols are
flammable and may catch fire.

‣ Wear Gloves & goggles when dealing with acids as the splashes are corrosive.

Dr. Nouran Rostom Page 1 of 5

 IGCSE Chemistry Tips for paper 6 chemistry

- Drawings you should be able to draw:

‣ Experimental techniques:
‣ Filtration (Flask- funnel - filter paper - filtrate - residue)
‣ Condenser (with water inlet and outlet)

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‣ Chromatography labelled diagram

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‣ Electrolysis:

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‣ electroplating experiment

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‣ inverted measuring cylinder over an electrode to collect gas

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& measure its volume

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‣ Rate of reaction:

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‣ Collection of gas experiment using gas syringe + stop watch

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‣ Mass change experiment (flask over a balance with a cotton

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wool + stop watch)

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- Improvements:
‣ Using burette instead of measuring cylinder: because burette is more accurate

‣ Using polystyrene cup /lagging material instead of glass beaker: to minimize

heat loss

‣ If a polystyrene cup is already used, we can add a lid to minimize heat loss.

‣ Repeat the experiment 3 times instead of once & take average for more reliable
results.

Dr. Nouran Rostom Page 2 of 5

 IGCSE Chemistry Tips for paper 6 chemistry

- Taking measurements:
‣ Pay attention to the scale, is it increasing downwards (as burette or inverted
measuring cylinder) or upwards as an ordinary measuring cylinder.

‣ Pay attention to the graduations of the lab tool provided.

‣ All burette readings should be written to 1 decimal place. And if the reading is a

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whole digit, write it down as .0 (examples: 0.0 , 15.0, 20.0 etc.)

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‣ When reading a stop watch, make sure to convert time to the unit required in the

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table heading (minutes or seconds not both!)

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- Graphs:
‣ Draw Graphs with a pencil and label your graphs if more than one graph required.

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‣ Graph should exceed more than half the grid.

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‣ A line of best fit should always be drawn (excluding anomalies).

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๏ Use a ruler if it’s a best fit straight line.

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๏ Draw free hand without a ruler if its’ a best fit curve or smooth line.

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‣ Revise reaction rate gas ( time on x axis - mass/ volume on Y- axis)

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Blue line:
Adding catalyst.
Using Higher temperature or pressure,
or surface area, or mass/
concentration of the excess reagent.

Red line:
Removing catalyst.
Using lower temperature or pressure,
or surface area, or mass/
concentration of the excess reagent.

Exception Blue line:

Using higher concentration/ mass of
the limiting reagent.

Red line:
Using lower concentration/ mass of
the limiting reagent.

Dr. Nouran Rostom Page 3 of 5

 IGCSE Chemistry Tips for paper 6 chemistry

- Special points for some experiments:

‣ Experiment of measuring time taken for the cross to disappear from view:
A smaller conical flask, means the time taken for the cross to disappear from view
will be shorter because depth of liquid in the flask is greater.

‣ Energy change experiments:

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The more volume of water added to the solution, the smaller the temperature change

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& vice versa.

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‣ Titration experiments repeated with 2 different solutions for ex. (C & D)
๏ If C & D are the titrants (the liquids in the burette): the one with smaller

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volume used is the more concentrated.

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๏ If C & D are the liquids in the conical flask: the one that needs larger

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volume of the titrant to be neutralized is the more concentrated.

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- Revise:

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‣ Tests for cations & anions

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‣ Tests for gases
‣ How to carry out a flame test + observations
‣ Color of copper (reddish brown/pink), copper carbonate (green) & copper salts
(blue)
‣ Color of cobalt compounds (pink)
‣ Color of carbon & manganese oxide & copper oxide (black)
‣ Smell of ammonia, ethanol, ethanoic acid, Hydrocarbons
‣ Reactivity series of metals
‣ Cracking & fermentation experiments

Dr. Nouran Rostom Page 4 of 5

 IGCSE Chemistry Tips for paper 6 chemistry

- Experiments to revise for Scientific investigation Q.4:

‣ How to measure solubility of substance in water at a certain temperature.

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‣ Separation techniques experiments.

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‣ Electroplating experiment

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‣ How to determine if a reaction is exo or endo by measuring temp. change.

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‣ Which fuels releases the most energy experiment.

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‣ Rate of reaction experiments (collecting gas by gas syringe/time or measuring

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decrease in mass / time)

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‣ Preparation of salt by excess method.

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‣ Titration experiment to determine concentration or to compare which solution is

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more concentrated.

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‣ Rusting experiment

‣ Which metal is the most reactive (faster bubbles or faster decrease in mass)

‣ Thermal decomposition of metal carbonate experiment using crucible & a lid then
extracting the metal by displacement reaction.

In any investigation write :

1. Steps including:
• Measurements: Add certain/ known volume, Weight certain mass, etc.
• Tools used: measuring cylinder, burette, balance, gas syringe, mortar & pestle etc.
• control variables for fair test: same amount, same concentration, same temp. Etc.

2. Conclusion: how the results will help you make your conclusion.
(the faster rate is the one that produced….., the more concentrated solution is the one
that makes most bubbles……, the higher the temp. Change, the better the fuel……, etc.)

Dr. Nouran Rostom Page 5 of 5