WACE Chemistry exam 2026Exam: Thu 29 Oct · SCSA timetable
Your WACE Chemistry exam:
When and how long
- Chemistry9.20 am start3 h plus 10 min reading time
SCSA: arrive 30 minutes before the examination start time. Every ATAR written exam has 10 minutes reading time and 3 hours working time unless otherwise indicated. The timetable is final, and no allowance is made for misreading it.
Source: 2026 Year 12 ATAR course written examinations timetable (SCSA), checked Wednesday 23 September 2026. Where a start time, reading time or duration isn't shown, the timetable doesn't publish it: check your personal timetable and the front of your paper.
What the exam covers
We don't have past-paper frequency data for this exam, so here is the course, module by module. Make sure every module is covered.
Night-before and exam-morning checklists
The night before
Exam-week survival kit: The last 7 days · The night before and exam morning · What to bring, and what's banned · How to use reading time · If you're sick or something goes wrong · Handling exam-week stress.
Last-week revision
WACE Chemistry cram sheet
Key formulas, definitions and facts copied from our Chemistry syllabus pages. One page when printed.
Unit 3: Equilibrium, Acids and Bases, and Redox
Two species that differ by one proton. When an acid donates a proton it becomes its conjugate base; when a base accepts a proton it becomes its conjugate acid.
A weak acid (or base) whose acid form and conjugate base form have distinctly different colours, so that the colour observed depends on the pH of the solution.
The deterioration of a metal by an electrochemical reaction with its environment. For iron the product is hydrated iron(III) oxide, , which is rust.
The equilibrium constant for the self-ionisation of water, . At 25 degrees Celsius its value is . The pure liquid water does not appear in the expression.
Unit 4: Organic Chemistry and Chemical Synthesis
A specific atom or group of atoms within a molecule that determines its chemical properties and characteristic reactions. The rest of the molecule (the carbon skeleton) is comparatively unreactive.
A specific atom or group of atoms within a molecule that gives the molecule its characteristic chemical reactions. Members of the same homologous series share a functional group and react similarly.
The removal of hydrogen (or addition of oxygen) from the carbon bearing the -OH group, converting the C-OH into a C=O. It requires a hydrogen on that carbon, which tertiary alcohols lack.
A reaction in which one atom or group of atoms in a molecule is replaced by a different atom or group, releasing a small by-product molecule (such as a hydrogen halide).