Chemistry punishes vagueness more than most subjects. “Add silver nitrate” earns nothing without the colour of the precipitate; “it reacts” earns nothing without the observation. A specification tells students what to know, but it never asks them anything, so they read it, nod along, and mistake recognition for recall.
So I rewrote it. Every learning point in the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE Chemistry (4CH1) specification is now a question, with the answer directly underneath, in the specification’s own order. Cover the answer, have a go, then check.
What’s in it
- Four booklets: Principles of chemistry, Inorganic, Physical and Organic chemistry
- 230 questions and answers, following the specification point by point
- 51 worked examples with every step shown
- Every practical in the specification, with a checklist
- 27 exam tips flagging the mistakes that actually lose marks
- A mixed exam practice section in every booklet
- 12 six-mark practice questions with mark schemes
The calculations get the most space
Most of the marks students drop in chemistry are mathematical, so the worked examples concentrate there: moles and reacting masses, limiting reactants, empirical and molecular formulae, percentage yield and percentage by mass, concentration and gas volumes, titrations with a 1 : 1 and a 2 : 1 ratio, Q = mcΔT and molar enthalpy change, bond energies, and rates from a tangent on a curve. Each one is set out in steps, because a student who can follow the steps can repeat them under pressure.
There are also worked examples for the questions that are not really calculations at all — identifying an unknown compound from its flame test and precipitate, or working out which metal has a relative atomic mass of 24. Those are the ones students freeze on.
Built for 4CH1, not adapted from AQA
The bold ‘C’ statements in the specification are examined on Paper 2 and are not part of the Science (Double Award) course. Every one of those questions is tagged Paper 2 only, so a Double Award student knows exactly what to skip and a Chemistry student knows which content appears only on the shorter paper. That covers solubility curves, concentration and gas volume calculations, metallic bonding, metal extraction and alloys, titrations, energy level diagrams and bond energies, dynamic equilibrium, alcohols, carboxylic acids, esters and condensation polymers.
Read the sample first
There’s a free nine-page sample built from real pages, so you can see the format before buying: states of matter, the mole calculations, chemical tests, calorimetry, crude oil and cracking, mixed exam practice, and two six-mark questions with their mark schemes.
Teaching the physics course too? There’s a matching pack for Edexcel International GCSE Physics (4PH1), in the same format. Following AQA instead? The Focus Questions packs for Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Combined Science are all in the shop.
This is an independent revision resource. It is not published by or affiliated with Pearson Edexcel.
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