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Timing for a HSC Chem Paper (1 Viewer)

emilios

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How do all of you go for time? I was pretty good in the trial but that was only cos MC was a piss-take. Now when I'm doing past HSC papers I feel like I'm really rushing toward the end and I feel like shite when I have to leave out a 4 or 5 marker.

What should I aim for? Is this reasonable:
20 mins - MC
1hr 40mins - Core
55 - Option

Leaving me with like 5 minutes to check and look over/correct stuff

Core takes me so damn long :(
 

tomnomnom696

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maybe revise up on the option module as it seems like thats taking a lot of time? your core timing isnt too bad tbh
 
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How do all of you go for time? I was pretty good in the trial but that was only cos MC was a piss-take. Now when I'm doing past HSC papers I feel like I'm really rushing toward the end and I feel like shite when I have to leave out a 4 or 5 marker.

What should I aim for? Is this reasonable:
20 mins - MC
1hr 40mins - Core
55 - Option

Leaving me with like 5 minutes to check and look over/correct stuff

Core takes me so damn long :(
Your option is taking up too much of your time!

Option should be done in 40 minutes
 

Kittyrules

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well i do IPT but from my experience, if you have 20 multiple choice, then spend 10 mins on that. Most people get that wrong, its meant to be fast to do with a gut feeling.

i would do:
start with the longest part (most marks) - im guessing thats core. leave out any questions that you cbb to do just yet.
then do the option part. again leave out any questions that you don't get/don't want to do at that time/too hard etc.
then do multiple choice as fast as you can (10 mins is perf)
then go do the leftovers in order of mark weighting and easiness.
then if you have time, check the multiple choice, because checking the short answer/ extendded response is not as mark-saving effective because there are multiple marks to be won per question and you could get part of it right, while in multiple choice, a stupid mistake takes off a lot.
 

iStudent

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I thought timing was never an issue for science papers.
You can literally finish the whole exam in half the time lol.
It's the extra time spent on planning and sitting there working out properly what to write if anything. Right? (You're making me worried!) :(
 

emilios

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one thing guys (sig fig q): i just did a titration question that used the following values: 500ml, 0.100M, 21.4ml

the final value i got was 0.2336M right

how many sig figs should that go to? i mean when they use 500ml that's only like 1 sig fig but i don't think i can just write 0.2M ...

the book lists the final value as 0.234 (3 sig fig). can someone explain why this is?
 

iStudent

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was the 500 ml taken from an instrument such as a beaker/measuring cylinder etc?
because it's not 1 sig figs it becomes 3 sig figs. (it's an instrumental thing...)
They do that in all hsc papers (only if it's measured using instruments). I think that is why.
Someone more knowledgeable confirms please.
My teacher also said that in chemistry 500 is 3 sig figs not 1 (unlike phys). I'm skeptical about what she said though.
 

zhertec

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one thing guys (sig fig q): i just did a titration question that used the following values: 500ml, 0.100M, 21.4ml

the final value i got was 0.2336M right

how many sig figs should that go to? i mean when they use 500ml that's only like 1 sig fig but i don't think i can just write 0.2M ...

the book lists the final value as 0.234 (3 sig fig). can someone explain why this is?
Most if not all teachers recommend that you should give the same sig figs that are given in the question, so in this case, it is given as 0.100M, hence your answer should be 0.xxx M; same as the question in terms of amount of numbers, hence they rounded it to 0.234.
 
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Most if not all teachers recommend that you should give the same sig figs that are given in the question, so in this case, it is given as 0.100M, hence your answer should be 0.xxx M; same as the question in terms of amount of numbers, hence they rounded it to 0.234.
Yeap!! :D
 

dan964

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i usually including the trial have about 30-40 minutes (for a 3 hr exam) to do the entire paper again.
then again I lose so many marks because I don't waste time trying to recall something that I obviously don't remember...

The multiple choice should take 20 min
1 hour 20 depending on difficulty for core
40 minutes for option.
leaving 40 minutes to double check multiple choice twice and check balanced equations and tidy up and underline long response questions in purple/pink.
(i write in black though)
 

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