Problems with CIE A level chemistry practicals

[123]

I'm doing CIE A level chemistry practical paper 33 privately. I'm not good at doing the questions in chem practical paper. Its mainly the titration, energetics or rate of reaction graphing questions. R there any notes in doing these types of questions??

When school chem lab prepare the chemicals b4 the exams (from the confidentional instructions thingy), the chemicals r not stored as instructed. Because of this chemicals turn useless in the exams!!
I think this is what happend when i took my chem practical paper 31 in m/j '08   

Because in that paper we had to use ammonium iron sulphate & hydrogen peroxide(H2O2) for a titration. I couldn't actually get any end-point with that particular titration. And I'm damn sure that was because H2O2 was fully decomposed into water!!!

Given that our school's chem lab storage/ knowledge is mediocre, I am sure they couldn't store H2O2 with care.
Not to mention scorching climate of west India in May and June (HOT SUMMER) which would have catalyzed H2O2 into H2O !!! What are we to do, store the H2O2 like icecream??   

I'm assuming because of this, most of the students failed paper 31 in M/J 2008 (including me)!! 

Guys , I hope you understand this problem. Is there any way to make CIE examiners aware of this?? I'm sure the titration with hydrogen peroxide went well in places like UK or New Zealand that time. Is it our fault that CIE did not consider this???

I really hope this O/N '09, the chem practical paper will not need H2O2!!

[123]

Any replies please??? 

[nid404]

check knochardy....it may have notes for practs...As far as the chemicals r concerned,they r brought in by the cie...the school doesn;t do anything for the boards

during your may/junr paper, i'm not sure what happened....i really wouldn't know. But if this happened with all the students...literally all of them, then mayb there was something wrong with the sample they provided and also some storage problem.....Cause in my school....also in west india(mumbai), the lab is not well kept.....as in the apparatus is not always clean and stuff......
I dunno abt the sample provided but you can write to cie about the storage

I will be giving my AS in june and I don't want to encounter a problem like this

[123]

Thanks for the knockhardy site, i saw it in 1 of ur posts & got some useful titration notes

Geez! I'm telling you wat happend..i'm damn sure i'm right!!!
R u sure cie give samples?? Whats the point in cie giving the confidential instructions few weeks b4 the practical exam??? If they do give samples of chemicals then that would b no different from what our schools prepare for the xam. Anyways H2O2 is transparent so u can't tell the 'real' chemical by the sample

It's the fact that these chemicals (eg. hydrogen peroxide) get readily decomposed in climate of india. R v supposed to store such chemicals like ice cream??? 

CIE would be risking our performance in practical exams.
Even hi-fi storage of best cie schools in india can go wrong with delicate chemicals!

Man writing to cie about this makes no sense. Even when u specify a complaint!! They just reply (late) :

Please refer all enquiries to the Examinations officer at your school.  They will be able to provide advice and guidance on all aspects of the examination process including timetables, support for the examinations, results and certificates.
Please note that answers to many frequently asked questions can be found on CIE's website, please click here for details.

Its the CIE A level examiner that need to see this post right now!!
Examinations officers have nothing to do with this!!
Please tell me how someone can make sure the examiners know bout this?

I'm gonna b givin my full A level chemistry in Oct 2009! So i hope they wont give H2O2 this time!! 'Cos even now india is NOT a cool place to stay in!!

[nid404]

www.cie.org.uk....write to them..they have specified some e-mail ids

let them know about the problems...and ask them if these r being taken into consideration...yup my teachers said cie gives samples...

where in india r u from?

[123]

K so what does the school do with the samples?

I'm in ahmedabad. It gets much hotter here than mumbai!! H2O2 wont get affected in mum much. cos theres soo much humidity there!!

which school u in mumbai

[nid404]

the schools store them till the date of the practicals which would be say for two-three weeks before practicals...

Ahmedabad is pretty hot...i know...

I'm in Podar...you?

[123]

What the heck!! really, whats the point in publishing the instruction to schools if they give the samples??
I don;t think CIE would give out millions of samples to schools to use in exams!! They are too lazy/smart to do dat!!

Podar is supposed to b the best is'n it? I'm in JG int. Not that great @ all!!!

[nid404]

Podar ranks fourth in the west zone ...It's good but students have to wash the apparatus well before use...not always kept clean

I don't know....but i guess they send samples...that's what we were told...schools r not as efficient as the cie....they won't let schools do it cuz a student's grades are at stake

[123]

lolz...He who uses it has to clean up!! Its not scools who use the glassware

Whos ranked 1st in west zone?

[nid404]

Ryan International

[astarmathsandphysics]

Is decomposition of h2o2 very sensitif to temp? Ask them to turn the aircon up.

[nid404]

Is decomposition of h2o2 very sensitif to temp? Ask them to turn the aircon up.

my school is centrally air conditioned....i dunno abt 123's tho

[123]

Hahaha...mate our school lab didn't even hav the fan on...!!! I really think aircon is out of the question!!