Predicted topics paper 2 AQA GCSE Chemistry 2026

[00:00:00]These are my predictions for paper two IGCSE chemistry exam 2026. The first topic is rate of reaction graphs and factors affecting reaction rate. So, this is a guaranteed topic in your exam.

[00:00:17]So, first of all, the first thing you need to know is how to draw the a graph when the rate changes. Remember that the graph will be steeper or the line will be steeper if the rate increases and it will be less steep if the rate decreases and will reach a higher final concentration of products if reactants concentration increase like this green curve here and it will be the same final concentration of product if reactants have the same concentration as you can see for these three curves where the increase and the rate would make it more steep or steeper but they all reach the same final concentration.

[00:01:05]And then how to calculate the rate of reaction from the graph. So, very possibly they might provide you with a graph or ask you to draw a graph and then calculate the rate at a certain point. So, if they do that, what you need to do is to draw the tangent at that specific point depending on the time and then you find the gradient of the tangent that will give you the rate at this particular point.

[00:01:34]And then the different factors affecting rate with explanations. So, when you explain, you have to refer to the collision theory. The first factor is the temperature. Increasing temperature would increase the rate because of the increase and the rate of the collision as the particles will gain more energy and also the particles will collide with higher energy which exceeds the activation energy for the reaction.

[00:02:01]Concentration of solution increasing concentration in terms of solution will increase the rate because of the increase in the rate of collision or frequency of collision. And pressure for gases, so pressure is the alternate of concentration for solution. So, if you have gases, then increasing pressure would means more frequent collisions as well between the particles. And then surface area to volume ratio, so increasing surface area to volume ratio means there is more surface for the particles to collide, so more frequent collisions as well. And finally, the use of the catalyst. The catalyst would change the route of the reaction without being consumed. And the new route would have lower activation energy. If it has lower activation energy, means the rate of the reaction would be faster because more of the collisions would be successful.

[00:03:00]The second topic is the reversible reactions and position of equilibrium.

[00:03:05]This is again another guaranteed topic in your exam. So, these are the reversible reactions when we have these two arrows here on both sides, so this is reversible. So, you need to understand and know what is meant by equilibrium.

[00:03:22]So, equilibrium is reached when the rate of the forward reaction equals the rate of the reverse reaction. And also, the concentration of reactants and products remain the constant. So, they are not the same, but they stay constant, meaning they do not change, but they are not the same.

[00:03:43]Factors affecting position of equilibrium, very common question in the exam. So, the first factor is the temperature. And effect of the temperature will depend on which side as exothermic, which side as endothermic.

[00:03:58]So, usually the change or the shift in the position of equilibrium would be to counteract the effect that has changed.

[00:04:07]So, if you increase the temperature, then the side the reaction would or the equilibrium will shift towards the endothermic side in order to lower the temperature or to counteract the effect of the increased temperature and vice versa.

[00:04:25]The concentration change in the concentration, but this is only for solutions. So, if you increase the concentration of reactants, the reactant the reaction will be shifted to the right towards the products and vice versa. Again, to counteract the effect.

[00:04:42]Pressure, this is in case of gases only and this is the most common one that comes in the exam because mostly reversible reactions in the exam come with the come with the gaseous reactions. So, if you increase the pressure, the equilibrium will be shifted to the sides which has less moles of the either reactants or products. Basically, the sides with less number of moles.

[00:05:08]Then the use of the catalyst, the catalyst will not affect the position of equilibrium. All what it does is that it helps in reaching the equilibrium faster. So, basically it will increase the rate of the forward and reverse reaction at the same rate.

[00:05:25]So, it doesn't affect the position of equilibrium.

[00:05:29]As I said, it's mostly gaseous reaction and maybe the question this year will be related to the Haber process where you have the reaction between hydrogen and nitrogen to give you ammonia. And the question might come as well in the exam like a six-mark question to discuss the optimum optimum conditions for the Haber process in terms of the temperature, the pressure, and the use [snorts] of the catalyst, where you have to refer to the how all of these factors affect the yield, how they affect the position of equilibrium, the rate of the reaction, and also the cost and the safety with the change in these factors. They might provide you with a completely different reaction, and they give you the data and ask you to find the optimum conditions or to comment on the optimum conditions based on the data they provide you in the table.

[00:06:32]Topic three is organic chemistry, and in organic chemistry, we have the first topic is hydrocarbons. What I expect in this exam this year, there might be a question asking you to write a balanced equation for complete or incomplete combustion.

[00:06:49]They might ask you about the change or the trend and the change in the boiling points or viscosity for alkanes with increase in the size, where you have to refer to the intermolecular forces of attraction. Increase in the intermolecular forces of attraction between molecules as the size increases, and how this would increase the temperature the boiling points because we need more energy to break these intermolecular forces. And then fractional distillation of crude oils, this is less likely this year because last year there was a whole long question about the fractional distillation of crude oils. However, I would never exclude this because this is one of the main topics in the specification, but it's less likely this year.

[00:07:40]Cracking, so I expect cracking to be in the exam this year, especially there was nothing about cracking last year. So, they might ask you to write uh, to complete an equation for cracking and also the conditions for cracking, which are the high temperature, steam, or the use of a catalyst.

[00:07:59]And then the test for double bond. So, this is the addition reaction for alkenes. So, they might ask you to draw the product when a certain alkene uh, reacts with bromine or they simply might ask you about the results of the test or what is the name of the test to test for double bond, which is the bromine water and the change of color from orange to colorless if you have a double bond. If you have an alkane with no double bond, then there will be no visible change.

[00:08:29]A topic four again, this is organic chemistry, but now it's alcohol, carboxylic acid, and esters. So, um, maybe this year they will ask you about the fermentation of glucose to produce uh, ethanol. So, they might ask you about the products or the optimal condition. There was nothing about fermentation or alcohols in the exam last year. Uh, the structure formula of carboxylic acid and its functional group. So, um, and acid properties of carboxylic acid. Remember this is the functional group of carboxylic acid and the acid properties of carboxylic acid.

[00:09:04]So, they react with the carbonate um, and they produce carbon dioxide gas and they might ask you to uh, test for this gas that is produced. Uh, they react with metals to give you hydrogen and they might ask you uh, as well to uh, provide the uh, the test for hydrogen. Uh, so be ready for any of these uh, questions.

[00:09:27]Also, because they are acid, they react with bases to give you salt and water.

[00:09:32]Uh, the reaction between acids and alcohols to give esters. So, they might ask you to name the ester. So, they might provide you with a specific acid, a specific alcohol, and then ask you to draw the structure of the ester and to name it as well. And finally, polymers. So, polymers is quite common in the exam. Although, I don't expect this year to be a big topic in the exam. There might be a a short question related to polymers, either to draw the repeat unit from from addition polymer or condensation polymers. So, just make sure that you know about polymers and the naturally occurring polymers as well, like proteins, like DNA, like also like starch, cellulose. All of these are naturally occurring polymers, condensation polymers basically. So, just at least know the name of these ones. I don't expect a big question as I said or a long question about polymers this year because there was a long one about it last year.

[00:10:40]And then we have chemical analysis. This is topic four. So, pure substance and formulation hasn't been in the exam for quite some time.

[00:10:49]So, there might be a question about it in the exam this year.

[00:10:53]Chemical tests for gases.

[00:10:56]So, carbon dioxide as I said, test for carbon dioxide is the most common one.

[00:11:00]However, it was in the exam last year.

[00:11:02]It might come or not, but be ready for this one. The ones that didn't show up in the exam last year were the oxygen and hydrogen. So, there were question about chlorine and there was a question about carbon dioxide. So, maybe they will ask you about hydrogen or oxygen this year. And then tests for cations.

[00:11:25]So, flame test in general might come.

[00:11:28]So, just make sure that you revise the colors for the different metals and the flame test. And then there is the sodium hydroxide test. So last year they asked about aluminum and magnesium which give the white precipitate and then aluminum with excess of sodium hydroxide the white precipitate disappears or become clear. So I don't think they're going to ask the same question this year. They might ask you about iron 2 plus, iron 3 plus or copper 2 plus which give different colored precipitates with the sodium hydroxide.

[00:12:00]Iron give you the green and iron 3 plus give you the brown precipitate and then copper 2 plus gives you the blue precipitate.

[00:12:09]In terms of the anion I think the test for sulfate is probably the one that might show up in the exam this year. Generally speaking please revise all of your chemical tests because not because chemical test came the year before that means it's not going to come again this year but it's not like they're going to repeat themselves for all of the questions. So they would give you variety of chemical tests. So I expect sulfate to be in the exam this year. So this is the barium chloride test that gives you a white precipitate.

[00:12:43]And don't forget that you use acidified solution HCL before you add the barium chloride. And then instrumental analysis so they haven't asked about instrumental analysis for quite a bit. And with instrumental analysis which is the flame emission spectroscopy it's just the advantages. So basically this is the only thing they ask you about. So you need to know about the advantages of using instrumental techniques which is the flame emission spectroscopy. So this is more reliable, more sensitive and more accurate.

[00:13:18]And then we have paper chromatography so there was nothing about paper chromatography in the exam last year and it's one of the common topics in the exam. So I think it's highly likely there will be a question about paper chromatography this year in the exam. So, make sure that you know the mistakes that they usually ask you about in paper chromatography like how you shouldn't be drawing the start line with a a pen. You should do it with a pencil.

[00:13:45]And also how the level of the solvent should be below the start line.

[00:13:51]So, these are the most common mistakes in the setup of the um paper chromatography and also how to calculate the RF.

[00:14:02]Topic five, gases in the atmosphere. So, they might ask you about the carbon footprint which hasn't come up in the exam for quite some time.

[00:14:12]Sources of greenhouse gases on Earth which are carbon dioxide and methane.

[00:14:18]And the question might come like a table with 10 different things and they might ask you to comment on these or evaluate or think about the different greenhouse gases, how they affect the temperature, the average temperature of Earth. So, all of these might come up in the exam this year because they haven't been in the exam for quite some time. And then the atmospheric pollutants from fuel and how to reduce nitrogen oxide emission from cars. So, the different pollutants we talking here about carbon dioxide as greenhouse gas, we talking about carbon monoxide which is poisonous, we talking about the carbon particulate, we talking about nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides which are the which cause acid rains and the problem associated with acid rains.

[00:15:08]All of these are quite important and they didn't come up in the exam last year. So, it's highly likely they might be in the exam this year.

[00:15:17]The changes in the different gases on Earth over time. This is much less likely because there were um a whole long question about that in the exam last year, so they asked about nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and oxygen. So, I don't think it's going to be in the exam again this year, especially that it's not it's not one of the main topics in the specification.

[00:15:40]And then topic six is using resources.

[00:15:43]So, there's a lot of things in using resources, and I'm going to tell you which ones I expect to be in the exam this year. So, remember to define the finite resource and renewable resources.

[00:15:58]So, sustainability basically is one of the hot topics in chemistry in general.

[00:16:04]And now they embedded in chemistry exams for GCSE. So, they like to ask you about sustainability. So, when they ask you about sustainability, always refer to whether the resource that is used as it a finite resource or whether it's a renewable resource. Always refer to this point when it comes to sustainability.

[00:16:27]Extraction of copper from low-grade ores using phytomining and bioleaching. This is one of the topic common topics in the exam, and it hasn't been in the exam at all last year, so I expect they might ask you about this this year.

[00:16:44]Possible water, so possible water one of the main topics as well, which hasn't been in the exam at all last year, so please make sure that you know about possible water, how to get possible water from both fresh water and salty water, and also the stages of waste water treatment. These are quite important for the exam this year. And composite material, composite material is not like a big thing, but it might come as a question with two or three marks maximum. So, uh sure that you know what is the reinforcement and what is the matrix. And then, uh finally, the um Haber process. So, as I said, the Haber process, uh they might uh come this year as the long six-mark questions where they ask you to evaluate the um optimal conditions for the process uh as a reversible reaction. So, this might be linked to the question related to the reversible reaction. So, make sure that you uh discuss all the three uh major points, which are the uh yield, um the rate of the reaction, and the cost and safety.

[00:17:59]Life cycle assessment. So, um I don't uh expect life cycle assessment to be in the exam this year, uh especially that it was in the exam uh in 2025 and 2024.

[00:18:11]So, it's less likely. I would never exclude anything basically, but it's less likely. So, if I'm going to put it, I'm going to put it at the bottom of the priority of the topics. However, um they might decide to ask you again about life cycle assessment, but I don't think it will be in the exam this year. But, be ready uh to answer these questions. And finally, calculations. So, paper two is not heavy in calculation. There's usually just one or two questions that involves calculation, and it's a simple calculation. The calculation questions are usually calculate the mass, calculate the concentration, express the concentration as mole per um for example, or gram per decimeter cubed, um uh or it could be finding the volume of the gas based on the moles produced. So, it's quite an