WACE Chemistry Past Papers (Science)
WACE Chemistry is examined in a single written ATAR paper worth 50% of your final result, set and marked by SCSA, covering equilibrium and acids/bases, oxidation and reduction, and organic and analytical chemistry.
SCSA keeps a rolling window of recent past ATAR exams online - roughly the six most recent years - so there's a compact set to work through, and each one is worth sitting to time.
Official Chemistry ATAR exam papers & marking keys (2020–2025)
SCSA publishes the past ATAR course exams, the marking keys and the summary examination reports for Chemistry on its own site. They are the real exam questions - sit them under timed conditions, then mark with the marking key.
What's on the Chemistry exam?
The paper combines multiple-choice with short-answer and extended calculation and reasoning questions, using the provided data sheet and periodic table. Expect equilibrium and electrochemistry calculations and questions that ask you to justify a chemical explanation.
Timed past-paper practice, marked against the SCSA key, is the best way to rehearse the multi-step calculations and reaction analysis.
How to use the past papers
Sit each Chemistry paper under exam timing, closed-book, then mark it against SCSA's marking key for that year - the key shows exactly how marks are allocated, which is where the improvement comes from.
Finish with the summary examination report for that year: it's SCSA's examiner feedback on what the state cohort did well and badly. The paper, the marking key and the report all download from the official SCSA page linked above.
Practice Chemistry beyond the past papers
Once you've worked through the SCSA papers, generate fresh questions on the exact topics you're weakest on with Polarbear's AI exam-cram - grounded in the WACE Chemistry syllabus, free to try.
Chemistry past papers FAQ
Source: SCSA's official Chemistry past ATAR course exams. SCSA materials are © School Curriculum and Standards Authority - free to copy for non-commercial educational use. Polarbear links to the official papers rather than rehosting them, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by SCSA.