There are seven HSC Chemistry past papers on the current syllabus, and all of them are free on the NESA website. The first exam set on the Chemistry Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) was the 2019 HSC, so the 2019 to 2025 papers are the ones that match what you’re studying now.
This page links you straight to them, then goes further. At the back of every marking guidelines document, NESA prints a Mapping Grid that tags each question with its module and content area. We added up all seven grids to show how the exam spreads its 100 marks across Modules 5 to 8, and summarised every year’s marking feedback, module by module, in our own words.
Key Takeaways
- NESA publishes each year’s HSC Chemistry exam paper, marking guidelines and marking feedback for free. The 2019 to 2025 papers are on the current syllabus.
- Every paper is worth 100 marks: 20 multiple-choice questions in Section I and 80 marks of short-answer and extended-response questions in Section II.
- In the 2019–2025 papers, every module was examined every year in both sections, and questions involving each module were worth between 22 and 34 marks (22% to 34% of the paper) in any one paper (counting shared questions).
- Eight content areas appeared in Section II in all seven papers (including shared questions): static and dynamic equilibrium, factors that affect equilibrium, solution equilibria, Brønsted–Lowry theory, quantitative analysis, reactions of organic acids and bases, and both analysis content areas of Module 8.
- The most common marking feedback is about working and precision: show every step, use correct units and significant figures, and answer the exact question asked.
- The current syllabus is examined up to and including the 2028 HSC. The first HSC on the new Chemistry 11–12 Syllabus (2025) is in 2029.
- Our HSC Chemistry notes cover each module in depth once you know where your gaps are.
Contents
- Where to find official HSC Chemistry past papers
- What is in the HSC Chemistry exam
- HSC Chemistry past papers by topic
- HSC Chemistry exam trends
- What cost marks in each module
- How to use past papers
- Are older papers still useful?
Where Can You Find Official HSC Chemistry Past Papers (2019–2025)?
Each year’s exam pack has the paper, the marking guidelines (with sample answers and the Mapping Grid at the end) and the markers’ feedback, which sits on the exam pack page itself. Every link below goes to NESA; we don’t host copies.
| HSC year | Exam paper | Marking guidelines | Exam pack and marking feedback |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2025 paper (PDF) | 2025 guidelines (PDF) | 2025 exam pack |
| 2024 | 2024 paper (PDF) | 2024 guidelines (PDF) | 2024 exam pack |
| 2023 | 2023 paper (PDF) | 2023 guidelines (PDF) | 2023 exam pack |
| 2022 | 2022 paper (PDF) | 2022 guidelines (PDF) | 2022 exam pack |
| 2021 | 2021 paper (PDF) | 2021 guidelines (PDF) | 2021 exam pack |
| 2020 | 2020 paper (PDF) | 2020 guidelines (PDF) | 2020 exam pack |
| 2019 | 2019 paper (PDF) | 2019 guidelines (PDF) | 2019 exam pack |
All seven papers, marking guidelines and marking feedback are © NSW Education Standards Authority. If a PDF link stops working, the Chemistry HSC exam papers page always lists the current exam packs.
What Is in the HSC Chemistry Exam?
You get a formulae sheet, a data sheet and a periodic table at the back of the paper. Section II ran from Question 21 to somewhere between Question 34 (2019) and Question 39 (2024), with many questions split into parts. Every paper had at least two single-part Section II questions worth 7 marks or more (see the big-question chart); the largest single part was 9 marks (2023 Question 36), and the largest numbered question, all parts added, was 11 marks (2019 Question 29).
The exam covers the four Year 12 modules only, but it assumes your Year 11 chemistry: moles, bonding, intermolecular forces and enthalpy turn up inside Year 12 questions all the time. If the papers expose Year 11 gaps, our Year 11 Chemistry notes are the place to patch them.
HSC Chemistry Past Papers by Topic: Marks per Module, 2019–2025
We added up the marks in each year’s Mapping Grid by module. A question NESA tagged with content from more than one module is counted as “multi-module” rather than split, because NESA doesn’t say how those marks divide.
Source and credit: the question-to-topic mapping is NESA’s, taken from the Mapping Grids in the HSC Chemistry Marking Guidelines 2019–2025, © NSW Education Standards Authority. The module totals are our own tally of those grids.
What Do the 2019–2025 HSC Chemistry Papers Show?
Treat these as a description of past papers, not a forecast: NESA sets each paper fresh, and anything on the syllabus can be examined.
Every module, every year
All four modules were examined in Section I and Section II of every paper, and none took more than about a third of the marks. The chart compares each module’s lowest and highest totals two ways.
Counting single-module questions only, Module 6 varied least: 19 to 25 marks (19% to 25% of the paper), and 23 to 25 in six of the seven papers. Modules 7 and 8 moved around more, partly because so many of their questions were shared with other modules.
The biggest questions often combine modules
The multi-module share ranged from 0 marks (2025) to 21 marks (2023), and from 2021 to 2024 at least one big single part in each paper drew on two modules.
Two of the three Module 7 with Module 8 parts (2023 and 2024) asked students to identify an organic compound from its reactions and spectroscopic data; the other (2022) asked them to design a school-lab synthesis of one. Both Module 6 with Module 7 parts joined quantitative analysis to organic chemistry. Across the smaller shared questions, Module 5 with Module 6 was also common, in calculations that use K, Ka or Ksp alongside acid–base chemistry.
The 2019–2025 papers rewarded students who could use two modules in one answer. Revising each module in isolation leaves that skill untrained.
Content areas that appeared in Section II every year
Quantitative analysis was worth at least 11 Section II marks in six of the seven papers (counting shared questions). Section I tells a different story for some areas: calculating the equilibrium constant and nomenclature appeared there in all seven papers, and polymers in six (including shared questions).
What Cost Marks in HSC Chemistry? Module by Module
NESA’s markers give feedback on Section II, question by question; there’s none on the multiple choice. Here are the recurring themes from 2019–2025 in our own words. The exact comments are on each year’s exam pack page.
Across the whole paper
Read the question closely, work out what the verb asks for, plan, use the stimulus, show all working with correct units and significant figures, and check you’ve answered the actual question.
Module 5: Equilibrium and Acid Reactions
| Where marks went | What markers wanted |
|---|---|
| Naming "Le Chatelier's principle" as a bare label | The specific system's response to the specific change, explained (some questions asked for it through collision theory and reaction rates). |
| Confusing equilibrium position with the value of K, or saying concentrations are equal at equilibrium | It's the forward and reverse rates that are equal. |
| K and Ksp expressions with solids included, wrong indices or moles where concentrations belong; ICE tables that skip the mole ratio | Solids left out, concentrations throughout, mole ratio applied. |
| Mixing up molar solubility and the ionic product when predicting a precipitate; sign errors in Gibbs free energy | Each quantity used for its own job; signs checked. |
| Misreading what a graph's axis shows, or sketching concentration changes that don't match the stimulus | Graphs that match the stimulus. |
Revise it: HSC Chemistry Module 5 notes.
Module 6: Acid/Base Reactions
| Where marks went | What markers wanted |
|---|---|
| Using the dilution formula for titrations; millilitres where litres are needed | n = cV with volumes in litres, then the mole ratio. |
| Skipped steps, early rounding or miscopied numbers in titration and back-titration calculations | Every step shown; round only at the end. |
| Describing a conductivity or pH curve without explaining it, or "ions" in general | The shape explained, naming the specific ions. |
| Vague buffer explanations | The weak acid and conjugate base named, with the equilibrium as an equation. |
| Not knowing which common acids are strong and which are weak; the Ka and pKa relationship the wrong way round | A larger Ka means a smaller pKa. |
| In calorimetry, the wrong mass in q = mcΔT, or a positive sign on an exothermic enthalpy change | The right mass, and a negative ΔH for an exothermic change. |
Revise it: HSC Chemistry Module 6 notes.
Module 7: Organic Chemistry
| Where marks went | What markers wanted |
|---|---|
| Structural formulae with missing hydrogens, or carbons with more or fewer than four bonds (in most years' feedback) | Every carbon with four bonds, no hydrogens missing. |
| IUPAC naming slips; confusing the kinds of isomer | Names and isomer types checked. |
| Mixing up intermolecular forces and covalent bonds when explaining boiling points | When a liquid boils, each molecule stays whole; the molecules just move apart from one another. |
| In fuel calorimetry, using the mass of the fuel instead of the mass of water | The mass of water in q = mcΔT. |
| Giving the type of reaction when the question asked for the reaction conditions | The conditions. |
| Stopping at the aldehyde | A primary alcohol heated under reflux with excess acidified dichromate or permanganate is oxidised through to the carboxylic acid. |
| Generic safety answers ("wear PPE") | Each precaution linked to the specific chemical or technique. |
Revise it: HSC Chemistry Module 7 notes.
Module 8: Applying Chemical Ideas
| Where marks went | What markers wanted |
|---|---|
| Confusing the base peak with the molecular (parent) ion peak in a mass spectrum; loose NMR terms like chemical environment and chemical shift | Each term used precisely. |
| Proposing a structure without tying every piece of spectral and chemical data back to it | Every piece of data linked to the structure. |
| Precipitation equations without states or balancing; ion identification that ignores the solubility rules | Balanced equations with states; solubility rules applied. |
| Unit and ratio errors in gravimetric and instrumental calculations (mg to g, mole ratios the wrong way round) | Units converted first; mole ratio checked. |
| Confusing qualitative with quantitative analysis, and accuracy with reliability | Each pair kept distinct. |
| In synthesis questions, stopping at "the catalyst speeds it up" | A catalyst provides an alternative pathway with a lower activation energy, so equilibrium is reached sooner. That saves time, and lets the process run at a lower temperature, which cuts energy use and cost. It doesn't change the equilibrium position, so it doesn't change the equilibrium yield. |
Revise it: HSC Chemistry Module 8 notes.
How Should You Use HSC Chemistry Past Papers?
- Learn the module first. A paper is a test, not a textbook. Early in Year 12, do questions by module as you finish each one.
- Sit full papers timed, in one sitting. Three hours and five minutes, closed book, with only the formulae sheet, data sheet and periodic table. Stopping halfway hides the stamina and timing problems that cost marks late in Section II.
- Mark it honestly against the marking guidelines. Check each marking criterion, not just the sample answer. If a criterion asks for a link or a reason you didn’t give, you didn’t get that mark.
- Read the marking feedback for the questions you dropped. It usually names the exact mistake.
- Log every lost mark by module and content area, then revise those areas before your next paper.
Seven papers isn’t many, so don’t burn them all in September. Our founder’s story of how he hacked HSC Chemistry with past papers shows the feedback loop in practice, and our HSC Chemistry study strategies cover when to start.
Are Older HSC Chemistry Past Papers Still Useful?
Papers from 2018 and earlier were set on the previous Chemistry syllabus. Many of their equilibrium, acid–base, organic and analysis questions still apply, but they also examine content that’s no longer in the course, and their structure is different. Use them for extra topic practice after 2019 to 2025, and check each question against the syllabus first.
NESA’s new Chemistry 11–12 Syllabus (2025) starts with Year 11 in Term 1 2028 and Year 12 in Term 4 2028. According to the Chemistry 11–12 Syllabus (2025) overview, its first HSC examination is in 2029, so the analysis on this page applies to the 2026, 2027 and 2028 HSC. We’ll add each new paper as NESA publishes it.
HSC Chemistry Tutoring in Blacktown
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The Bottom Line
The 2019 to 2025 HSC Chemistry past papers are free, official and the best practice material you have. Every module was examined every year, the biggest questions often joined two modules, and lost marks were usually about working, precision and answering the exact question. Use the charts to see where the marks have gone, the feedback to see how they were lost, and the notes to fix it.
If this article was helpful, you should check out:
- HSC past papers by subject: NESA’s 2019 to 2025 exam packs for English Advanced, English Standard, Biology, Chemistry and Physics, and how the exams compare
- HSC Chemistry notes for Modules 5 to 8
- Ultimate guide to scoring Band 6 in Chemistry
- HSC subject scaling
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I download HSC Chemistry past papers?
NESA publishes every HSC Chemistry exam paper, with its marking guidelines and marking feedback, free on its website. The table at the top of this page links directly to NESA's 2019 to 2025 exam packs, which are the papers on the current syllabus.
Which HSC Chemistry past papers match the current syllabus?
The 2019 to 2025 papers. The Chemistry Stage 6 Syllabus (2017) was first examined in the 2019 HSC, so earlier papers were written for the previous course and include content that is no longer examined.
Do HSC Chemistry past papers come with answers?
Each year's marking guidelines give the multiple-choice answers and the marking criteria for Section II, usually with a sample answer. NESA's marking feedback then describes what better responses did. They aren't full worked solutions, so if you can't see why you lost a mark, ask a teacher or tutor to go through it with you.
How many marks is each module worth in the HSC Chemistry exam?
NESA doesn't publish a fixed split. In the 2019 to 2025 papers, questions involving each module were worth between 22 and 34 of the 100 marks (22% to 34%) in any one paper, counting questions shared between modules at full value, and every module appeared in both sections every year. The marks-per-module chart above shows each year's breakdown with shared questions kept separate, so its single-module figures are lower (12 to 29 marks, or 12% to 29%).
What is the format of the HSC Chemistry exam?
Five minutes of reading time and three hours of working time, for 100 marks. Section I is 20 multiple-choice questions worth one mark each, and Section II is 80 marks of short-answer and extended-response questions. A formulae sheet, data sheet and periodic table are provided.
When does the new HSC Chemistry syllabus start?
Year 11 starts the Chemistry 11–12 Syllabus (2025) in Term 1 2028 and Year 12 in Term 4 2028, with the first HSC exam on it in 2029. Students sitting the HSC in 2026, 2027 or 2028 are examined on the current syllabus, so the 2019 to 2025 papers stay relevant for them.
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