A-Level Chemistry Required Practicals: Full List, Techniques and Revision Priorities

Overview

If you are revising A level chemistry required practicals, the most useful mindset is this: you do not need to memorise every classroom detail in isolation, but you do need to understand the practical logic behind common experiments.

Exam boards phrase their practical requirements differently, and some schools organise them in a different order, but the same core practical chemistry skills appear again and again. Most A-level chemistry practical questions draw from a familiar set of areas:

• making up standard solutions and carrying out calculations from concentration, mass and volume
• acid-base titrations and the use of indicators
• enthalpy change experiments using temperature measurements
• rates of reaction work, including measuring change over time
• equilibrium investigations and observations of reversible reactions
• organic chemistry techniques such as reflux, distillation and purification
• testing purity using melting point or boiling point
• chromatography and identification methods
• instrumental and qualitative analysis, including interpreting observations

That means your revision should focus on three layers at once:

1. The method: what is done, in what order, and why.
2. The practical skills: measuring, observing, controlling variables, reducing uncertainty and staying safe.
3. The exam links: calculations, evaluation points, graph skills, sources of error and suggested improvements.

A good practical answer in an exam usually sounds precise rather than complicated. You might be asked to identify independent, dependent and control variables; explain why a conical flask is used instead of a measuring cylinder; suggest why rinsing matters; compare continuous and batch methods; or explain how an impurity changes a melting point. These are all practical knowledge questions, even when no one expects you to be in a lab.

Use this article as a checklist. Return to it before each topic test, before mock season, and again when you start timed past paper practice. If you also revise another science, our guide to A-Level Biology Required Practicals: Full List, Skills and Common Exam Links can help you compare how practical knowledge is tested across subjects.

Checklist by scenario

This section breaks revision into the situations students actually face. Instead of treating required practicals as one large block, use the checklist that matches what you need to do next.

1. If you are learning the practical for the first time

Your aim here is understanding, not speed.

• Write the title of the practical in your own words.
• State the aim clearly. What quantity is being measured or what question is being answered?
• List the apparatus and know why each item is used.
• Identify what is measured directly, for example mass, temperature, time or titre.
• Identify the calculation that follows from the raw data.
• Note the key hazards and basic control measures.
• Write one sentence on what makes the method valid and one on what makes it reliable.

At this stage, try to avoid copying a method word for word. If you cannot explain why a burette is used in a titration or why a thermometer must be read carefully at eye level, you are not yet revising in a way that will help on exam day.

2. If you are revising standard solutions and titration

This is one of the highest-priority practical areas in A level chemistry practical revision because it combines technique, accuracy and calculation.

Your checklist:

• Know how to calculate the mass of solute needed for a given volume and concentration.
• Know the difference between dissolving in a beaker and making up to the mark in a volumetric flask.
• Remember why the flask should be inverted several times after making up the solution.
• Know which apparatus is rinsed with deionised water and which is rinsed with the solution being used.
• Understand why the burette reading is recorded to an appropriate precision.
• Know the purpose of rough titres and concordant titres.
• Be able to explain why the indicator is suitable and why only a few drops are used.
• Practise the mole ratio step in the calculation, not just the arithmetic.

If you lose marks in titrations, it is often because of method language rather than chemistry content. Words like pipette, volumetric flask, meniscus, conical flask and concordant matter.

3. If you are revising energetics practicals

These questions often look simple but test evaluation quite heavily.

• Know how to measure initial and final temperature and calculate temperature change correctly.
• Recognise common heat loss issues to the surroundings.
• Know why an insulated container or lid may improve the method.
• Understand the limits of simple calorimetry when compared with more complete combustion data.
• Be prepared to comment on incomplete combustion, heat loss and measurement uncertainty.
• Link the sign of enthalpy change to whether temperature rises or falls.

Many students revise only the formula and forget the practical setup. In exams, you may need both.

4. If you are revising rates of reaction practicals

Rates questions often combine graph skills with practical method.

• Identify the variable being changed, such as concentration, temperature, catalyst presence or surface area.
• Know what is being measured over time, for example gas volume, mass loss or visible change.
• Explain why control variables must be kept constant.
• Know why repeats improve reliability.
• Be able to sketch or interpret a rate graph.
• Recognise the difference between initial rate ideas and total amount of product formed.
• Understand why timing and mixing errors can affect early data points.

If a method uses a disappearing cross, gas syringe or stopwatch timing, focus on practical limitations. Human judgement and reaction time often become part of the evaluation.

5. If you are revising equilibrium practicals

Equilibrium practicals are usually observation-heavy and explanation-heavy.

• Know what visible changes are expected when conditions are changed.
• Link colour change or concentration change to equilibrium position.
• Apply Le Chatelier's principle carefully rather than as a memorised phrase.
• Distinguish between shifting equilibrium position and changing rate.
• Revise what happens when temperature, pressure or concentration changes.

A reliable way to revise this area is to make a two-column table: observed change on one side, equilibrium explanation on the other.

6. If you are revising organic techniques

This is another major area for required practicals chemistry A level. Students often know the reaction but not the apparatus.

Make sure you can recognise and explain:

• Reflux: heating a reaction mixture without losing volatile substances.
• Distillation: separating a product based on boiling point differences.
• Steam distillation: separating temperature-sensitive organic compounds in some contexts.
• Filtration: separating solid from liquid.
• Recrystallisation: purifying a solid product.
• Drying: removing traces of water from an organic layer or solid.
• Melting point measurement: checking purity.
• Thin-layer or paper chromatography: separating and comparing substances.

For each technique, ask yourself:

• What is the aim?
• Which apparatus is essential?
• Why is that setup chosen?
• What result shows success or purity?
• What is the likely source of product loss or contamination?

7. If you are close to mocks or final exams

At this point, switch from topic notes to exam-shaped preparation.

• Do one-page summaries for each practical area.
• Practise describing methods in full sentences, not bullet fragments.
• Answer chemistry exam questions by topic on titration, calorimetry, rates and organic methods.
• Review mark schemes to see how specific practical language is rewarded.
• Build a short error-and-improvement bank for common experiments.
• Time yourself on six-mark practical method or evaluation questions.

Even if your school has completed the lab work months earlier, the exam still treats practical knowledge as live content. The best approach is to revisit it regularly rather than leaving it until the end.

What to double-check

Before you move on from any practical, make sure you can answer the questions below without looking at your notes.

Method knowledge

• Can you describe the steps in the correct order?
• Can you name the apparatus precisely?
• Can you explain why each major step is included?

Measurements and calculations

• Do you know which readings are taken directly?
• Do you know the units that should be used?
• Can you convert units if needed?
• Can you complete the linked calculation confidently?

Accuracy, reliability and validity

• Can you distinguish between random error and systematic error in a simple way?
• Can you say how repeats improve reliability?
• Can you suggest a realistic improvement rather than a vague one?
• Can you identify a control variable and explain why it matters?

Practical observations

• Do you know the visible result, such as a colour change, precipitate, endpoint or temperature change?
• Can you separate observation from explanation?

Safety

• Can you identify obvious hazards such as corrosive acids, flammable liquids, hot apparatus or toxic vapours?
• Can you suggest proportionate precautions such as eye protection, water bath use or a fume cupboard where relevant?

A useful rule for A level chemistry practical revision is that anything you did with your hands in the lab may reappear on paper as a question about precision, evidence or judgement.

Common mistakes

Many students lose marks on practical questions for avoidable reasons. These are the mistakes worth catching early.

• Confusing apparatus: mixing up pipette, burette, measuring cylinder and volumetric flask.
• Giving vague improvements: saying “be more careful” instead of naming a better instrument, insulation method or repeat strategy.
• Forgetting the chemistry behind the method: for example, doing a titration calculation mechanically without understanding the mole ratio.
• Ignoring precision: not recording readings to a suitable number of decimal places.
• Mixing up reliability and accuracy: these are related but not identical.
• Overlooking contamination points: failing to mention rinsing, drying or transfer loss.
• Describing safety too generally: “wear safety equipment” is weaker than naming goggles or specific precautions.
• Not using correct practical vocabulary: examiners often reward precise terms.
• Treating organic practicals as pure recall: you still need to explain why reflux, distillation or recrystallisation is used.

If you struggle with longer written answers, it can help to borrow a structured approach from general exam technique. Our article on 6 Mark Questions in GCSE Science: Structure, Command Words and Model Answer Checklist is aimed at GCSE, but the core habits of sequencing, precision and covering every part of the question are still useful at A level.

When to revisit

Required practicals should be revisited in a cycle, not revised once. The most practical plan is to come back to this topic whenever your revision workflow changes.

Revisit your practical checklist:

• After finishing each topic so the method stays linked to the theory.
• Before mock exams to rebuild the connections between practical technique and exam questions.
• When you start past paper practice because that is when weaknesses in method language usually show up.
• Before seasonal planning cycles such as a new term or revision timetable reset.
• When your tools or workflow change for example, when moving from class notes to flashcards, summary sheets or question packs.

For your next revision session, do this:

1. List every practical area your course has covered.
2. Score each one red, amber or green for confidence.
3. Choose one red area and rewrite the method from memory.
4. Add three likely exam questions: one on method, one on calculation, one on evaluation.
5. Check against your class notes or specification wording.
6. Repeat with another practical later in the week.

This turns A level chemistry required practicals from a vague revision task into a manageable, repeatable system.

If you are also strengthening your wider exam technique, structured past paper work matters just as much as content review. For a revision routine built around exam questions, see Best Way to Use GCSE Science Past Papers: A Step-by-Step Revision Plan. It is written for GCSE science revision, but the method of using papers actively rather than passively translates well to A-level chemistry too.

Keep this page as a running checklist. Update it with your own weak spots, the exact experiments your class has completed, and the practical phrases that repeatedly appear in mark schemes. That way, your core practical chemistry revision stays useful right through the year rather than becoming a last-minute cram topic.