SACE Stage 2 Chemistry data sheet and periodic table: what the Board gives you

Formula sheet

The card below opens today's Year 12 Chemistry paper with the sheet in a drawer, including a periodic table. The data sheet's contents follow in our own layout. The SACE Board prints the sheet on one page and the periodic table on the next, and says the data sheet has been provided since November 2019, so check against the Board's Chemistry external assessment page and its past papers.

Metal activity

From most reactive to least reactive: K, Ca, Na, Mg, Al, Zn, Cd, Co, Ni, Bi, Cu, Hg, Ag, Au.

Table of SI prefixes

Symbols of common quantities

Mathematical relationships

How the exam works with the data sheet

The Board's 2025 Chemistry paper lists the periodic table and data sheet among its materials, and the 2026 timetable has Chemistry on Wednesday 4 November:

The sheet's smallness is the main fact about it. Compare the QCE Chemistry data booklet guide with its 18 pages of tables and the WACE data booklet guide.

What is not on the SACE Chemistry data sheet

• Constants. No Avogadro constant, gas constant, molar volume, Kw or Faraday constant.
• The specific heat capacity of water. The sheet lists c as the symbol but gives no value, so the question has to give it.
• The ideal gas law. PV = nRT is absent, as is the molar volume of a gas.
• Equilibrium expressions and Ka. Not given.
• Solubility rules and electrode potentials. Neither appears, so questions on precipitation or cells give the values they need.
• Organic and spectroscopy data. No infrared, NMR or mass spectrometry tables.
• The sign convention for enthalpy. ΔH = Q ÷ n, but you decide whether the reaction is exothermic.

How to use the data sheet in the exam

1. Take molar masses from the periodic table by adding up the relative atomic masses.
2. Write the relationship, substitute, and show every step.
3. Convert units before you substitute: millilitres to litres, kilojoules to joules.
4. Use the metal activity list for displacement questions: a more reactive metal displaces a less reactive one from solution.

Example 1: calorimetry

Burning 0.0200 mol of fuel warms 250 g of water by 3.2 K. The question gives c = 4.18 J g⁻¹ K⁻¹. First Q, then ΔH per mole:

That is 167 kJ per mole released, so the reaction is exothermic and ΔH is written as −167 kJ mol⁻¹.

Example 2: pH of a strong acid

A 0.0050 mol L⁻¹ solution of a strong monoprotic acid has [H⁺] = 0.0050 mol L⁻¹. The pH line gives:

Two decimal places match the two significant figures in the concentration.

Example 3: concentration to mass

A chemist needs 150 mL of 0.200 mol L⁻¹ sodium hydroxide. The concentration line rearranged gives the moles, and the mass line gives the grams. From the periodic table, M(NaOH) = 40.00 g mol⁻¹:

Practise this skill in the Atomic Structure course.

Practise with the data sheet open

Our Year 12 Chemistry daily paper is a short timed paper of 8 questions worth 25 to 35 marks. It is not a SACE paper. Sit it as a short mock with the sheet in the drawer. Year 11 Chemistry covers the earlier topics.

Exam answers

The answers and a worked mark scheme come with today's paper once it is marked. They show which line of the sheet each question wanted. We do not publish official answers, past paper answers or leaked papers.

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