TCE Chemistry: the TASC Level 4 course, its 3-hour exam and how the award is set

The eight criteria

TCE courses are assessed against criteria, each rated A, B or C. Chemistry has eight, and the four that carry an asterisk in the course document are the ones the TASC exam assesses.

Every topic is compulsory, and TASC recommends that you have completed Physical Sciences Level 3 and studied or be studying General Mathematics Level 3 or equivalent. About 40 of the 150 hours should be practical work.

The TASC exam

The exam is three hours long and has four sections, one for each externally assessed criterion. The 2025 paper had 45 minutes and 45 marks for each section: Section A (6 questions) on criterion 5, Section B (5) on criterion 6, Section C (5) on criterion 7 and Section D (6) on criterion 8, for 180 marks overall. You get 15 minutes of preparation time before you start writing, and the Chemistry Information Sheet (constants and data tables, such as solubility and coloured ions) can be used throughout. TASC-approved scientific calculators are allowed, and the paper says to show working in numerical answers.

TASC's 2025 assessment report adds advice you can use: use oxidiser and reducer language for relative strengths, avoid "anode" and "cathode" for a spontaneous reaction that is not in a cell, give numerical answers a context and units, and check that every page has been turned.

A worked electrolysis calculation

Criterion 8 is where criteria 5, 6 and 7 calculations are examined, including Faraday's laws of electrolysis. A current of 2.00 A runs for 965 s through copper(II) sulfate solution. Using F = 96 500 C mol⁻¹ (take the value from the information sheet):

Copper deposits by Cu²⁺ + 2e⁻ → Cu, so n(Cu) = 0.0200 ÷ 2 = 0.0100 mol, and m = 0.0100 × 63.5 = 0.635 g. The half-equation is the step that examiners look for before the number.

Test rate and energy ideas from the Reaction Kinetics course, then press Mark:

How the award is decided

TASC determines the final award from 12 ratings: 8 from internal assessment and 4 from the external exam. The minimum requirements are:

Most of the award comes from internal assessment, which means the exam cannot rescue a weak year, though a poor exam can hold back a strong one. A student who would otherwise earn CA or SA but shows no evidence on one or more criteria (a z notation) receives PA.

ATAR and results

The ATAR uses your best results in Level 3 and 4 courses over two years of senior secondary study. To be eligible you need the TCE and at least Satisfactory Achievement in four TASC Level 3 or 4 courses (or equivalent). Student results are released on Wednesday 16 December 2026.

Dates

Use the daily paper as a trial

Your school or provider sets its own trial exam, and TASC publishes its past papers on the course page. The free daily paper on the Year 12 Chemistry track is a short timed trial: 8 questions worth 25 to 35 marks, marked as you go. It is not a three-hour TASC exam.

• It fits: electrode potentials, equilibrium, organic reactions and polymers are in its rotation and in the course.
• It does not fit: NMR, Born-Haber cycles, Kp and buffers are not named in the course document, and the paper provides no TASC information sheet.
• For early-year practice try the Year 11 Chemistry paper.

Exam answers

Answers and a worked mark scheme come with each daily paper once it has been marked. They are Uni-Sine's own, not TASC solutions or marking guidelines.

Mistakes in TCE Chemistry

• Using anode and cathode language for a reaction that is not in an electrochemical cell.
• Comparing the strengths of species that are not a conjugate pair.
• Leaving out the context (what the number is) and the unit in a calculation.
• Missing the last page of a section because a page looked blank.

Read next

Australia · TCETCE Physics: Level 4 course, TASC exam and awardsTCE Physics (PHY415115) explained: the four examined criteria, the 3-hour TASC exam, awards EA to PA, the 2026 date and a daily trial paper.