CCEA GCSE Chemistry: units, practicals, C* grades and 2027 dates

CCEA GCSE Chemistry: how the course is built

This is the Northern Ireland Chemistry GCSE, first taught in September 2017, with its practical work in Unit 3 and content that is also shared with the Double Award. Students must take at least 40% of the assessment at the end of the course. A unit can be resat once, and the better result counts unless that unit is needed for the 40% rule.

Both written units use compulsory structured questions with short responses, extended writing and calculations. Unit 1 runs 1 hour on Foundation and 1 hour 15 minutes on Higher, and Unit 2 runs 1 hour 15 minutes and 1 hour 30 minutes. Dates are from CCEA's final GCSE timetable. Our CCEA GCSE timetable 2027 shows them with the results day. CCEA morning papers start at 9.15am.

What the Chemistry units cover

• Unit 1: Structures, Trends, Chemical Reactions, Quantitative Chemistry and Analysis.
• Unit 2: Further Chemical Reactions, Rates and Equilibrium, Calculations and Organic Chemistry.
• Unit 3: Unit 3 is practical skills: Booklet A has two pre-release practicals marked by CCEA and Booklet B is a written paper on method and calculations in a practical context.

Higher-only content is in bold. A Data Leaflet including the Periodic Table sits in the specification, so you take Ar values from the table rather than memorising them.

Worked examples in CCEA Chemistry style

Moles and concentration

A student weighs out 5.3 g of sodium carbonate, Na₂CO₃, and prepares 250 cm³ of solution. Ar values: Na = 23, C = 12, O = 16. First the relative formula mass and the moles:

Convert 250 cm³ to 0.250 dm³ before dividing. The concentration is 0.2 mol dm⁻³. Setting out Mr, n and c on separate lines gives the method marks even if a slip follows.

CCEA GCSE Chemistry grades

The CCEA scale runs A*, A, B, C*, C, D, E, F, G, with U below. Foundation covers C* to G, and Higher covers A* to D with an allowable E. Uniform marks from each unit are totalled to set the grade. The Northern Ireland scale is explained against 9 to 1 in GCSE grades in Northern Ireland.

Use the daily paper as a short timed mock for CCEA GCSE Chemistry

Chemistry has a Foundation and a Higher track. The daily paper on each is 8 questions and 25 to 35 marks, written by Uni-Sine and not by CCEA.

• What it covers well: atomic structure, bonding, rates, equilibrium, moles and reacting masses, titration, electrolysis, energy changes, organic chemistry and analysis, which line up with both written units.
• What it does not cover: the Booklet A practical tasks done in school, and the way CCEA sets the practical context questions in Booklet B.

Work a daily paper timed, then redo the calculation questions without looking. Use a CCEA Unit 2 past paper for the longer equilibrium and organic questions.

Exam answers

There are no official or past paper answers here. When you finish a daily paper and mark it, the answers and a worked mark scheme for that paper appear alongside it.

Common mistakes in CCEA GCSE Chemistry

• Not converting volumes. Divide cm³ by 1000 to get dm³ before using concentration.
• Balancing by changing formulae. Only change the numbers in front.
• Forgetting the data leaflet. Take Ar values from the Periodic Table instead of guessing.
• Writing observations as conclusions. Say what you see first, then what it shows.

Read next

UK · GCSECCEA GCSE Chemistry grade boundaries 2026: raw marks by unitCCEA GCSE Chemistry grade boundaries for Summer 2026: raw and uniform marks for Units 1 to 3 at both tiers, plus the 400 mark subject lines.