AQA GCSE Chemistry (8562) Past Papers 2026

Paper 1 (Foundation 1F or Higher 1H)

Duration: 1h 45m

Paper 2 (Foundation 2F or Higher 2H)

Duration: 1h 45m

Quantitative chemistry — moles, Mr and concentration calculations

On 8462/1H June 2023 Q05.5, intermediate marks were lost because students did not convert cm³ to dm³ before calculating moles of sodium carbonate, and again when calculating concentration. On 8462/1F June 2023 Q02.7, two thirds of students scored zero on a titration calculation because the figures 1000, 4 and 25 were 'manipulated almost at random'.

8462/1F, 8462/1H

Required Practical: making a soluble salt by reacting acid with insoluble base/carbonate

8462/1F June 2023 Q11.1: most candidates 'merely mixed the reactants and then heated them in a crystallising basin… missing out the essential steps of starting with the acid, adding the zinc carbonate to it until the zinc carbonate is in excess, and filtering'. Same gap on 8462/1H June 2022 Q04.2, where few knew why excess base is added.

8462/1F, 8462/1H

Electrolysis of aqueous solutions and writing ionic half-equations

8462/1H June 2022 Q06.6 was 'a high demand question which students found very challenging' — many failed to refer to ions, confused anode/cathode polarities or wrote 'chlorine ions'. 8462/1H June 2023 Q07.3 found 'few students described the initial step… that water molecules break down to form H+ ions and OH– ions'.

8462/1H

Energy changes — reaction profiles and bond-energy calculations

8462/1F June 2022 Q10.5 was 'poorly answered, with many students appearing to think the vertical axis involved temperature and/or time'. On 8462/1H June 2023 Q04.3, students mislabelled 'the top of the curve as the activation energy, rather than the gap between the energy of the reactants and the top of the curve'.

8462/1F, 8462/1H

Le Chatelier's principle and the Haber Process compromise conditions

8462/2H June 2022 Q07.6: 'compromises made for temperature and pressure that were related to cost were more commonly stated than the compromise for temperature in relation to rate and position of equilibrium'. 8462/2H June 2023 Q09.5–09.8 saw 'a common misconception that increasing the rate of reaction increased the yield'.

8462/2H

Chemistry of the atmosphere — early atmosphere and greenhouse gases

8462/2F June 2023 Q05.2: 'fewer than 15% of students could identify why greenhouse gases are essential for supporting life on earth'. 8462/2H June 2022 Q06.5: 'fewer than 1 in 20 gained all three marks' on the formation of natural gas, with 'heat' written instead of 'high temperature'.

8462/2F, 8462/2H

Chemical analysis — ion tests, gas tests and chromatography Rf

8462/2F June 2022 Q08.5/08.6: only ~1% scored both marks on copper(II) and sulfate ion tests. 8462/2F June 2023 Q08.4: only 25% gave the correct hydrogen test (lit splint, squeaky pop). 8462/2F June 2022 Q01.6: under half knew sodium gives a yellow flame.

8462/2F, 8462/2H

Organic chemistry — displayed formulae of alkenes, alcohols and carboxylic acids

8462/2F June 2023 Q09.7: 'less than 2% of students were able to successfully complete the displayed structural formula' for the carboxylic acid functional group. 8462/2F June 2022 Q02.7: nearly half drew an incorrect double bond between two carbon atoms in an alkane fragment.

8462/2F, 8462/2H