Aamirah Fathima · 80 questions · +4 / −1 / 0 · maximum 320 · target 290 · danger line 260
| Difficulty | Right | Out of | Accuracy | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 20 | 20 | 100% | 100% |
| Moderate | 34 | 36 | 94% | 94% |
| Hard | 22 | 24 | 92% | 92% |
Easy twenty out of twenty for the second paper running, and twenty-two of twenty-four on the hard band. The three losses and the one blank are spread across two sections; six sections have nothing wrong in them at all.
| Section | Questions | Right |
|---|---|---|
| Classification, nomenclature and structure | Q1–8 | 7 / 8 |
| Preparation of alcohols | Q9–19 | 11 / 11 |
| Properties and reactions of alcohols | Q20–31 | 10 / 12 |
| Phenols: preparation and acidity | Q32–42 | 11 / 11 |
| Reactions of phenols | Q43–54 | 12 / 12 |
| Ethers: preparation and properties | Q55–64 | 10 / 10 |
| Cleavage of ethers and the chemistry of anisole | Q65–72 | 8 / 8 |
| Distinguishing tests and analysis | Q73–80 | 7 / 8 |
Both phenol sections perfect, both ether sections perfect, preparation of alcohols eleven out of eleven. The whole of what you lost sits in properties and reactions of alcohols and two singles elsewhere.
Every script before this one was clean paper and ticks. On this one the marking found five questions where you worked on the page.
| Question | What you did | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Q25 hard | Wrote “1.” and “2.” beside the two structures in the diagram | right |
| Q29 easy | Underlined little concentrated sulphuric acid in the stem | right |
| Q41 hard | Drew lines across the match table linking Column I to Column II | right |
| Q78 moderate | Struck out the word positive in statement C | right |
| Q8 moderate | Ticked statements D and E in the stem | not recorded |
You ticked statements D and E in the stem and then never ticked an option. Nothing reached the answer block, so it scores zero. Worth being straight about the chemistry too: D is false — benzyl alcohol has its OH on an sp3 carbon of a side chain, not on the ring, so it is an alcohol and not a phenol. The four true statements are A, B, C and E.
Both of the losses in properties and reactions of alcohols come from one ordering being the wrong way round. Carbocation chemistry — the Lucas test and acid dehydration both go through a carbocation — runs tertiary > secondary > primary, because a tertiary carbocation is the most stable. You answered both as though it ran the other way.
R is 2-methylpropan-2-ol: its OH sits on a carbon joined to three other carbons, so it is tertiary, and a tertiary alcohol gives turbidity with Lucas reagent at once. P is butan-1-ol, a primary alcohol — the one that needs heating and gives no turbidity at room temperature. You chose the opposite end of the series.
Dehydration with concentrated sulphuric acid goes through a carbocation, so it follows carbocation stability: tertiary first, then secondary, then primary. Your answer is that exact order reversed.
| Column I | Column II | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Phenol with bromine water | I | an immediate turbidity |
| B | Ethanol with iodine and sodium hydroxide | II | a white precipitate |
| C | A tertiary alcohol with Lucas reagent | III | a violet colour |
| D | Phenol with neutral iron(III) chloride | IV | a yellow precipitate |
Phenol with bromine water gives a white precipitate (2,4,6-tribromophenol); ethanol with iodine and sodium hydroxide gives the yellow precipitate of iodoform; a tertiary alcohol with Lucas reagent gives immediate turbidity; phenol with neutral iron(III) chloride gives a violet colour. You had rows C and D right and exchanged A and B — the white precipitate and the yellow one.
| Question type | Right | Out of | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assertion–Reason | 7 | 7 | third paper running, and this one used all four shapes |
| Negative stems | 4 | 4 | |
| Look-alike pairs | 45 | 46 | on a paper built almost entirely out of them |
| Questions carrying a figure | 20 | 21 | structures, mechanisms, reagent arrows |
| Two-clue figures | 19 | 20 | |
| Match the column | 3 | 4 | |
| Ordering and arrangement | 19 | 21 | two of your three errors |
Assertion–Reason, seven out of seven, on the third paper in a row. The two Biotechnology papers each tested three shapes two at a time; this one went further and used all four, including A is false but R is true, which had not appeared on any paper you had sat. You took all seven. Three papers, twenty out of twenty on the family that had cost you marks on every paper before them. Closed.
Forty-five of forty-six on look-alike pairs is worth sitting with. This chapter is almost nothing but look-alike pairs — primary against secondary, phenol against alcohol, Kolbe against Reimer–Tiemann, symmetrical against unsymmetrical ethers — and one got past you.
Eighty rows of bubbles on the last page, untouched, for the tenth paper running. The name, date and time blanks are empty again too, so there is still no record of how long these are taking you — and that number mattered two papers ago, when finishing in fifty minutes of seventy-five cost ten marks.
Ten marked papers. Two consecutive 301s, both past target, on two different subjects. Assertion–Reason closed across three papers. Negative stems, figures, look-alike pairs, five-statement sets, reference-shift — all at or near a hundred per cent. What is left is one family and one habit: sequencing questions, where six of your last seven losses were a single swap of two neighbouring items, and finishing the question once the thinking is done. 301 + 8 + 4 + 4 is 317.