A-Level Chemistry data sheet: what you get and what to learn

Key takeaways

• →AQA, Pearson Edexcel and OCR all list a data booklet or data sheet on their exam paper covers. Each has its own name, layout and contents, so use your board’s official version.
• →The booklets are mostly data: the periodic table, infrared and NMR tables, and for Pearson Edexcel and OCR a page of constants. They are not long lists of equations.
• →Some things are not on the sheet, and it depends on the board. AQA says students need not recall the gas constant, but OCR’s specification expects students to know a list of ions and the first ten alkanes.
• →Practise with the official booklet from your first past paper. Pearson says students must use an unmarked copy in exams, so keep your notes on a separate sheet.

1. What the A-Level Chemistry data sheet is

The A-Level Chemistry data sheet is a printed booklet that students use in the exam. Boards call it a data booklet or a data sheet. The names mean the same thing: a set of reference tables you can look up.

It holds data such as the periodic table, infrared and NMR tables, and constants. Infrared and NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) are two ways of working out a molecule’s structure from its spectrum, which is a chart of readings. The sheet does not tell you which value a question needs.

2. Which booklet your board uses

Always use the board’s own version, not a copy from a revision site.

3. AQA A-Level Chemistry (7405)

The cover of AQA’s June 2023 Paper 1 lists the Periodic Table/Data Booklet under what students must have. It says this is an insert, a loose booklet that comes with the paper.^[3]

AQA calls the document the A-level Chemistry Data Booklet. It says the booklet is provided with AQA A-level Chemistry question papers, and AQA publishes it as a PDF on its website.^[1]

It has the periodic table, which shows each element’s symbol, atomic number and relative atomic mass (the average mass of an element’s atoms, compared with one twelfth of the mass of a carbon-12 atom). It also has infrared and NMR data tables, plus structures such as bases and amino acids.^[1]

The June 2023 insert also lists element names and symbols.^[2]

AQA’s specification tells students to use the Data Sheet or Booklet with infrared spectra to identify bonds, and to use its chemical shift data in NMR questions.^[4]

4. Pearson Edexcel A-Level Chemistry (9CH0)

The cover of Pearson Edexcel’s June 2024 Paper 1 lists the Data Booklet under what students must have. A periodic table is also printed on the back cover of the paper.^[7]

Pearson’s document is the Data Booklet for Level 3 Advanced Level GCE in Chemistry (9CH0), Issue 2, Summer 2017. Students are given a clean copy for the assessments and may keep their own for lessons and homework.^[5]

Pearson’s May 2023 update says the A-Level and AS Chemistry data booklets can be viewed and downloaded from its site.^[6]

The booklet covers physical constants, infrared, NMR, Pauling electronegativities, standard electrode potentials and the periodic table. Electronegativity is how strongly an atom pulls on shared electrons. Standard electrode potentials show how readily substances gain electrons.^[5]

5. OCR A (H432) and OCR B Salters (H433)

OCR’s Chemistry A uses the Data Sheet for Chemistry A. The cover of the June 2023 H432/01 paper lists it under what students must have.^[11]

OCR’s assessment page links the Data Sheet, with versions from past exam series. OCR has called it both a data sheet and a data booklet.^[10]

It has a General Information page, infrared tables, 13C and 1H NMR charts, and the periodic table last, showing each element’s relative atomic mass.^[9]

OCR B Salters has its own Data Sheet, shared with AS Level (H033). It adds a table of amino acid codes in mRNA, the monomers of DNA and RNA, and useful organic reactions.^[13]

OCR lists the Chemistry B data sheet on its H033 and H433 assessment page.^[14]

A June 2019 H433/01 paper lists the Data Sheet for Chemistry B (Salters) under what students must have and says it is sent with general stationery.^[15]

The Chemistry A sheet has a General Information page of constants and the Arrhenius equation, which links reaction speed to temperature. It gives the molar gas volume, Avogadro constant, specific heat capacity of water, ionic product of water and gas constant.^[9]

The Chemistry B sheet has a similar page. It also gives the Planck constant and the speed of light.^[13]

OCR students: Print the current Data Sheet for your course from OCR’s assessment page and use it from your first practice paper.

6. What is not on the sheet

Each board marks a few items as given in the exam and a few as things students must know. These are not full lists, so ask your teacher about anything missing.

AQA’s specification says students will not be expected to recall the Avogadro constant, the gas constant R or the specific heat capacity of a substance. It says the rate equations, the Arrhenius equation and R will be given when required.^[4]

The AQA booklet contents we read have no table of constants.^[1]

In June 2023 Paper 1, the Avogadro constant was given in the question itself.^[3]

The AQA specification also says students must use equations such as pV = nRT, q = mcΔT and ΔG = ΔH − TΔS. The text we read does not say they are supplied, so ask your teacher.^[4]

Pearson Edexcel’s specification says the Arrhenius equation will be given if needed. It expects students to know the flame colours of Group 1 and 2 compounds and the prefixes for naming compounds up to C10.^[8]

OCR’s Chemistry A specification says the Avogadro constant, molar gas volume, gas constant, Arrhenius equation and infrared data are on the Data Sheet. It expects students to recall a list of ions, the first ten alkanes, some oxidation numbers and the bond angles of common molecules.^[12]

We could not open OCR B’s specification, so we cannot say what it expects students to recall. Ask your teacher.^[13]

7. How to use the data sheet in revision

Treat the data sheet as a tool you practise with from day one. Use your board’s official booklet with every past paper, so that finding a value becomes quick.

Know where the spectroscopy tables are. Practise matching a peak to a bond or a hydrogen environment until you can find the right row fast.

Practise reading the periodic table. Find an element’s relative atomic mass quickly, then use it to work out a compound’s relative formula mass.

Watch the units. OCR’s Data Sheet gives the specific heat capacity of water per gram (J g⁻¹ K⁻¹) and the gas constant per mole (J mol⁻¹ K⁻¹), so check the units of every number before you use it.^[9]

Practise the maths too. Pearson says at least 20% of the marks across its three papers are for maths at Level 2 or above, so rearranging equations is worth regular practice.^[8]

Use a clean copy. Pearson says students must use an unmarked copy of its data booklet in exams, so keep your notes on a separate sheet.^[6]

Our A-Level Physics formula sheet guide and our A-Level Maths formula booklet guide cover the same ground for those subjects. For the wider course, see our A-Level Chemistry guide.

The sheet gives you the data. You still choose which number to use.

Time yourself finding data: Take ten questions from a past paper. Find the data each one needs and time yourself. Aim to get quicker.

8. How Brainhub can help

A tutor can check which facts and values a student knows and which are not secure yet. Our one-to-one lessons are live online across the UK, and online A-Level lessons start from £40 an hour. Every family starts with a free 45-minute assessment.

Our own student records for 2021–2026 show that students who join us by Year 12 most often finish with A*/A. That is Brainhub data, not independent research.

1. 1. Is the same data sheet used by every A-Level Chemistry board?

   Show answer

2. 2. Does AQA expect students to recall the value of the gas constant, R?

   Show answer

3. 3. Why should students practise with an unmarked copy of the booklet?

   Show answer

Your next steps

• Check your exam board and paper code: 7405 (AQA), 9CH0 (Pearson Edexcel), H432 (OCR A) or H433 (OCR B).
• Download your board’s official booklet and use it with every past paper. Note where the infrared and NMR tables are.
• Book a free 45-minute assessment to find out which facts and values are not secure yet.

Subject guides to go with this

Want one-to-one help? See how our online lessons work.