What comes up, paper by paper
Marks assessed under each topic of the specification across the three A-level papers in each series, from our tagging of every question part. Darker cells carry more marks; the right-hand column is the total since June 2017. A part that assesses two topics counts its marks under both, so a column can add up to more than the 270 marks on the papers.
| Topic | Jun 17 | Jun 18 | Jun 19 | Nov 20 | Nov 21 | Jun 22 | Jun 23 | Jun 24 | Jun 25 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planning | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 19 | |
| Implementing | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 14 | ||||
| Analysis | 1 | 13 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 50 | ||
| Evaluation | 6 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 36 | ||
| Practical skills | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 14 | |||
| Use of apparatus and techniques | 3 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 9 | 52 |
| Atomic structure and isotopes | 6 | 2 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 65 | |
| Compounds, formulae and equations | 14 | 13 | 9 | 23 | 25 | 20 | 15 | 22 | 6 | 147 |
| Amount of substance | 102 | 113 | 124 | 120 | 138 | 138 | 127 | 79 | 96 | 1037 |
| Acids | 17 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 24 | 10 | 13 | 16 | 3 | 108 |
| Redox | 17 | 3 | 6 | 19 | 12 | 16 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 117 |
| Electron structure | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 21 | |
| Bonding and structure | 33 | 49 | 21 | 34 | 21 | 15 | 28 | 29 | 23 | 253 |
| Periodicity | 3 | 8 | 14 | 12 | 16 | 9 | 16 | 26 | 17 | 121 |
| Group 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 37 | ||
| The halogens | 4 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 14 | 54 |
| Qualitative analysis | 2 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 18 | ||||
| Enthalpy changes | 25 | 21 | 23 | 32 | 15 | 19 | 13 | 18 | 29 | 195 |
| Reaction rates | 1 | 9 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 59 |
| Chemical equilibrium | 10 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 20 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 72 |
| Basic concepts of organic chemistry | 27 | 31 | 29 | 28 | 35 | 21 | 36 | 26 | 26 | 259 |
| Alkanes | 4 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 13 | 6 | 4 | 56 |
| Alkenes | 18 | 48 | 41 | 10 | 41 | 21 | 39 | 26 | 33 | 277 |
| Alcohols | 19 | 14 | 20 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 21 | 6 | 16 | 129 |
| Haloalkanes | 1 | 13 | 7 | 1 | 13 | 11 | 4 | 15 | 12 | 77 |
| Organic synthesis | 2 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 40 | |||
| Analytical techniques | 16 | 15 | 14 | 16 | 16 | 24 | 16 | 17 | 19 | 153 |
| How fast? | 44 | 39 | 32 | 12 | 55 | 26 | 23 | 36 | 58 | 325 |
| How far? | 21 | 27 | 25 | 21 | 25 | 23 | 33 | 19 | 20 | 214 |
| Acids, bases and buffers | 27 | 30 | 70 | 38 | 33 | 43 | 42 | 39 | 47 | 369 |
| Lattice enthalpy | 2 | 11 | 16 | 17 | 12 | 25 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 102 |
| Enthalpy and entropy | 18 | 1 | 16 | 18 | 6 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 105 |
| Redox and electrode potentials | 35 | 50 | 17 | 36 | 28 | 44 | 24 | 34 | 49 | 317 |
| Transition elements | 51 | 44 | 32 | 44 | 35 | 54 | 41 | 36 | 30 | 367 |
| Qualitative analysis | 2 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 25 | |||
| Aromatic compounds | 32 | 29 | 23 | 17 | 28 | 15 | 27 | 37 | 27 | 235 |
| Carbonyl compounds | 5 | 20 | 23 | 24 | 17 | 17 | 35 | 12 | 21 | 174 |
| Carboxylic acids and esters | 17 | 22 | 29 | 22 | 38 | 13 | 31 | 24 | 36 | 232 |
| Amines | 5 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 68 | |
| Amino acids, amides and chirality | 15 | 19 | 23 | 19 | 10 | 24 | 16 | 5 | 11 | 142 |
| Polyesters and polyamides | 13 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 19 | 14 | 107 |
| Carbon– carbon bond formation | 12 | 16 | 12 | 3 | 15 | 23 | 23 | 32 | 5 | 141 |
| Organic synthesis | 31 | 24 | 34 | 24 | 31 | 17 | 28 | 5 | 9 | 203 |
| Chromatography and qualitative analysis | 36 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 33 | 15 | 137 |
| Spectroscopy | 41 | 51 | 62 | 58 | 44 | 56 | 49 | 20 | 48 | 429 |
June 2025 is the most recent series OCR has published. OCR keeps each summer's papers for teachers only for about a year, so the data here runs to the latest public series. November 2020 and November 2021 were the autumn series sat in place of the cancelled summer exams.
What came up in the latest papers · Every paper as a timeline
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