Science Exams

Year 10 Science 2024 Exam Preparation Checklist




Topics:



  1. Global systems

  • Know that greenhouse gases include water, methane and carbon dioxide.

  • Know how the greenhouse effect allows life to exist on Earth by moderating global temperatures

  • Differentiate between the greenhouse effect and the enhanced greenhouse effect which is causing climate change

  • Describe the movement of ocean and air currents and how they affect global temperatures

  • Describe permafrost and how it affects the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and global temperatures and how melting polar ice impacts on sea levels globally



  1. Chemistry

  • Understand the structure of the Periodic Table including the sequence of elements, and the information about electron arrangement according to the rows and groups

  • Describe the group properties of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, halogens and noble gases

  • Read data and predict the properties of elements in the same group

  • Locate where the metals and non-metals are found in the Periodic table and describe the periodic trends in reactivity.

  • Identify the atomic number to calculate the number of protons, and electrons, and state the electron configurations for an element

  • Determine the charges for a metal that becomes a cation and a non-metal that becomes an anion and give electron configurations for ions

  • Read a chemical formula and determine the elements present and the number of atoms

  • Use naming rules to determine the chemical name and formula for ionic and covalent compounds 

  • Write a word equation to represent the reactants and products in a chemical reaction

  • Write a symbolic equation to represent a chemical reaction

  • Balance a symbolic chemical equation using coefficients

  • Correctly use the symbols for states of matter: (s), (l), (aq), (g) in a chemical reaction

  • Relate values on the pH scale to acid or base characteristics of aqueous solutions

  • Predict the products formed when an acid reacts with a base

  • Predict the products formed when acid reacts with a metal

  • Predict the products formed when an acid reacts with a metal carbonate

  • Use solubility tables to determine whether a substance will be soluble or insoluble in water and whether a product will be a precipitate

  • Define reaction rate. List what factors can influence the rate of reaction

  • Use Collision Theory to explain the factors which affect the rate of a reaction



  1. Experimental design

  • Identify the independent and dependent variables in an experiment

  • Identify the controlled variables in an experiment

  • Draw or read a graph and include units in answers



  1. Evolution

  • Define evolution and understand that it takes hundreds, even thousands, of generations

  • Extinction and biodiversity

  • Define population and species

  • Define adaptation

  • Define mutation

  • Define variation and why it is important for species survival

  • Identify structural, physiological, and behavioural adaptations and explain how they ensure individuals are fit for their habitat

  • Describe the steps in the Natural selection process

  • Define Speciation

  • Describe the steps of the Speciation process

  • List examples of geographical isolation and how that causes reproductive isolation (prevents gene flow between populations through interbreeding)

  • Define Artificial Selection

  • Compare Natural selection with Artificial selection

  • Interpret a decay curve to determine the length of a half-life and the age of a fossil. 

  • Describe evidence to support evolution including fossil record, stratification, biogeography, comparative anatomy (embryology, homologous, analogous and vestigial structures), DNA and molecular evidence for related species

  • Draw and interpret phylogenetic trees



  1. The Universe

  • Describe what happens in nuclear fusion reactions generated by stars

  • Identify the different types of stars and describe the stages of a star’s life cycle

  • Describe the Big Bang theory and what evidence supports it and theories about how the universe will change in the future

  • Understand the key terms in cosmology - stars including neutron, main sequence, giant and supergiant and dwarf stars, galaxy, clusters and superclusters, supernova, black holes, the Big Bang theory, Steady State theory, Doppler effect, Background radiation