QCAA Chemistry Formula Sheet: The Formula and Data Book Explained (QCE)

Quick answer

Both QCE Chemistry external papers provide the QCAA Chemistry formula and data book, an 18-page booklet of constants, 24 formulas and data tables, alongside a QCAA-approved graphics or scientific calculator. This guide sets out the book section by section. The book gives you the numbers and relationships. It does not define its symbols, choose the right relationship, read the stimulus or write the explanation, and those are the steps QCAA's report on the 2024 cohort says students got wrong.

This guide describes the Chemistry 2025 v1.0 General Senior Syllabus, which applied to Year 11 from 2025 and Year 12 from 2026, and the book that goes with it. The copy we hold has a June 2026 cover date, and QCAA's July 2026 summary of changes says the booklet was updated and now includes the reaction pathway diagram, so keep the current edition from the QCAA Chemistry page open beside this one. For the exam format, see the QCAA Chemistry external exam guide. For the whole subject, start at the QCE Chemistry study guide and the subject page, which holds the marked past-paper questions.

The tables in the sections below are reproduced from the Chemistry 2025 Formula and data book, © State of Queensland (QCAA) 2025, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Modified from the original: the layout and typesetting are ours, and the values are as printed. Where a table is not reproduced, the section says so.

Do you get the formula and data book in the exam?

Yes, for both external papers. The 2025 syllabus conditions are the same for Paper 1 and Paper 2.

The internal assessments are different. The 2019 syllabus explicitly allowed the booklet in IA1. The IA1 conditions printed in the 2025 syllabus name perusal, working time, supervision and the calculator, and do not name the book. So for IA1, IA2 and IA3, go by the conditions your teacher issues with the task. Unit 1 and Unit 2 assessments are developed by your school, so the same applies to Year 11 tests.

What is in the QCAA Chemistry formula and data book?

The book has 18 numbered pages. Page numbers below are the printed "n of 18" numbers, which sit two behind the PDF page count because of the cover and the page after it.

The book carries no worked examples, no instructions for use, no NMR, mass spectrometry or UV-visible data, and no statement of which assessments supply it. That last fact comes from the syllabus, as in the table above.

Which constants and unit conversions does the book give?

Page 1 prints these ten entries.

What does the reaction pathways diagram show?

The page 1 diagram links functional groups with arrows. It prints no reagents and no conditions. Redrawn here as a list of arrows (the diagram itself is on page 1 of the book):

The syllabus says reaction pathways are based on, but not limited to, this diagram. QCAA's report on the 2025 cohort recommends developing a detailed understanding of specific reactions and their conditions. The diagram tells you which classes connect. The reagents, conditions and equations are yours to learn.

Which formulas does the formula and data book print?

All of these sit on pages 2 and 3. They are the complete formula set, and each carries the book's own wording and notation. The "used for" column is our gloss, taken from where the syllabus uses each relationship.

Processing of data

Chemical reactions, reactants, products and energy change

Gases, aqueous solutions and rates

The book prints these three in separate boxes headed "Intermolecular forces and gases", "Aqueous solutions and acidity" and "Rates of chemical reactions".

Chemical equilibrium systems

For all of these, the book uses lowercase letters for the coefficients and uppercase letters for the species.

When $K_\text{c}$ is very small, the syllabus lets you assume the initial and equilibrium reactant concentrations are equal, provided you state that assumption.

Oxidation and reduction

Properties and structure of organic materials

Topic pages for these relationships: chemical equilibrium systems, oxidation and reduction and properties and structure of organic materials.

What is the solubility table?

Page 8 gives the solubility of 16 cations with 9 anions at 298 K. The book's key: s is soluble (greater than 10 g L⁻¹), p is partially soluble (between 1 and 10 g L⁻¹), i is insoluble (less than 1 g L⁻¹). A grey cell in the book means no data, shown here as n/d.

Five entries are "p" in this book: silver sulfate, calcium sulfate, calcium hydroxide, calcium oxide and lead(II) bromide. Check them here instead of relying on a solubility rule learned elsewhere.

What are the average bond enthalpies?

Page 9 gives average bond enthalpies at 298 K in kJ mol⁻¹. Single bonds first, with each pair read where its row and column meet. Blank cells have no printed value.

Multiple bonds, in kJ mol⁻¹:

Some pairs have no value, for example N-S, O-S, N-Br, N-I and S-I. A question that needs an enthalpy for a bond the book does not print has to give it to you. C=O has one value, 804, with no separate figure for carbon dioxide.

What is the reactivity series, and what are the standard electrode potentials?

Page 10 lists the reactivity series from most reactive to least reactive: K, Na, Li, Ba, Sr, Ca, Mg, Al, C, Mn, Zn, Cr, Fe, Cd, Co, Ni, Sn, Pb, H₂, Sb, Bi, Cu, Hg, Ag, Au, Pt. The book's footnote says carbon (C) and hydrogen gas (H₂) were added for comparison, and the order is longer than many textbook series. Note that Li sits after Na and Ba sits before Sr.

Page 11 gives the 29 standard electrode potentials at 298 K. Every row is written with the oxidised species on the left and the reduced species on the right, ordered from most negative to most positive.

Oxygen appears twice, at +1.23 V in acid and +0.40 V in base. The two entries at +0.16 V and the two at +1.36 V are tied values, so check which half-reaction a question names before you pick a row.

What do the indicator, infrared, amino acid and ion tables hold?

Acid-base indicators (page 17)

Infrared data (page 17)

The book's heading is "Characteristic range of infrared absorption due to stretching in organic molecules".

Amides appear only on the C-H row. The book has no infrared entry for the C=O of an amide, and no NMR or mass spectrometry table at all.

Amino acids (pages 12 to 15)

The book draws each structural formula in the H₂N-CH(R)-COOH form, with proline drawn as a ring, and lists the pH of its isoelectric point. The drawings are on pages 12 to 15 of the book. The isoelectric points are:

Page 16 draws straight-chain glucose and fructose beside their alpha-ring forms. Those are diagrams, so use the book itself.

Common polyatomic ions (page 18)

The two cations listed are ammonium, NH₄⁺, and hydronium, H₃O⁺.

What is on the periodic table and the other grids?

We have not reproduced three large grids here, because each is a periodic-table layout that is easy to mis-copy and the book itself is the safer reference. Open the PDF for these.

• Element list and periodic table (pages 4 and 5). Relative atomic masses, most to two decimal places, with groups numbered 1 to 18. The book's footnote says values in brackets are for the isotope with the longest half-life. Element 55 is printed "Cesium" in the book. Lanthanoids and actinoids sit in rows below the main table.
• Atomic and ionic radii (page 6). Atomic radius and ionic radius, with the ion's charge, in units of 10⁻¹² m for selected elements.
• Electronegativity and first ionisation enthalpy (page 7). Both values per selected element, with ionisation enthalpy in kJ mol⁻¹.

What should you memorise, and what can you look up?

If the book is on your desk, look up anything it prints: every constant, every formula on pages 2 and 3, and every table above. You do not need to recall that $K_\text{w}$ is $1.00 \times 10^{-14}$ at 298 K or that $F$ is $96\,485\ \text{C mol}^{-1}$. What you do need is practice finding things quickly, so that perusal time goes on reading the paper and not hunting for page 11.

Memorise what the book leaves out. These are the gaps that cost marks:

• Symbols and units. The book defines none of its symbols and gives no units. Know that $Q$ in $Q = mc\Delta T$ is heat in joules when $c$ is in J g⁻¹ K⁻¹ and $m$ is in grams, and that $c$ in $c = \dfrac{n}{V}$ is a concentration, not a specific heat capacity.
• Relationships the book does not print. It gives $N_\text{A}$ and the molar volume, but not $n = \dfrac{N}{N_\text{A}}$ or $n = \dfrac{V}{V_\text{m}}$. It prints no dilution relationship and no density relationship.
• The pK form. It prints pH and pOH but not $\text{p}K_\text{a}$, $\text{p}K_\text{b}$ or $\text{p}K_\text{w}$. Know that each is the negative base-10 logarithm of its constant, and that $\text{p}K_\text{w}$ is 14.00 at 298 K because $K_\text{w}$ is $1.00 \times 10^{-14}$. So pH plus pOH is 14.00 at 298 K only, which matters when a question changes the temperature.
• Reactions and their conditions. The pathway diagram has arrows and no reagents.
• Conventions. Structural formulas, IUPAC names and the correct arrow for strong and weak acids are not in the book. QCAA's reports return to all three.

Not required by the syllabus, so not something to spend memorising time on: buffer calculations and order of reaction.

How do exam questions use the book?

These examples use numbers we made up, so you can check the method against the book. They are not QCAA questions. Each links to the QCAA question it resembles, which you can open on the QCE Chemistry subject page with our marking.

Moles, mass and percentage yield

QCAA's 2023 Paper 2 Question 9 (2023 questions) asked for a multi-step calculation on aspirin. The report's effective responses found the molar masses, applied a mole ratio and calculated a mass, and the report asks for working set out in a logical order.

Equilibrium, $K_\text{w}$ and the data book

In QCAA's 2024 Paper 1 Question 24 (2024 questions), students used a stimulus graph of $\text{p}K_\text{w}$ against temperature. The report says they had to separate $\text{p}K_\text{w}$, $K_\text{w}$, pH and $[\text{H}^+]$, and know that $K_\text{w}$ describes the self-ionisation of water, where many students named $\text{H}^+\text{(aq)}$ and $\text{OH}^-\text{(aq)}$ as reactants instead of products. The page 3 relationships are the tools. Choosing which to use, and reading the graph correctly, is the question.

Indicators and $K_\text{a}$

QCAA's 2024 Paper 2 Question 2c asked students to explain the relationship between the colour range of phenol red and its $\text{p}K_\text{a}$ (2024 questions). The book prints the numbers on page 17: $\text{p}K_\text{a}$ 7.9, pH range 6.8 to 8.4, yellow to red. The reasoning comes from rearranging the page 3 expression $K_\text{a} = \dfrac{[\text{H}_3\text{O}^+][\text{A}^-]}{[\text{HA}]}$. When $[\text{HIn}] = [\text{In}^-]$, $K_\text{a}$ equals $[\text{H}^+]$, so the pH equals the $\text{p}K_\text{a}$. The report says students often defined $\text{HIn}$, $\text{In}^-$, pH or $\text{p}K_\text{a}$ instead of describing how they relate, and often simply stated that the colour range equals $\text{p}K_\text{a} \pm 1$ without explaining why. The effective responses identified that rule and then explained it. The sample response opened with the book's own numbers for phenol red, $\text{p}K_\text{a}$ 7.9 and pH range 6.8 to 8.4.

Cell potentials

QCAA's 2022 Paper 1 Question 24a (2022 questions) asked students to compare two standard electrode potentials. The report's sample response used Cu²⁺/Cu at +0.34 V and Fe³⁺/Fe²⁺ at +0.77 V, both rows on page 11.

Bond enthalpies

Electrolysis

Charge connects current and time to moles of electrons, using the two charge relationships and Faraday's constant. QCAA's 2025 Paper 1 Question 27 (2025 questions) is an electrolysis item: concentrated and molten sodium chloride, with cathode products and oxidation half-equations. That question tests the products and the half-equations. The charge relationships are for the calculation versions.

Amino acids and the isoelectric point table

QCAA's 2025 Paper 2 Question 5a (2025 questions) asked for three amino acids on an electrophoresis gel, with reasoning. The report's effective responses linked the buffer pH to each isoelectric point, then the charge to the position on the gel. In the sample response, Glu has an isoelectric point of 3.2, which is below the buffer pH of 5, so it is an anion and moves to the positive electrode. Arg (10.7) and Cys (5.1) sit above 5, so they are cations. Those isoelectric points are the page 12 to 15 values in the table above. The book gives you the numbers and not the argument.

What the book will not do for you

QCAA's subject report on the 2024 cohort is the clearest account of where a provided book stops helping. Its advice to teachers is that students should use the data in the stimulus and appropriate information and equations from the Formula and data book. Both halves are needed.

Several things the exam asks cannot be solved by substituting into a relationship. Students are expected to practise drawing structural formulas and applying IUPAC nomenclature to organic compounds, and to give an explanation with additional relevant information when the verb is explain. The hardest topics guide shows where students lose marks, and the most tested topics guide shows where the marks sit.

How to practise using it

Work from marked questions with the book open, not from the book alone. When you review a wrong calculation, note whether you chose the wrong relationship, misread the stimulus, mis-copied a table value or made an arithmetic slip, because the fixes are different. The year anchors on the subject page take you to each paper's questions.