This page will have some information to assist anyone who is interested in some scholarship chemistry. Even if you are not intending to sit the scholarship exam this can still help you with the general Yr13 standards. Especially if you are on the merit/ excellence boundary this will really help cement in some excellence level chemistry thinking.
To give you some background, scholarship exams are a big step up from yr13. Out of all the students in NZ who pass yr13 chem (14 credits) on average 2% will be awarded a scholarship ($500) and 0.3% will get an outstanding scholarship ($15,000). General info about NZ scholarships can be found here:
https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualifications-standards/awards/new-zealand-scholarship/
Obviously the best way to prepare for scholarship exams will be to do past papers, just like we would usually do:
Scholarship chemistry requires you to consistently use high level chemistry vocabulary correctly. For example the following statements are both correct but the first is at a yr13 level and the second is of a scholarship level.
Sodium loses an electron when it reacts with another element. This is called Ionisation energy and this makes it more stable. •
Compared to:
Sodium atoms will each have one outermost valence electron removed when reacting with a non-metal element. The amount of energy required for this to occur is the first ionisation energy of sodium. The resulting sodium cation will now have a more stable electron arrangement.