Paper 6 asks about experiments you only see on the page: reading instruments, describing a method, naming apparatus and planning a fair test. These pages cover the experiments that keep coming back. In each one, watch the set-up assembled step by step with the variables and the graph beside it, build it yourself on a bench, then check the wording the examiners want.
A polystyrene cup, a measuring cylinder and a thermometer, recording the initial and highest temperatures.
RatesA conical flask with a bung, a gas syringe or an upturned measuring cylinder, readings every 30 s.
RatesSodium thiosulfate and acid over a cross on paper, timing until the cross can no longer be seen.
Acids and basesA burette, a volumetric pipette, a conical flask on a white tile and an indicator colour change.
Qualitative analysisTest-tubes, a dropping pipette, aqueous reagents, damp litmus for gases and a flame test.
SeparationA pencil baseline above the solvent, a lid on the beaker, spots of ink and Rf values.
SaltsExcess solid, filtration, evaporating to the point of crystallisation, then drying the crystals.
We read every 0620 Paper 6 from 2023 to 2025 and grouped the questions by the apparatus they use. Each page is an original experiment in the style of its family, and every step carries what the Cambridge examiner reports said students got wrong.
Next: practise in the apparatus, methods and planning trainer. The experiments and wording on these pages are our own.