This exam focus covers Exam Focus: Factors Affecting Rate within Factors Affecting Rate for GCSE Chemistry. Revise Factors Affecting Rate in Rates of Reaction for GCSE Chemistry with 24 exam-style questions and 18 flashcards. This topic shows up very often in GCSE exams, so students should be able to explain it clearly, not just recognise the term. It is section 11 of 13 in this topic. Treat this as a marking guide for what examiners are looking for, not just a fact list.
🎯 Exam Focus: Factors Affecting Rate
very-high Explain questions (4-6 marks): For temperature questions, ALWAYS mention both effects: faster movement AND more exceed activation energy. One sentence for each.
very-high Graph comparison (3-4 marks): Interpret graphs showing different conditions — steepness, final amount, time to finish.
high Catalyst questions (2-3 marks): Explain by saying "lowers activation energy" not "provides energy to particles".
Key phrase to earn full marks: "...therefore there are more successful collisions per second, so the rate increases."
Edexcel 1CH0: Examined in Paper 2 (1CH0/2). Edexcel CP5 (temperature vs rate) and CP6 (concentration vs gas volume) are directly examined — know the experimental method and how to plot/interpret results. In Edexcel-style questions, the command word "Suggest" appears frequently — use your chemistry knowledge to apply to an unfamiliar context.
Practice questions for Factors Affecting Rate
Which of the following factors does NOT affect the rate of a chemical reaction?
Explain, in terms of particles, why increasing temperature increases the rate of reaction.