Tips & Tricks - Tip # 7 - Use tabular format to answer questions where necessary.

Hello Students.

Welcome to Mystery In Chemistry’s Tips & Tricks series.

Understanding chemistry and scoring high in exams are two different things and hence require different set of skills. Let us learn some tips and tricks to help you score 100/100 in chemistry. So here is the 7th tip - Use tabular format to answer questions where necessary. Many questions warrant an answer in tabular format. For example, questions around listing out differences or asking you to compare two things, can be answered briefly and clearly in a tabular format. Here, is one such question - Write two differences between an ideal solution and a non-ideal solution. It is 2 marks question. So you have 5 minutes to answer it. You should be able to recall the following points - raoult’s law, mole fraction, ideal solution, non ideal solution, negative and positive deviation, ΔHmix, ΔVmix and partial pressure. However, you must realize that answering the question in descriptive manner is not going to work, you have only 5 minutes to answer this question. This is where the tabular format of answering the question can help. Write the answer pointwise, precisely and in much lesser time. Think about the most important two differences. And start writing - Ideal solution and Non ideal solution First point- Ideal solution obeys Raoult’s lawat all range of concentration. i.e. PA = P0A. xA and PB = P0B. xB .where as non ideal solutions does not obey Raoults law that means PA is not equal to P0A. xA and PB is not equal to P0B. xB where PA and PB are partial vapour due to solvent A and B. P0A and P0B are respective Vapour pressure of pure solvent A and B. On the other hand, xA and xB are respective mole fractions of solvent A and B in solution . In second point, you can write about ΔHmix, ΔVmix difference. When ΔHmix and ΔVmix i.e. Change in enthalpy and change in volume during mixing of solvent A and B So in ideal solution ΔHmix is equal to 0 and ΔVmix is also equal to 0 where as in non -ideal solution ΔHmix is Not equal to 0 and ΔVmix is also Not equal to 0 So writing in tabular format is the right choice for such questions. Thank you

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