Recommended Reading
Looking online for support and guidance can be a bit of a minefield. It can also be very difficult trying to find that one specific article that can finally make a topic click, and find that set of questions that enable you to finally understand that dreaded topic: 'The Mole'.
Most GCSE students meet it only briefly, but this fleeting visit can often fill them with dread. When a student meets it during Year 12 it is for a more prolonged experience and can be quite traumatic.
Most students find the mole hard because they need to juggle a number of different ideas to be able to answer the mole calculations correctly. Areas that need to be understood well include:
- working out formulae of compounds.
- balancing equations
- using the mole equations correctly for solids, liquids, gases and solutions.
- being able to work out the empirical formula and/or molecular formula of compounds.
More often than not the exam question on 'the mole' are not too difficult, but they do require a thorough understanding of the key ideas and most importantly question practice. Most books only contain a few questions and even less guidance in answering them. One book which is excellent for 'the mole' is
Edexcel: Moles, Formulae and Equations [PDF]
Over the years I have been teaching this is the best book I have found for support for 'The mole'. I originally used it during year 12 as the class text book for mole calculations. Over the last 10 years it has been used as stretch and challenge questions for Year 11 students. Summer work for students to prepare themselves going into AS level Chemistry, review questions for Year 13 students and others.
Although it contains a vast amount of questions, it also contains answers and lots of examples. it is 150 pages long, but you can save it as a PDF file and use/print off which ever pages you require. A great resource to help you understand the mole.
