Chemistry subject report · November 2009

November 2009 Extended Essay reports Page 1 © International Baccalaureate Organization 2009 CHEMISTRY Overall grade boundaries Grade: E D C B A Mark range: 0 - 7 8 - 15 16 - 22 23 - 28 29 - 36 The range and suitability of the work submitted The number of candidates submitting extended essays for the November session is considerably smal ler than for the May session. Even so, there was an impressive range of essay titles and a good number that received an „excellent‟ grade. The most common titles involved some aspect of vitamin C analysis. Other common titles included a comparison of biodiesel with diesel or gasoline as an alternative to fossil fuels , the determination of the aluminium content of underarm deodorants and questions involving the preparation or analysis of aspirin. One of the most interesting essays this year looked at how the iron content of biltong varies with temperature and attempted to relate the findings to the Voortrekkers‟ susceptibility to disease during the Great Trek. Perhaps the recent introduction of the Food Chemistry option in the programme provided the ideas for some of the essays and there was one particularly good essay that looked at the total antioxidant ability between organic and locally grown garlic. Most titles chosen had the potential to produce a suitable research question. However many of the research questions stated were either too broad or not clearly expressed to be treated effectively within the word limit. Some essays seemed to lack imagination with research questions that were effectively just data collection, for example finding the amount of a spirin in a number of different commercial tablets , rather than having any real research question such as "the effect of X on Y". Almost all did choose suitable areas of investigation which could lead to at least a „satisfactory‟ grade. A few candidates chose topics that were either far too broad or were too simplistic with the result already being known. One of the poorest essays which asked “Which has the greatest effect on rate – concentration, surface area or temperature” fell into the second of these categories. The best essays were the