General Chemistry:

General Chemistry

The second sub-test of the DAT Survey of the Natural Sciences is General Chemistry with 30 questions. For this part, you need to have a good grasp of both the theoretical concepts and practical or mathematical applications of various inorganic chemistry concepts, including stoichiometry, kinetics, equilibria, thermochemistry, and states of matter. You will not have access to a calculator during this part of the DAT so, your ability to do the calculations quickly and accurately will be tested. Since every question has exactly the same value on the DAT regardless of difficulty, you should make educated guesses on the time-consuming questions and leave them for later if you have time to review. Even If you run out of time on a section, it’s much more efficient to have answered four questions correctly by spending two minutes rather than answering a question that takes three minutes.

Here we have the content of the questions you will be asked in the General Chemistry section, the numbers in parentheses reflect how many questions are likely to be directly asked from that field on the DAT. Keep in mind that you need to have knowledge from more than one content area listed to answer the questions, and some questions also require knowledge from other fields like Biology, Organic Chemistry.

Stoichiometry and General Concepts (3)

• Percent Composition
• Empirical Formulas
• Balancing Equations
• Moles and Molecular Formulas
• Molar Mass
• Density
• Calculations from Balanced Equations

Gases (2)

• Kinetic Molecular Theory of Gases
• Dalton’s Gas Law
• Boyle‟s Gas Law
• Charles‟s Gas Law
• Ideal Gas Law

Liquids and Solids (3)

• Intermolecular Forces
• Phase Changes
• Vapor Pressure
• Structures
• Polarity
• Properties

Solutions (3)

• Polarity
• Colligative Properties
• Non-colligative Properties
• Forces
• Concentration Calculations

Acids and Bases (3)

• pH
• Strength
• Brønsted-Lowry Reactions
• Calculations

Chemical Equilibria (2)

• Molecular
• Acid/Base
• Precipitation
• Calculations
• Le Chatelier’s Principle

Thermodynamics and Thermochemistry (2)

• Laws of Thermodynamics
• Hess’s Law
• Spontaneity
• Enthalpies and Entropies
• Heat Transfer

Chemical Kinetics (2)

• Rate Laws
• Activation Energy
• Half-life

Oxidation-Reduction Reactions (2)

• Balancing Equations
• Oxidation Numbers
• Electrochemical Calculations
• Electrochemical Concepts and Terminology

Atomic and Molecular Structure (3)

• Electron Configuration
• Orbital Types
• Lewis-Dot Diagrams
• Atomic Theory
• Quantum Theory
• Molecular Geometry
• Bond Types
• Sub-atomic Particles

Periodic Properties (2)

• Representative Elements
• Transition Elements
• Periodic Trends
• Descriptive Chemistry

Nuclear Reactions (1)

• Balancing Equations
• Binding Energy
• Decay Processes
• Particles
• Terminology

Laboratory (2)

• Basic Techniques
• Equipment
• Error Analysis
• Safety
• Data Analysis

Try a sample General Chemistry question to get an idea of what to expect on test day! You can get practice for each question type, along with full answers and explanations in our full-length tests.

Which of the following can act as a Lewis base?

How to study General Chemistry

When you learn new concepts, practicing problem-solving will help you remember what you have learned and will also help you understand different aspects of that topic. Practicing problem solving helps you connect the theory with the application of the knowledge, knowing the reason why intermolecular bonds form is just as important as being able to calculate the energy required to break them. Therefore understanding the concept is as important as being able to apply it and you need both to answer the questions correctly. You must not focus only on how to perform each mathematical step when you are trying to solve a chemistry problem, but you should try to understand what each variable truly represents, what the proportionalities that are implied, and the reasons behind those relationships truly are. The conceptual understanding helps you answer the questions and also makes memorizing equations easier and forgetting them will be less likely. Solving different problems with different levels of difficulty on a subject will also help with the learning process and memorizing the information. When you learn a new topic, you should also try to think about how that new topic is connected to the concepts you have already learned.

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