9701 is Cambridge AS Level Chemistry. This page explains what the code covers, which papers it is examined by, and which topics carry the most marks — counted from 313 real past-paper questions set between 2023 and 2026.
9701 is the Cambridge syllabus code for AS Level Chemistry.
ExamYard publishes a question book for this syllabus, covering the following:
Every topic in the 9701 banks, with how many questions and marks each has carried since 2023. The heaviest topics are where revision time pays back fastest.
| Topic | Questions | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| Atomic Structure | 23 | 126 |
| Atoms, Molecules and Stoichiometry | 15 | 60 |
| Chemical Bonding | 26 | 92 |
| States of Matter | 11 | 47 |
| Chemical Energetics | 13 | 64 |
| Electrochemistry | 6 | 17 |
| Equilibria | 17 | 101 |
| Reaction Kinetics | 11 | 48 |
| Chemical Periodicity | 27 | 172 |
| Group 2 | 12 | 43 |
| Group 17 | 15 | 86 |
| Nitrogen and Sulfur | 10 | 45 |
| An Introduction to AS Level Organic Chemistry | 18 | 71 |
| Hydrocarbons | 25 | 145 |
| Halogen Compounds | 10 | 47 |
| Hydroxy Compounds | 13 | 66 |
| Carbonyl Compounds | 9 | 54 |
| Carboxylic Acids and Derivatives | 12 | 61 |
| Nitrogen Compounds | 8 | 35 |
| Polymerisation | 4 | 13 |
| Organic Synthesis | 7 | 30 |
| Analytical Techniques | 21 | 73 |
Biggest topic: Chemical Periodicity, 172 marks across 27 questions.
Across every 9701 paper in these banks, the three biggest topics are Chemical Periodicity (172 marks), Hydrocarbons (145 marks) and Atomic Structure (126 marks). The first of those alone is about 11% of the whole bank. The smallest is Polymerisation at 13 marks.
That matters because revising by whole past paper spreads your time evenly over topics the examiner does not weight evenly. Working topic by topic lets you spend the most time where the most marks are, and it shows you the handful of question shapes each topic actually uses rather than meeting one of them every few weeks.
The same figures broken down further — every chapter ranked, with the ten biggest sub-topics and how many marks an average question in each one is worth — are on the AS Level Chemistry 9701 topic frequency page.
Past papers are easiest to use when the questions are already sorted by topic, so you can finish one topic before starting the next instead of meeting it once every few papers. ExamYard prints the real Cambridge questions for AS Level Chemistry 9701 arranged that way, with the mark scheme kept separate from the question. Chapter 1 of every book is free to read, with no account and no email address.
9701 is Cambridge AS Level Chemistry.
The questions in these banks come from papers set between 2023 and 2026. Nothing older is included, because Cambridge changes syllabuses and older questions can test content that is no longer examined.
313 real Cambridge questions worth 1,496 marks, sorted by topic.