All GRE Subject Test: Chemistry Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #1 : Understanding Accuracy And Precision
Michael buys several bags of balloons. On the package, it says that each bag has 100 balloons. He opens the bags and only one of them has 100 balloons inside; the other bags either have too many or too few.
How would you describe the bag of balloons with 100 balloons inside?
Accurate, but not precise
Accurate, but the precision cannot be determined
Precise, but not accurate
Both accurate and precise
Neither accurate nor precise
Accurate, but not precise
This bag is accurate because it provided the correct number of balloons, however, the process is not precise as the results were clearly not repeatable.
Accuracy deals with how close the measurement got to the accepted measurement. Precision deals with how consistent the measurement is. The bag with 100 balloons inside matched the claim made on the bag, meaning it was accurate. It was not precise because the other measurements show that the number of balloons is variable.
Example Question #1 : Understanding Accuracy And Precision
Michael's scale measures the mass of objects as consistently less than their actual mass. How would you describe the scale?
It is neither accurate nor precise
It is accurate, but not precise
It is precise, but not accurate
Accuracy and precision are synonyms
It is both accurate and precise
It is precise, but not accurate
Precision measures is how consistently a device records the same answer. In this case, Michael's scale is ALWAYS short. Even though it displays the wrong value, it is consistent. That means it is precise. Measuring a
object will always display a mass of
; the results are easily reproduced.
Accuracy is how well a device measures something against its accepted value. In this case, Michael's scale is not accurate because it is always off by .
Example Question #1 : Understanding Accuracy And Precision
An brand of fruit snacks claims that each bag of fruit snacks has a mass of . After weighing three bags, Wally observes the masses to be
,
, and
.
How can Wally describe the accuracy and precision of the first bag he measured?
Neither accurate nor precise
There are insufficient data points to draw a conclusion
Precise, but not accurate
Accurate and precise
Accurate, but not precise
Accurate, but not precise
The claim for the mass of the first bag is accurate; the brand says there should be in each bag and there was
in the first bag.
The claim on the first bag is not precise, as the results are not replicated universally throughout the experiment. The masses of the bags fluctuate, with the average of all three bags equal to .
Example Question #1 : Analytical Chemistry
A bowman is shooting arrows at a target. Which of the following demonstrates high accuracy but low precision?
The bowman consistently hits the bullseye
The bowman consistently hits to the left of the target
The bowman consistently hits around the target but never hits the bullseye
The bowman consistently misses the target and hits a tree in the same spot
The bowman consistently hits to the right of the bullseye
The bowman consistently hits around the target but never hits the bullseye
Accuracy is measured as the degree of closeness to the actual measurement. In our case, accurate shots will hit the bullseye. Precision is measured as the degree of closeness of one measurement to the next. In our case, precise shots will be clustered together.
To get high accuracy but low precision, measurements must center around the target value but be variable. The bowman's arrows will not be clustered (low precision), but will be accurately distributed around the bullseye. If all the shots were averaged, the bullseye would be at the center.
Example Question #1 : Analyzing Data
Which of these is an example of high precision?
A student correctly calculates the mass of an object to be 54kg
An archer hits the same spot on the target three times in a row
A student tries to throw a pencil into the garbage can and makes it in
An archer hits the bulls-eye
A student correctly calculates the acceleration due to gravity to be
An archer hits the same spot on the target three times in a row
Precision is a measure of reproducibility. If multiple trials produce the same result each time with minimal deviation, then the experiment has high precision. This is true even if the results are not true to the theoretical predictions; an experiment can have high precision with low accuracy.
In contrast, accuracy is the measure of difference between a calculated value and the true value of a measurement. High accuracy demands that the experimental result be equal to the theoretical result.
An archer hitting a bulls-eye is an example of high accuracy, while an archer hitting the same spot on the bulls-eye three times would be an example of high precision.
Example Question #1 : Analytical Chemistry
Which of these is an example of high accuracy?
A student repeatedly calculates the mass of an object to be 49 grams, when the true mass is 52 grams
An archer hits the same spot on the target three times in a row
A student throws three pencils into the trash can, but misses and hits the window each time
An archer hits the bulls-eye
A student calculates the acceleration due to gravity to be using three different methods
An archer hits the bulls-eye
Accuracy is the measure of difference between a calculated value and the true value of a measurement. High accuracy demands that the experimental result be equal to the theoretical result.
In contrast, precision is a measure of reproducibility. If multiple trials produce the same result each time with minimal deviation, then the experiment has high precision. This is true even if the results are not true to the theoretical predictions; an experiment can have high precision with low accuracy.
An archer hitting a bulls-eye is an example of high accuracy, while an archer hitting the same spot on the bulls-eye three times would be an example of high precision.
Example Question #1 : Calibrations And Precision
What is the molar concentration of a 2% by mass solution with a density of
?
By definition, 2% by mass means 2 grams of in every 100 grams of solution. In order to solve this problem, we may assume we are dealing with 100 grams of solution. We can use the density as a conversion factor to determine the volume of solution we are dealing with:
In order to calculate the number of moles of , we need to convert 2 grams of
to moles using it's molecular weight. This is because we are assuming we are dealing 100 grams of a 2%
solution.
In order to calculate molarity, we need to plug the moles and volumes calculated into the following equation:
Example Question #1 : Calibrations And Precision
Using the calibration curve given, if given the absorbance of 1.51, what would be the concentration?
A calibration curve is a graph that gives the relationship between a measured quantity and an analytical signal. In this question the analytical signal is absorbance and the measured quantity is the concentration. To answer this problem, simply determine where the absorbance value 1.5 is on the y-axis and find what point the x-axis crosses this absorbance.
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All GRE Subject Test: Chemistry Resources
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