What this practice covers
These questions are drawn from past CIE 9701 Chemistry papers and filtered to hydroxy compounds. You answer, you find out immediately whether you were right, and you get the reasoning for the correct option and for each distractor. Wrong answers go to a mistakes locker so you can come back to exactly those.
Practice is free. You need an account only so your progress and your mistakes are still there next time.
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What examiners see students get wrong here
These are the errors that cost marks on hydroxy compounds, taken from our own topic notes. Read them before you practise and you will recognise the traps in the questions.
- Saying a tertiary alcohol resists oxidation because it is bulky. It has no hydrogen on the carbon bearing the OH.
- Giving the carboxylic acid as the product of distillation. Distilling gives the aldehyde; reflux gives the acid.
- Forgetting that the dichromate colour change is orange to green, or giving it the wrong way round.
- Saying phenol reacts with sodium carbonate. It is too weak an acid for that.
- Explaining phenol's reactivity by the OH group being electron withdrawing. The lone pair is donated into the ring.
- Using the tri-iodomethane test as a general alcohol test. It needs the CH₃CH(OH) or CH₃CO group.
Revise it first
If any of the above is unfamiliar, work through the notes before practising: Hydroxy compounds revision notes.