Covalent bonds and ionic compounds – exam-style questions
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Give your students targeted practice with covalent and ionic bonding exam questions that build confidence through structured comparison tasks.
What's included
- Exam-style questions comparing fluorine vs sodium fluoride, bromine vs potassium bromide, and diamond vs graphite
- Planning tables to help students organise their answers and ensure they cover all mark scheme points
- Complete model answers are integrated into the worksheet for easy peer or self-assessment
This worksheet is available as a free PDF download, and subscribers can access the editable version of the worksheet plus the accompanying PowerPoint.
How to use this resource
Use this as exam preparation homework or an in-class revision activity where students work through the comparison questions systematically. The planning tables are particularly effective for students who rush their answers or miss key details – they force methodical thinking about structure-property relationships. Try it as a timed mock exam question, or use the model answers for a marking workshop where students identify what makes a strong response. It works brilliantly for targeting students who understand the theory but struggle to apply it in exam conditions.
Looking for more like this?
For more structured ionic bonding practice, check out Ionic bonding exam question practice.
One of the answers from the worksheet:
A strong covalent bond is formed between pairs of bromine atoms, creating a covalent molecule. Atoms are held together by shared pairs of electrons. However, the forces between the molecules are quite weak and so bromine is a liquid at room temperature. It is not a gas because the atoms are quite large.
Potassium bromide is an ionic compound because potassium is a metal and bromine a non-metal. These atoms are held together by very strong forces of attraction between positive and negative ions. The forces act in all directions. This is ionic bonding, and the strength of the bond explains why KBr is a solid at room temperature.
