Between the 7th and 14th of April 2022, multiple chemistry classes worked on an assessment standard Chemistry 2.2 (AS 91911 v1), where students "Carry out an investigation into chemical species present in a sample using qualitative analysis". The excellence condition on the marking criteria stated "Discusses the significance of aluminum ions for people and/or the environment". Additionally, the Merit condition was the same, but with explaining rather than discussing.  We (Chemistry Students) did and still do believe that these conditions assess the topic of biology rather than chemistry (Which is our chosen subject). To us, it does not make sense to have the two higher grades be dependent on proficiency in a subject we did not elect to study. The "People and/or the environment" part of these conditions is related directly to the biological processes in humans and other organisms in the environment and required us to write about such processes. We would think that it is commonly accepted that the explanation and discussion of those processes link to biology rather than chemistry. We believe that this is unfair. It has caused numerous grades that had the potential to be excellence or merit reduced by one or more grades. A teacher who will remain unnamed stated that "90 percent of you would have gotten excellence if it were not for the biology part" referring to one year 12 class.

By signing this petition we will hopefully help the standard return to one that depends on chemistry skills and knowledge and not on any other subjects.