Section 6 of 21
Chemistry and Biology
Definitions, pH, nomenclature, and cellular biology
- p85-93page range
- 9pages long
- 7subsections
- 22drill items
What the section holds
A compact section holding the chemistry definitions that other sections assume, acid and base behaviour and pH in aqueous solution, bioconversion and photosynthesis material, an overview of instrumental methods of analysis, selected rules of organic chemistry nomenclature, and a short cellular biology block.
Why it matters for your exam
Chemical and Environmental candidates lean on this section directly, and the Other Disciplines specification examines chemistry as its own knowledge area. Note that the periodic table itself lives here rather than in a section of its own.
How to navigate it
This is one of the shorter sections, which makes it fast to scan once you are inside it. The skill worth drilling is getting to it at all, because chemistry questions on a mechanical or civil exam feel like they should live somewhere else.
Search terms that land here
periodic table | pH | nomenclature | photosynthesis | cellular biology
Subsections, in handbook order
These are the headings the handbook itself uses. The page number beside each is where it begins.
- Definitionsp85
- Acids, Bases, and pH (aqueous solutions)p86
- Bioconversionp86
- Instrumental Methods of Analysisp87
- Photosynthesisp87
- Selected Rules of Nomenclature in Organic Chemistryp89
- Cellular Biologyp93
Disciplines that use this section
Page numbers here are read from handbook version 10.5 (seventh printing, April 2025), which runs to 502 pages. NCEES revises the handbook and page numbers move with it, which is why the drill asks which section a topic lives in rather than which page. Check the version of your own copy, downloaded free from NCEES.