Using the NYS Reference Tables

A New Edition, Not the Old Lettered Tables

The exam supplies the Reference Tables for Physical Science: Chemistry, 2025 Edition, used in classrooms from the 2025-26 school year and first appearing on the June 2026 Regents. This is a redesigned booklet. The legacy Physical Setting/Chemistry tables labeled sections Table A through Table T; the 2025 edition drops most of that lettering and uses named sections aligned to the new standards.

Why it matters: if you studied from an old test prep that says "check Table T for half-lives," the heading may now read Selected Radioisotopes instead. Learn the new names so you do not waste time hunting.

What the Booklet Contains

The 2025 edition packs a lot onto a few pages. Core named sections include:

Additional data tables carried forward include Solubility Curves, Vapor Pressure of Four Liquids, Heats of Reaction, the Activity Series, Common Acids, and Common Acid-Base Indicators, plus the organic chemistry tables (prefixes, homologous series, functional groups).

The Formula Page Is Your Best Friend

The Mathematical and Computational Models page hands you the equations - you do not memorize them. The big ones to recognize on sight:

• Combined gas law: P1V1/T1 = P2V2/T2 (P = pressure, V = volume, T = temperature in kelvin).
• Heat with temperature change: q = mc*DeltaT (q = heat, m = mass, c = specific heat, DeltaT = change in temperature).
• Heat at a phase change: q = mHf (fusion) and q = mHv (vaporization).
• Moles in solution: n = MV (n = moles, M = molarity, V = volume in liters).
• Concentration: ppm = (mass of solute / mass of solution) x 1,000,000.
• Coulombic force (qualitative): F is proportional to (q1*q2)/d^2.

Constants Are Given, Too

The same page lists relationships you should never re-derive under pressure:

• 1 atm = 101.3 kPa (pressure conversion).
• K = degrees C + 273.15 (Celsius to kelvin; gas-law math must use kelvin).
• 1 mole = molar mass in grams = 6.02 x 10^23 particles = 22.4 L of ideal gas at STP.
• STP = 273.15 K and 1 atm (standard temperature and pressure).

These turn intimidating problems into plug-and-chug. If a gas-law item gives temperature in Celsius, the first move is always to convert with K = degrees C + 273.15.

A Worked Example: Find, Then Apply

Problem: How many moles of solute are in 0.50 L of a 2.0 M solution?

1. Identify the formula on the booklet: n = MV.
2. Read the given values: M = 2.0 mol/L, V = 0.50 L.
3. Substitute with units: n = (2.0 mol/L)(0.50 L).
4. Cancel liters and solve: n = 1.0 mol.

The exam rewards the visible setup as much as the answer, so write the formula, substitute, and keep units. On a CR item, an unlabeled "1.0" can lose credit that a full setup would earn.

A Second Worked Example: Heat Calculation

Problem: How much heat is absorbed when 50.0 g of water warms by 10.0 degrees C? (The specific heat of water, c = 4.18 J/g/K, is given in the booklet's water-constants data.)

1. Choose the right formula: temperature changes but no phase change, so use q = mc*DeltaT.
2. Read the data: m = 50.0 g, c = 4.18 J/g/K, DeltaT = 10.0.
3. Substitute with units: q = (50.0 g)(4.18 J/g/K)(10.0 K).
4. Solve: q = 2090 J (about 2.09 kJ).

Notice the booklet handed you the specific heat - you did not memorize it. The grader wants the formula, the substituted numbers, and a unit on the answer. Use q = m*Hf instead when ice melts at constant temperature, and q = m*Hv when water boils; the phase-change formulas have no DeltaT because temperature is constant during a phase change.

Reading the Data Tables

Many clusters hinge on reading a graph or table correctly:

• Solubility Curves: trace temperature up to the curve, then across to grams of solute per 100 g of water. Points below a curve are unsaturated; above the curve, supersaturated.
• Vapor Pressure: a liquid boils when its vapor pressure equals the surrounding pressure (101.3 kPa at standard pressure).
• Activity Series: a more active metal replaces a less active one in single-replacement reactions; if the metal you add sits below the ion's metal, no reaction occurs.
• Acid-Base Indicators: match the solution's pH to the indicator's color-change range to predict the observed color.

Common Reference-Table Mistakes

• Searching for an old letter ("Table S") instead of the new section name.
• Plugging Celsius into a gas law instead of converting to kelvin first.
• Misreading a solubility curve axis (grams per 100 g water, not percent).
• Using average atomic mass from the periodic table when a problem actually needs a specific isotope's mass number.
• Forgetting that 22.4 L per mole applies only to an ideal gas at STP, not to liquids or solutions.

Before test day, flip through the booklet until you can name every page from memory. The exam is open-book for this one resource - speed in finding data is a real score advantage.