The periodic table is the most efficient thing in quiz preparation. A hundred and eighteen elements, of which perhaps thirty are ever asked about, each carrying a symbol, an atomic number, a discoverer and an etymology — four questions per element, from one afternoon's work. Nothing else in general knowledge pays like that.
The first twenty, then the awkward symbols
Hydrogen to calcium, in order, with symbols, is the single highest-value list in science quizzing. It covers every "element with atomic number N" question that a general quiz will ask, and the ordering itself is frequently the question.
After that, learn the symbols that do not match their English names, because that is where setters go when the first twenty prove too easy: sodium is Na (natrium), potassium K (kalium), iron Fe (ferrum), lead Pb (plumbum), tin Sn (stannum), gold Au (aurum), silver Ag (argentum), mercury Hg (hydrargyrum), antimony Sb (stibium), tungsten W (wolfram). Ten facts, asked out of all proportion to their number.
Names and firsts
The third seam is elements named after people and places — curium, einsteinium, mendelevium, californium, americium, polonium, francium, nobelium — and the handful with a story: Marie Curie, who named polonium for a country that did not then exist on maps, and Mendeleev, who left gaps in his table and correctly predicted what would fill them, which is the fact most often asked about the table itself.
Broader science questions are here.