This experiment is a detective story, or a logic puzzle if you please.
Success will depend on:

your ability to choose a plan (develop an analytical scheme) to make your determinations easier.  Understand that some of your solutions are acids, some bases, some are salts, and one may even be water.  A good guide to developing an analytical scheme might be to take note of the ordering of the major sections on pages 291 through 293.

Understand the possible reactions that may occur between any two in the list provided on page 293

        It is of particular importance that you do the prelaboratory assignment on page 293.  It is of greater importance that you evaluate all of the chemicals in the list not just 9 of them.  Evaluate them with respect to the solubility rules on page 292.  This will take the place of Question 1 in the prelab problems, effectively answer number 2, and provide key information for questions 3 and 4.  As such by doing the prelaboratory assignment you are accomplishing what you need to do for the prelab questions.  I should also give you a few hints to answer question number 4.  Chlorine can have oxidation numbers of +5 and -1.  Nitric acid, as you found out last week is a strong oxidizing agent and readily involves itself in redox chemistry forming gaseous NO₂. (see the reference page for a tutorial on redox chemistry and calculations.)

Now an example of what I mean by evaluate the 20 compounds listed on page 293...
 

break each compound up into its corresponding cation and anion

e.g.  AgNO_3(aq) Ag⁺_(aq) + NO₃^-_(aq)
do this for all 20

if you can do it in your head you may, but you may want to write down all the possible combinations of metathesis reactions, the only ones we are really interested in are the ones that form a gas or a precipitate, especially a precipitate.

e.g.  Ag⁺_(aq) + NO₃^-_(aq)+ K⁺_(aq) + ClO₃^-_(aq) Ag⁺_(aq) + ClO₃^-_(aq) + K⁺_(aq) + NO₃^-_(aq)

alternately:      AgNO_3(aq)+ KClO_3(aq) AgClO_3(aq) + KNO_3(aq)
(no ppt: Rules 1 and 2)
This one you would not have to write down as it is of little analytical utility

Ag⁺_(aq) + NO₃^-_(aq) + Na⁺ + Br^- AgBr_(s) + NaNO_3(aq)  (yellow ppt: Rule 3)
This one you would include

Continue this process for all possible combinations.  The Merck index is of particular use here.  Because alternately (although you will still have to write balanced stochiometric equations for the analytically useful pairings) you could perform the analysis this way:

Silver nitrate + potassium chlorate ==== silver chlorate + potassium nitrate

By rule 2 (all chlorates are soluble) silver chlorate is soluble
By rule 1 (all salts of lithium I, sodium I, potassium I, and ammonium are soluble)
you can confirm this by also looking up silver chlorate and potassium nitrate in the Merck index and finding the solubility of these product compounds.

This work will be of great use for the lab.  Work in teams if you wish and have a Merck Index party in the library.

Have a working knowledge of the solubility rules listed on page 292 and 305.

Observe evolution of gases, color changes, formation of precipitates

There are some valuable hints on page 297 and an excellent walk through on page 296.

All of the reagents will be available at the side of the room.  If and only if you reach a sticking point and are down to two or three unknowns make a smaller matrix for your subset of unknowns and another for the knowns you are trying to pick from.  Combine the knowns in the well plate and observe the reactions.  Combine the unknowns and observe the reactions.  Compare the results.

Things to do:

Have a 9x9 matrix table in your lab notebook before you show up for class.
You may wish to include a list of all precipitation reactions including color and appearance of the precipitates.  Use the list of possible unknowns on page 293.  Some of these precipitates are dead give aways and will help you narrow the list by two unknowns.  Barium chromate for instance is a very yellow precipitate, whereas silver chromate is a dark reddish brown.  Be careful though, silver iodide is a light yellow ppt.

Unk 2	Unk 3	Unk 4	Unk 5	Unk 6	Unk 7	Unk 8	Unk 9
								Unk 1
								Unk 2
								Unk 3
								Unk 4
								Unk 5
								Unk 6
								Unk 7
								Unk 8

Keep a careful written record of the tests and the decisions you make to identify each solution.  Write down the tests you choose to perform as you perform them to divide and conquer your set.  Litmus paper should start as one good dividing point.  Precipitation reactions would be the next logical step.  As you identify each chemical write in your lab notebook what you did to identify it.  You will need to use this information in your discussion to describe how you reached your conclusions.  Try and write your discussion using as few steps as is necessary to identify all your unknowns.

Include balanced reactions in your discussion as you go to support your claims.