Conference—
Every two weeks or so you will have a 15 minute individual conference with the instructor to go over homework problems. Each student is required to keep a Homework Problem Notebook. Each assigned problem should be worked out in an organized fashion. You may find it helpful to note your questions or difficulties so that you may seek help from your classmates or conference or office hours. While students are encouraged to consult with each other, each individual is required to complete their own notebook.
Conference Problem Presentation—
The final conference session will be devoted the student’s presentation of one or two textbook problems. The student will prepare solutions to five of the “Additional” odd-numbered problems not assigned as homework and the instructor will choose the problems for the student to present. This assignment builds on written “quiz” assignments and previous conferences.
During the first 10 minutes of class on Mondays you will have a quiz which will cover material through the end of that Friday’s class. Please bring a calculator. At the instructor’s discretion one or more quizzes may be replaced by a take-home exercise or writing assignment. Some quizzes may be completed by teams of students. Graded work may be picked up outside of Rm. 202. Each quiz is worth 10 points and no make ups will be permitted. There may be a simple “reading” question to see if you have read the chapter. Quizzes are designed to encourage you to keep up with the class and many students find exams more challenging than quizzes.
Extra Credit--
You will be allowed to make up 10 missed Quiz points by critically summarizing a Chemistry 101 lecture. In your 3-5 sentence summary, you should state the main points of the lecture, and then state the interesting applications or questions you may have. You must submit your summaries via e-mail within 24 hours of the end of the lecture and each will be worth one point. Your e-mail should state clearly that it is to be considered for extra credit. Exemplary summaries will be posted (without your name) on the course web site.
Exams will emphasize problem solving skills and chemical concepts. Each exam will include at least one problem that resembles an assigned homework problem and a portion of the exam may require creative insights or synthetic skills. To earn top grades of 4.0 and 3.7 you are expected to solve these problems and practicing on hard problems found in reserve texts in recommended. The final exam will be cumulative and self-scheduled during the exam week. Bring a working calculator to all quizzes and exams! To practice for an exam, randomly choose 4 to 6 text problems which are totally new to you and solve them completely within one hour. Exams will be given on Fridays and will be designed to be completed within one hour. You will be allowed to work on the exam from 12:10 to 1:30 P.M. There are no make-ups for exams.
Your final grade will be determined by the sum of your quiz and conference grades, your hour exam grades, the final exam and your laboratory grade. The breakdown is as follows:
Laboratory 33%
Class 67%
3 Hour Exams, Quizzes & Conferences 47% (Best three of four)
Cumulative Final Exam 20%
Your 6 highest quiz grades will be counted. Your best three grades on the hour exams, combined quiz & conference score will be used to determine your final grade. There will be no makeups for quizzes or hour exams. A missed or disastrous exam grade may be replaced by the final exam.
Special Arrangements and Accommodations--
If you need to make special arrangements please see Stephanie Bell (sbell@brynmwr.edu or http://www.brynmawr.edu/administrative/accessibility.shtml) in the Accessibility Office located in Canwyll House.