Phew! Exam 1 Graded!

Give a big round of applause to your TA.  They worked well into the night to grade your exams so that you could check your scores this week on Blackboard and end your suffering.  Overall, I was very pleased with the results.  We had a record number of As (20%), which was more than the number of Bs (15%)--an unusual, but pleasant circumstance.  For many of you, your hard work has paid off.  Congratulations!  If you are disappointed with your score or frustrated with your progress, don't despair yet.  Get help as soon as you can. Stop by my office or visit a tutor in the SLC .  There is plenty of time to make major improvements since we have completed only 36% percent of the course.  For more statistics, including the exam curve and distribution, visit the Grades Fall 2010 page on the course website.

Look over your exam very carefully next week.  If you believe that there are grading or adding errors, follow the instructions in the document exam_corrections.pdf, which can be found on the File Sharing page of the course website.  You must submit your exam within two weeks of the date the exam was given in order to have it reviewed for errors. Your TA will return the exams during discussion section next week.  They will not return the exams before that time, so please don't ask.

Review Session and Sample Exam

A sample exam has been posted on the course website's File Sharing page.  Do not rely solely on the sample exam as your source of practice.  Also review OWL homework, quiz questions, and the end-of-chapter problems in the textbook.

A review session will be held on Thursday, September 16 at 6:00 p.m. in room 130 SES.  It will be primarily student-driven and not formally structured.  Plan ahead so that you are able to bring specific problems that you would like to work on to the review session (e.g., print OWL questions, end-of-chapter questions, quiz material, sample exam material).  You and your colleagues will work on these together in front of the group at the whiteboard.  The class and myself will help and discuss the problem you and your colleagues are presenting.  I will not be lecturing or working out the problems for the class.  I am only there to guide your work and assist in the general discussion of the group.  I will not answer any questions pertaining to the content of the exam itself.

SLC Tutors

Tutors are available every week in the Science and Learning Center (201 SES) to assist students with general chemistry and organic chemistry.  Download the schedule of tutors here.

Take-Home Quiz 3 Posted

Quiz 3 is a take-home quiz and has been posted on the File Sharing page of the course website as well as in the Blackboard Course Documents.  Print the quiz, complete and turn in during your discussion section the week of September 13.  The quiz must be turned in personally to your TA during discussion section.  It will not be accepted late or outside of your discussion section.

OWL #1 & #2 Extension

As many of you have noticed, the OWL system is down.  Therefore, I will extend the deadline for both Assignment #1 and Assignment #2 to Wednesday, September 8 at 11:59 p.m. as soon as I am able to log on to the system myself.  Hopefully everything will be back online soon.

Also, because of the Labor Day weekend I've decided to make Quiz #3 a take-home quiz that will be due next week during your discussion section.  I'm working on it now and more details will follow shortly. 

Newest mascot suggestion: Bond, Double Bond.  Any others? :)

Have a great weekend.

Chad

SLC Study Groups

There is a fantastic opportunity to sign up for semester-long organic chemistry study groups in the Science and Learning Center (SLC; 201 SES).  These groups will meet every week all semester and are peer-led by highly qualified CHEM 232 students.  There are a limited number of positions available and the deadline for signing up is this Friday, September 3 at 3:00 p.m.  For more information, download the document SLC_orgostudygroup.pdf from the Blackboard Course Documents menu or from the course website File Sharing page.  If you have questions, contact Kevin Sullivan (ksulliv2@uic.edu).