Letter grades are not assigned to individual labs or to the lab component of the course. As this is a more advanced freshmen chemistry course, do not expect “High School”-type scores; in other words, an “A” is not a 93, an “A-” is not a 90, etc. Moreover, there can be a relatively steep learning curve when starting analytical chemistry. The most important thing is that you should work as hard as you can and strive to continually improve your learning and performance throughout the course.
You will receive substantial feedback, guidance, and evaluation on each post-lab assignment that you submit. Your teaching fellow will also clearly indicate their assessment of the quality of the work:
- High-quality work with correct analysis, good chemical understanding, and that follows the guidelines provided is said to meet their expectations (this is the goal);
- Work that is good, but is still not at the highest level, will typically be below their expectations;
- If your instructor finds too many mistakes in the work then they will likely rate it as needing substantial improvement; and
- Work that is substantially below the standards appropriate for the course is unacceptable.
- Occasionally, students will display a level of mastery of the material that is above and beyond the scope of the course. In these cases, the teaching fellow will note that the work exceeds their expectations -- this is highly praiseworthy work.
In general, in the lab portion of the course, an “A” grade represents excellence and consistently meeting the expectations of the course on assignments -- i.e., mastering the course material; a “B” corresponds to a very good command of the material, which means that the student is mostly meeting the course expectations or below expectations; a “C” represents being consistently below expectations or needing substantial improvement; and a “D” corresponds to insufficient mastery of the course material. In all of these cases, your work on all components of the lab portion of the course will be considered, including: post-lab assignments, pre-lab assignments, notebook pages, data quality, and participation and performance.
Your teaching fellow will meet with you periodically throughout the course to discuss your progress in the course, and give you additional feedback and guidance. We do not expect students to enter the course with mastery of the material -- that's why you're taking the class; rather, we expect students to continue to grow and apply new and more advanced skills as the course progresses.
Individual labs
Typical experiments will be graded based on some, or all, of the following components: pre-lab assignment, notebook pages, data, and post-lab assignment. Exact breakdowns will be lab-dependent.
The lab practical is a special in-lab exercise designed to evaluate you on your learning of proper lab techniques, basic statistical analysis, and analytical thinking. Details will be supplied at a later date.
Questions regarding grades
Students are expected to review their evaluated work soon after it is returned, and to use the feedback they are given to improve later work. It is critical to your success in the course that you do not delay in processing your feedback, and your teaching fellow will be happy to give you additional suggestions for improvements -- please see them in office hours or at the end of the lab.
In the rare event that you believe that your teaching fellow has made a mistake in evaluating your work, please make sure to bring the graded work to the attention of the lab course instructor within a reasonable amount of time (no more than 1 week after the evaluated work is returned).
Tips and hints
While many students enter college already well-versed in chemical theory, they often find themselves lacking in some of the fundamentals of experimental techniques. This course is designed to walk a student through the basics of analytical chemistry. There is no pre-requisite knowledge of lab techniques, but they will build-up quickly.
Make sure to use the course staff (and their office hours) and study groups to get the answers to any questions that you have. The best approach is to always make sure that you know what you are doing, and why you are doing it, and if you don’t understand something then ask questions.
In the past, students have best been able to manage their workload with good time management. Students should be reading the textbook and lab manual before their lecture on Mondays. Pre-lab assignments, and notebook pages, are best completed soon after lecture in order be prepared for lab. Break-up working on the post-lab assignment: consider doing the data analysis in the day or two after the lab period, and then polishing/completing the assignment (sometimes with help at office hours) later in the week.
Tutorial sessions (a.k.a. office hours)
You are strongly encouraged to attend office hours frequently. They are a great opportunity to work through problem in groups, get support from course instructors, and ask questions. Note: you do not need to have a question or an appointment to attend these open hours. Rather, come frequently and maximize your effort by getting support. These tutorial sessions are helpful for all students.
An important note about getting answers to your questions: e-mail is not a replacement for office hours. While instructors will certainly respond to personal, private, and urgent matters by email, they will not be regularly answering content-related questions by email. To get answers from instructors, please attend any of the office hours.
This is a tentative syllabus and is subject to change at any time. Students are expected to conform to these instructions and any other instructions given throughout the semester.