CHEM 221

INTRODUCTORY ORGANIC CHEMISTRY I (3 credits)

This course, especially in this university, depends a lot on the professor you have. Although most of the material overlaps among instructors, each professor has their own unique grading style and method of presenting information. Since I had Prof. Sébastien Robidoux for this course, this page will likely be more relevant for those taking the course with him.

Lectures: Prof. Robidoux does not use powerpoint slides in his lectures. In my opinion, this is a very rare quality to find these days in a professor. The information which he wants you to learn is presented to you in a very eloquent manner. He will use the chalkboard to write down all the reactions and information you need to know. Old school is the way to go. I wish more professors would teach this way instead of bombarding us with 50 new slides per lecture.

  • Prof. Robidoux likes to incorporate pop-quizzes into his lectures. This ensures students are always staying up to date with the material as there could be a quiz at any time. Although this does cause a lot of stress during the semester, it actually greatly pays off later on, for the exams.

Labs: These labs are mandatory and take place once a week for about 4 hours at a time. Make sure you have a lab coat, lab goggles (or prescription glasses), and a lab notebook. Each week you’ll have to submit a pre-lab which is essentially you proving to the lab TA that you spend a few minutes looking over the experiment procedure for that week. Most TAs will also have a 2-question quiz at the beginning of the lab to give a little more credit to those students whom are well prepared. The TAs will go over the experiment before you begin in case you are completely lost. MAKE SURE YOU FIND YOURSELF A GOOD LAB PARTNER! Although you are not marrying each other, your semester will be a lot more pleasant with someone you can get along with.

  • Lab Reports have varied over the past couple of semesters. The new system requires you only to submit specific sections of the report each week. (e.g. Week 1 may only require the Results sections, Week 2 may require only the Discussion section, etc) Confirm with your TA what he or she wants to see in your report. I encourage you to meet or e-mail the TA prior to submitting your report with any questions you have. Just because your friend got a 95% on his report in another lab section, your TA may evaluate that report as an 80% according to his or her standards. Also note that in some experiments, you are being graded on your actual results. In other words, take the experiment seriously and follow the steps carefully. Otherwise, if your melting point is off by 64 degrees, you may not receive much credit in your results section.

LAB EXAM: This exam is on paper, in the classroom, and administered by your professor. (the exam usually lasts for half an hour). The TAs have nothing to do with this exam. I encourage you to jot down notes during the semester and put a little more thought into your Discussion section of your reports as this will greatly pay off during the Lab Exam. This exam is usually worth about 10% of your final grade. Most students do very well on this exam, as it is not too difficult. I see this exam as a free 8 – 9%, as it does not require as much work compared to the other components in the course. Understand the key reactions for each experiment, the basic apparatus set-up, etc.

  • I’ve attached a LAB EXAM REVIEW GUIDE which I have compiled for the course. This guide is probably useful for whichever professor you have in this course.

SL sessions are a great resource! Try going to a session at least once a week if you can fit it into your schedule. The SL leaders are carefully selected by the department and are at the top of their field. (shout-out to my SL leader, Phillipe!) This is a free and non-mandatory “workshop-like” tutorial so take full advantage of it.

Exams: Prof. Robidoux is known to be a very meticulous grader and does not care if your previous chemistry professor let you get away with sloppy work. He expects you to be clear with your mechanisms, arrow-pushing, nomenclature, diagrams, etc. Most of the marks I lost were due to sloppiness. If you’re not sure about something, just write down anything as he does not deduct marks for incorrect information. He only adds marks for correct information. Keeping the last sentence in mind will ensure success in this course.

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