Chem 201 Archive – Alan Shusterman

Day: January 22, 2010

  • Chem 201-202 Transition State

    Welcome back!

    Chem 202 pretty much picks up right where Chem 201 left off: same book, same rooms, same hours. There are some important changes, however, so please check out the following.

    • Lecture. My role will be reduced. Pat McDougal will take over all of the lectures and all that that entails (homework assignments, exams, and so on).
    • Conference. Pat and I will swap conference sections. He will direct the morning sessions and I will direct the afternoon sessions.
    • Lab. I will continue on in the Tuesday lab, and Pat will take over the Monday and Wednesday labs.
    • Online materials. Pat will distribute assignments in whatever way he likes best, but with only one important exception: he won’t use this website. The exception is the online lab manual. This manual includes all of the experiments currently planned for Chem 202.

    If you have questions about how Chem 202 will operate, please direct them to Pat (Rm. 420, ext. 7206, Patrick.McDougal@reed.edu)

  • The Final Exam

    The final exam was a 200 point exam. All kinds of scores were obtained, but they seemed to fall into three groups. Medium-low, medium, and high. Interesting.

    After grading the exam and reflecting on the degree of difficulty, I decided to add 10 points to the “raw score” on each exam to arrive at a “final score”. The following distribution is based on final scores.

    60-79 points – 3 exams
    80-99 points – 14 exams
    100-119 points – 9 exams
    120-139 points – 16 exams
    140-159 points – 8 exams
    160-179 points – 11 exams
    180-200 points – 2 exams

    Median score: 128 points

    If you have questions or comments about the exam, come see me.

  • Last Semester's Paperwork

    I spent a good chunk of winter break buried in paperwork. The stack of final exams, lab reports, and late homework assignments was almost 10 inches thick, but I eventually got through it.

    Now I want it to go away, all of it. Well, not just go away (I could have dumped it in the recycling if I just wanted to make it go away), but actually get it back into your hands where it might do some good.

    Please stop by Kathy Kennedy’s office, room 303, and collect your papers before next Friday, January 29. Thanks.