Saturday, April 29, 2006
Organic Analysis
Here are some of the errors that I have encountered on the organic NAMING/DRAWING test:
The NUMBER ONE error among those who did not do well involves the NUMBER ONE rule and FIRST STEP in naming a compound (SEE NOTES!!!)- find the longest continuous carbon chain THAT CONTAINS/INCLUDES the main functional group (e.g. acid,ketone,aldehyde,alcohol,amine,halide, if any) and NUMBER THE CARBONS on THAT CHAIN!!!!
Those who failed did not NUMBER their carbon structures and tried to do all of the figuring in their heads (which leads to careless errors!). This is a VERY POOR test-taking practice. HOW MANY times have I told you to write/draw things out?
STOP SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT and start taking my test-taking advice seriously or you will continue to cause yourself to fail.
The co-NUMBER ONE error is that many of you do not know the meaning of the term ISOMER! I spent two days giving examples of isomers! "Iso" means SAME!!! An isomer of a compound has the SAME EXACT IDENTICAL MATCHING chemical FORMULA but a DIFFERENT bonding arrangement. NEVER FORGET THAT AGAIN.
You had twelve days to prepare for this basic memorization exam (no higher-level thinking required at all) plus two full class periods for review and (poorly attended!) extra help sessions AND I put some problems from the worksheets VERBATIM on this test. Do not EVER blow off another assignment or put it off until its to late to learn it.
On a positive note, about half of the class did quite well and it is obvious that they studied by adequately PRACTICING/APPLYING the notes and other information (which is the ONLY way to study).
I'll post the rest of the acid/base files (review book assignment and answers) as well as our NEW unit (REDOX) notes this weekend. You all did great on the kinetics/equilibrium test before vacation- get back to work and pick up your averages.
The NUMBER ONE error among those who did not do well involves the NUMBER ONE rule and FIRST STEP in naming a compound (SEE NOTES!!!)- find the longest continuous carbon chain THAT CONTAINS/INCLUDES the main functional group (e.g. acid,ketone,aldehyde,alcohol,amine,halide, if any) and NUMBER THE CARBONS on THAT CHAIN!!!!
Those who failed did not NUMBER their carbon structures and tried to do all of the figuring in their heads (which leads to careless errors!). This is a VERY POOR test-taking practice. HOW MANY times have I told you to write/draw things out?
STOP SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT and start taking my test-taking advice seriously or you will continue to cause yourself to fail.
The co-NUMBER ONE error is that many of you do not know the meaning of the term ISOMER! I spent two days giving examples of isomers! "Iso" means SAME!!! An isomer of a compound has the SAME EXACT IDENTICAL MATCHING chemical FORMULA but a DIFFERENT bonding arrangement. NEVER FORGET THAT AGAIN.
You had twelve days to prepare for this basic memorization exam (no higher-level thinking required at all) plus two full class periods for review and (poorly attended!) extra help sessions AND I put some problems from the worksheets VERBATIM on this test. Do not EVER blow off another assignment or put it off until its to late to learn it.
On a positive note, about half of the class did quite well and it is obvious that they studied by adequately PRACTICING/APPLYING the notes and other information (which is the ONLY way to study).
I'll post the rest of the acid/base files (review book assignment and answers) as well as our NEW unit (REDOX) notes this weekend. You all did great on the kinetics/equilibrium test before vacation- get back to work and pick up your averages.
# posted by C @ 11:07 AM 
