Tuesday, November 07, 2006
End of Quarter
Taking a break from grading right now; I hope to be done by midnight.
As the first quarter ends and we begin our new quarter with a new slate, you at least have the advantage of knowing how the class is run and what is expected of you.
The majority of students manage to improve and become better students, in general, as they continue to work hard and improve their reasoning and writing skills in subsequent quarters.
This does not have to be the case. In fact, among those who are doing poorly, I have noticed that very few of you (less than 5) have shown any desire to correct your errors. Students do not magically or suddenly become good at chemistry. They mainly become better at the subject by correcting past mistakes or preventing them in the first place (see previous "how to study" advice). So, for whatever you didn't "get" this past quarter, you should come in with some prepared questions and I'll walk you through some (illustrated) written explanations. You'll get much more out of extra help if you are aware of what you don't understand and, thus, come prepared with questions.
You'll see first quarter material throughout the year so it is important to make up for what you didn't get (or can't express) in order to succeed in upcoming quarters.
The last Honors written test was truly appalling. The results are even more unbelievable given the number of complete answers that I put online before the test (verbatim and extensive explanations of what we covered in class). The spelling and grammar from most students were atrocious; you will ALWAYS lose points for poor spelling and grammar. (Some are misspelling words that are IN THE QUESTIONS!) The questions forced you to draw pictures and diagrams which were then promptly ignored in your explanations. Information that was required for one question was given for a different question. Connections (such as "the energy of an emitted photon is EXACTLY equal to the energy lost by the electron; that SAME amount of energy equals Planck's constant times the frequency of light emitted") were ignored in lieu of just repeating information from the question. The bottom line is that too many students are not improving their writing, test-taking, and explanation skills. I suggest you come to extra help for that, OFTEN. Once you acquire the skill, it won't go away.
update: on the bright side, the lab exam, which is NO JOKE because you have to be super-careful with sig figs and units, looks very good. Quite a few 100s and most scored in the 90s.
As the first quarter ends and we begin our new quarter with a new slate, you at least have the advantage of knowing how the class is run and what is expected of you.
The majority of students manage to improve and become better students, in general, as they continue to work hard and improve their reasoning and writing skills in subsequent quarters.
This does not have to be the case. In fact, among those who are doing poorly, I have noticed that very few of you (less than 5) have shown any desire to correct your errors. Students do not magically or suddenly become good at chemistry. They mainly become better at the subject by correcting past mistakes or preventing them in the first place (see previous "how to study" advice). So, for whatever you didn't "get" this past quarter, you should come in with some prepared questions and I'll walk you through some (illustrated) written explanations. You'll get much more out of extra help if you are aware of what you don't understand and, thus, come prepared with questions.
You'll see first quarter material throughout the year so it is important to make up for what you didn't get (or can't express) in order to succeed in upcoming quarters.
The last Honors written test was truly appalling. The results are even more unbelievable given the number of complete answers that I put online before the test (verbatim and extensive explanations of what we covered in class). The spelling and grammar from most students were atrocious; you will ALWAYS lose points for poor spelling and grammar. (Some are misspelling words that are IN THE QUESTIONS!) The questions forced you to draw pictures and diagrams which were then promptly ignored in your explanations. Information that was required for one question was given for a different question. Connections (such as "the energy of an emitted photon is EXACTLY equal to the energy lost by the electron; that SAME amount of energy equals Planck's constant times the frequency of light emitted") were ignored in lieu of just repeating information from the question. The bottom line is that too many students are not improving their writing, test-taking, and explanation skills. I suggest you come to extra help for that, OFTEN. Once you acquire the skill, it won't go away.
update: on the bright side, the lab exam, which is NO JOKE because you have to be super-careful with sig figs and units, looks very good. Quite a few 100s and most scored in the 90s.
# posted by C @ 7:35 PM 
