Friday, February 09, 2007
Friday, Day 7
Honors: we had our first full Math O' Chem exam. This one shouldn't take me as long to grade and I'm hoping for a comeback although there were VERY FEW of you at extra help the past two days (last year, there was standing room only before most tests).
The last test, which I warned you about weeks ahead of time, was a disaster that should NOT ever be caused by true Honors students (especially those with such "excellent" averages in every other subject). The fact that all of you have A's in English yet almost all of you do NOT know the basic difference in meaning between the words "is" and "has" makes me very curious and suspicious. For example, the fact that almost all of you wrote the non sequitur "water IS a hydrogen-bonding attraction" speaks volumes about the lack of preparation and understanding of basic English. Remember, you can't drink an attraction but you can drink water.
I should not reward such obvious negligence on the part of most students but I will relent this one time because I cannot have you end the most important unit in chemistry without knowing this material. Should such a mass lack of preparation and flouting of basic test-taking practices ever happen again, I will not give anyone a second chance to improve his/her grade and you will just have to accept the consequences.
I will put up directions on how to correct this test and talk about this with you next week. You can improve your score by up to 15 points. As some have already done in the past, do NOT add insult to injury by handing in faulty corrections; how could anyone possibly hand in "corrections" that are rife with errors when you can just ASK ME to show you how to answer the questions?!! I'll tell you how: wanton ignorance, laziness, and negligence. You can't have those qualities and get an A in THIS CLASS.
Regents: we finished the three parts of the "magic triangle" that quickly gets us from grams to moles to molecules to moles to liters of gas at STP.
Study hard for Monday's first Math of Chem exam. The info that we covered in class:
1. Equation Balancing and the meaning of chemical equations (coefficients, etc.)
2. Types of Chemical Reactions
3. The Mole and Calculation of Molar Mass: Gram-Atomic Mass, Gram-Molecular Mass, and Gram-Formula Mass
4. Percent Composition of ANY compound or hydrate, given the formula.
5. Grams of a given element from a compound, given the percent composition or molecular formula
6. Empirical to Molecular Formula, given the empirical formula and the gram-molecular mass of the compound.
7. "Magic Triangle Conversions" of any type.
You will NOT be tested on some of the things from the notes, that is, what we did NOT cover in class:
a. determining an empirical formula from percent composition (we only did the reverse calculation)
b. using balanced chemical equations to determine moles of reactants and products that are actually consumed and formed- that will be on a subsequent test.
Monday is Day 1 so I will be in Room 229 at about 7:30 AM for any last minute questions.
ONLY TWO Regents students were at extra help on Friday; are you ready for the test on Monday?
AP: we discussed Bronsted acids and bases in terms of conjugate pairs and their relative strengths. We defined pH and
p(Anything) and applied the term in calculations. We also started to become Varsity Chem experts at estimating pH from a glance at the [H+] and noting the multiplier and the exponent.
Good times.
Next week, we have three days to finish the unit so I will be faster than an auctioneer at times. I will post our "organic" winter break assignment, which requires development of expertise in naming orgo compounds and recognizing organic reaction types, with a little metal ligand refresher thrown in for good measure. Not too bad, overall.
The last test, which I warned you about weeks ahead of time, was a disaster that should NOT ever be caused by true Honors students (especially those with such "excellent" averages in every other subject). The fact that all of you have A's in English yet almost all of you do NOT know the basic difference in meaning between the words "is" and "has" makes me very curious and suspicious. For example, the fact that almost all of you wrote the non sequitur "water IS a hydrogen-bonding attraction" speaks volumes about the lack of preparation and understanding of basic English. Remember, you can't drink an attraction but you can drink water.
I should not reward such obvious negligence on the part of most students but I will relent this one time because I cannot have you end the most important unit in chemistry without knowing this material. Should such a mass lack of preparation and flouting of basic test-taking practices ever happen again, I will not give anyone a second chance to improve his/her grade and you will just have to accept the consequences.
I will put up directions on how to correct this test and talk about this with you next week. You can improve your score by up to 15 points. As some have already done in the past, do NOT add insult to injury by handing in faulty corrections; how could anyone possibly hand in "corrections" that are rife with errors when you can just ASK ME to show you how to answer the questions?!! I'll tell you how: wanton ignorance, laziness, and negligence. You can't have those qualities and get an A in THIS CLASS.
Regents: we finished the three parts of the "magic triangle" that quickly gets us from grams to moles to molecules to moles to liters of gas at STP.
Study hard for Monday's first Math of Chem exam. The info that we covered in class:
1. Equation Balancing and the meaning of chemical equations (coefficients, etc.)
2. Types of Chemical Reactions
3. The Mole and Calculation of Molar Mass: Gram-Atomic Mass, Gram-Molecular Mass, and Gram-Formula Mass
4. Percent Composition of ANY compound or hydrate, given the formula.
5. Grams of a given element from a compound, given the percent composition or molecular formula
6. Empirical to Molecular Formula, given the empirical formula and the gram-molecular mass of the compound.
7. "Magic Triangle Conversions" of any type.
You will NOT be tested on some of the things from the notes, that is, what we did NOT cover in class:
a. determining an empirical formula from percent composition (we only did the reverse calculation)
b. using balanced chemical equations to determine moles of reactants and products that are actually consumed and formed- that will be on a subsequent test.
Monday is Day 1 so I will be in Room 229 at about 7:30 AM for any last minute questions.
ONLY TWO Regents students were at extra help on Friday; are you ready for the test on Monday?
AP: we discussed Bronsted acids and bases in terms of conjugate pairs and their relative strengths. We defined pH and
p(Anything) and applied the term in calculations. We also started to become Varsity Chem experts at estimating pH from a glance at the [H+] and noting the multiplier and the exponent.
Good times.
Next week, we have three days to finish the unit so I will be faster than an auctioneer at times. I will post our "organic" winter break assignment, which requires development of expertise in naming orgo compounds and recognizing organic reaction types, with a little metal ligand refresher thrown in for good measure. Not too bad, overall.
# posted by C @ 3:09 PM 
