ORGANIZATIONAL BLURB FOR CHEMISTRY 302X, SPRING, 2006

Teachers: Maitland Jones, Jr., Erik Sorensen, Henry L. Gingrich,

Frick 229, 258-3909,

Frick 67, 258-8135,

Frick 225, 258-3880

Office Hours: Announced each week in class, or by appointment

email: mjjr@princeton.edu, ejs@princeton.edu, hankster@princeton.edu

Format. The course is essentially all small group problem solving.There will be lectures after exams.

Text. The texts will be "Organic Chemistry, Third Edition" Maitland Jones, Jr., W. W. Norton, and the Study Guide, also published by Norton, by Jones and Henry L. Gingrich. The Study Guide has elaborate answers to all the unanswered problems in the text, and is very highly recommended. A list of errors and typos in the Third Edition is posted.

The text and problem sessions are separate parts of the course. We will give out general chapter and page listings, but these are meant to be neither inclusive nor exclusive. You are expected to learn to forage widely in your readings, using the index as well as looking up material in other texts. For example, Marc Loudon's fine Text, "Organic Chemistry," Fourth Ed., Oxford, is on reserve in the Chemistry Department Library, and can be profitably consulted for another view on things.

Attendance at the problem sessions is essentially mandatory. We won't officially penalize you for missing one (or two), but missing several will be extremely counterproductive.

for example, take a look at these data from 301X, 2001:

Grade(Average absences/18 Group Sessions)

A (0.9)

B (0.9)

C (2.4)

D/F (5.8)

You will miss out on a most effective way of learning, and will not do as well on the hour exams as you would otherwise. Moreover, you will also let down your group mates.

Models. Darling models are good and cheap. Other kinds of models work fine, too. We chose Darling because better ones are much much more expensive.

www: Problems sets, reading assignments, exam answers, assorted handouts, as well as random exhortations and annoucements will be distributed on the Chemistry 302X page on the www.

Laboratory. The lab remains under the total control of Dr. Henry L. Gingrich. All questions, demands, threats, etc. concerning the lab must be directed to him. The laboratory will be graded, and the grade will count 20% of your final grade in the course. It is possible to fail the lab, and such a failure will strongly affect your ability to pass the course.

Problem Sets: Each week we will suggest problems from the text. Unfortunately, we do not have the manpower to grade these so they will not be required. However, you will find that these problem sets are vital-repeat vital-in preparing for the exams. You are urged in the strongest terms to work on these problem sets each week. Moreover, you cheat yourself if you work them with the answer in hand. In the old days, we withheld the answers for a week. Now, with the Study Guide available, Iwe cannot do that. Nonetheless, we can promise you that the effectiveness of working the problems drops precipitously if you do not work them without the answers. Do not let the problem sets go until just before the exams. You are not likely to be able to cram successfully for the exams in this course. A good grade will result from steady work throughout the semester and not, usually, from sporadic effort, no matter how intense. We know everyone tells you that, but in this course it's true.

Over the years the most common plea on course evaluations has been for more practice problems. Now the book will provide such problems. Do not be daunted by the length (or difficulty) of problems in the problems sets and/or the book. There will probably be too many problems for you to do, and one obvious solution is to do only some of the problems. That seems easy, but many people are intimidated by this simple idea and just abandon the problem set or the end-of-chapter problems until panic time. There's nothing wrong with doing every other problem! The problems are meant to be opportunities, not demands. The best way to use the problems is to work in your class group, with each member of the group having the task of doing one or two problems and then explaining the solution to the rest. If you adopt this method you will find that the "explaining" part is an extraordinarily effective way to learn.

The problem sets, especially the later ones, do not contain many drill exercises. Such exercises are common in the book, however. It is very important that you be in control of the basic parts of the course before you attempt the "think" questions on the problem sets or in the end-of-chapter problems. The questions on the problem sets are often challenging (and closely approximate the hour test questions - many are taken from old exams), and not meant to be attempted with no background.

Exams and Grades: There will be three hour examinations and a final. The schedule is posted. On the hour examinations you will be given two and a half hours in which to do the work. Why such a long time? We promise that it is not to allow us to write long exams. Rather, different people work at very different speeds, and in the real world there is almost never a premium on working quickly. Problems in organic chemistry tend to respond to contemplation, not blitzthought. We hope this system will allow those who work slowly to relax during exams. There is no reason to take the whole time! Leave when you are done, and resist the temptation to over-analyze. Thinking "simple" is usually the right thing to do. Exams will be scheduled at night, and the dates are announced in the schedule. Your grade will be figured in one of two ways: The lowest of the three hour exams will be dropped and the average of the two remaining hour exams and the final counted equally. For those, if any, who do well on the hour exams but poorly on the final, we will count the complete hour exam average 65% and the final 35%. You get the higher score. Our experience teaching Chemistry 303/304 and related courses elsewhere has taught us two things (at least): first, it doesn't often make much difference which of the two grading options is used, and second, it is imperative that you study for and take all three hour exams. Even if you do well on the first two, resist the temptation to ignore the third because this lack of attention will catch up with you on the final. The laboratory and any other grades will be factored in after we have determined the higher of the two grading options.

Regrades. Every so often we make a mistake in grading. Usually it is a misaddition or some other technical error. But sometimes we make a mistake in interpretation, or don't think hard enough about an unconventional answer. We are most anxious to fix such mistakes, and the following procedure has evolved for doing so. All "regrades" must be submitted either to Jones, Gingrich, or Sorensen along with the special "Regrade Request Form", which is available on the www page for this course. You certainly may talk things over with your TA, or the person who graded the question. Indeed, you are encouraged to do so. But only Jones, Gingrich, or Sorensen can change a grade. All requests must be accompanied by a note explaining exactly what is to be regraded and why. Please do not write this note on the Regrade Request Form. The note can be very short - "points added incorrectly" - or longer if there is a complicated issue to be explained. When you hand in an exam for a regrade you are handing in the whole exam. If we see "extra points" they may well come off your score. Please be sensible: do not send in a regrade request before the answers are distributed, and please do not seek 1 or 2 point changes, unless the error is technical. This is well within the "noise level" on any exam requiring thought.

The Psychopathology of Organic Chemistry. At almost every school the course in organic chemistry has the reputation of being very hard and often, overly competitive. Moreover, it is widely held that success in "Orgo" is essential to gaining entrance to the Medical School Of Your Choice. We can do nothing about the last notion as it is utterly external to our efforts here. Although the course is hard, we have tried our best to reduce unproductive competition. The lab has been redesigned so as to resemble a "cook book" as little as possible, and your grade in the lab is quite likely to help you. Most important: you are not in competition with your neighbor. What he or she gets on an exam has NO bearing on what you get. There is NO curve, and no preset number of A's, B's, etc. There can be a year in which everyone gets an A. Nothing would give us more pleasure than to give out all A's.

READ ME VERY CAREFULLY!!

What does it mean that there is no curve in this course? It means simply that we have no pre-set number of A's, B's, and C's. YOUR GRADE DOES NOT DEPEND ON HOW YOUR NEIGHBOR DOES. Historically about 65% of the people get A's and B's (so it's not that hard a course).

What should you do if you feel that the course is not going well? GET HELP. See Jones or Friedman and/or your Director of Studies - QUICKLY. The course is highly cumulative and getting help early is essential in any bail-out procedure.

the management