HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY NAVIGATE THROUGH GENERAL CHEMISTRY BY DONALD W. GOEBEL JR.

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY GEORGIA SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY

I. Make Sure You Meet All Course Prerequisites! For an introductory chemistry course, you need a good, solid, high school level of math proficiency. In particular, you should already know how to work fractions, negative numbers, exponents, logarithms and how to manipulate and solve algebraic equations.

II. Have a Good Attitude! Recognize from the start that chemistry is a subject that requires a lot of time and work. Be committed to investing the time and effort that the course demands. You must be an active, aggressive student to do well in chemistry. You cannot afford to be passive in this course. Believe in yourself and your capabilities. Even though chemistry is difficult for many people, you can understand it if you work at it. Decide that you find something to enjoy about chemistry. It is easy to say that you hate chemistry, but if you make this choice, you will find it harder to study and attend class. Who wants to spend time with something you hate? There is something fun and interesting in every subject if you allow yourself to see it. Treat chemistry problems as a challenge or game; solve them as if they were a crossword puzzle or some other activity you enjoy. Regard chemistry lab as an opportunity rather than a chore. Lab is your chance to have hands on experience with chemicals and equipment.

In lab, you can see the stuff you heard about in class happening before your eyes. Because a chemistry lab is expensive to operate and maintain, these labs may be a once in a lifetime opportunity for you to experience these things. Remember that learning chemistry is your own responsibility. The professor will help you out as much as possible, but the professor cannot learn it for you. Its just like eating food. Someone can show you how to eat using a knife, spoon and fork, but you still have to eat for yourself.

III. Come to Class! Arrive on time and do not leave early. Do not miss class if you can possibly avoid it. Sit as close to the front of the classroom as you can. Old high school habits may dictate that you sit in the back of the room so that the teacher wont catch you fooling around. But this is college and you wont be fooling around. If you sit up front, you will see better, hear better and generally be more alert. Ask questions if you do not understand what the professor just said or if the professor is going too fast. Your classmates will not think you are stupid; they will be glad if you asked because many of them didnt understand it either. Many professors will stop and ask if anyone has any questions. When a professor does this, it is a clue that the professor thinks that the material just covered was difficult. The professor is expecting students to have trouble with it. This is an invitation from the professor to the students to go over the material again or in a different way. If the professor gets no feedback at this point, he or she will proceed to the next topic whether you are ready or not. So if you do not understand, say so! Take notes, lots of notes. Come to class prepared. Always bring your textbook, your periodic table, your calculator and anytime else the course requires. Always remember the following: THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR DAILY PREPARATION!

IV. Work the Problems!

Paying attention in class is important, reading the textbook is important, but nothing is as important as working the problems. Work as many problems as you can. Practice, practice, practice! THE NUMBER ONE REASON WHY STUDENTS FAIL CHEMISTRY IS THAT THEY DO NOT WORK ENOUGH PROBLEMS! When the professor is working problems on the board, you may be tempted to think, Oh, thats easy. I understand that. I do not need to do those problems. Do not be fooled! Watching the professor, a tutor or a friend work working out a problem is not the same as doing it yourself. Simply watching someone else play the piano or use a computer or play golf would not enable you to play a piano, navigate the internet or play golf. You have to practice it yourself. Chemistry requires a lot of practice. YOU HAVE TO DO IT YOURSELF! Your textbook, study guide and solution manual will show you how to work problems step by step. If you can read through the steps and understand them, that is a good start. However, it is not a substitute for doing the problems yourself. After you have read the book and the examples on how to work a kind of problem, try one yourself without looking at the book or solution manual. After finishing the problem, check your answer without peeking at the answer for the next problem. Never look up the answer to a problem before you finish working the problem. Make sure you understand what you did wrong with the first problem (if anything) before you start the next one of that type. Be very careful not to lean too heavily on the solution manual. Make sure before you are done that you can do a particular type of problem from beginning to end without using the solution manual. As you work the problems, have a clear idea of what you are doing and the goals of the problem. List what you are given to start with. Clearly show each step of your calculations or thought processes. Label units. Then, when you study your work later, you will have no trouble figuring out how or why you did what you did. If you need to show your work to someone else, such as your professor or tutor for help, that person will be able to understand exactly what you did.

After you have figured out how to work a kind of problem, explain it to someone else. If you can explain it to someone else so that they understand it, you can feel confident that you really do understand it. If you have trouble finding time to work problems, set up a schedule for yourself. You should set aside at least one hour everyday to work on chemistry. Write your study time into your weekly schedule as if it were another course. THE NUMBER ONE REASON WHY STUDENTS FAIL CHEMISTRY IS THAT THEY DO NOT WORK ENOUGH PROBLEMS!

V. Make the Most of your Laboratory Experience

The purpose of laboratory is to give you hands on practical experience with the concepts that you are learning in lecture. Make the most of the labs. Think about what you are doing. Think about what is happening. It is very easy to think of a lab manual as a cookbook and many of them are written that way. Always think about the meaning of the phenomena you are creating and observing which can be a color change, a change in temperature, etc. Always read the lab ahead of time. Read the theory and procedures carefully and completely. Anticipate what is going to happen as you carry out the procedure. Then, when you actually do it, see if your predictions were correct. Most instructors will require you to answer and hand in the questions at the end of the lab. Resist the temptation to copy answers from someone else as this is an example of plagiarizing and thus cheating. The questions are designed to help you understand the lab. They generally try to guide you into making connections between what you saw and did and the theory behind the lab. If you do not understand the labs, you will not get much out of them. If you do understand them, they should help you with the rest of the course.

VI. GET HELP!

Sometimes you will just get stuck and need help. Sources of help include: the professor, a tutor, lab teaching assistants, classmates, books in the library and study aids on the internet. Your professor has office hours which are specifically for students. Do not be afraid to come see your professor if you are having trouble. When you come for help, have a specific problem or list of problems. A professor cannot help you much if you come in with something like I just dont understand this course or this chapter. The professor will be able to do much more for you if you say, I tried to work problem 3.2 and I keep getting an answer of 4.6 but the solution manual says that its 192. Where am I going wrong? Or the book says I have to take the square root of this but I dont understand why. Be as specific as you can! After the professor explains, ask if you can do another problem right there on the spot while the professor watches. As you do it, explain out loud what you are doing and why so that the professor can either confirm your reasoning or correct you as you go along. Do not be embarrassed about asking for help. Everyone needs help sometimes. Many people need a lot of help. Its smarter to get help when you need it than to try to do without it. Your professor would rather help you than flunk you. Professors have a lot of respect for students who care enough about the course to get help when they need it. Get help as soon as you start having trouble with the material. If you wait until the last week of class and then go to the professors office and say I think Im flunking your course. What should I do?, its too late.

VII. Study Effectively For Tests!

The best way to study for tests and quizzes is to work all the problems as described above and ask for help when needed. Spread your study time out; do some every day. Do not expect to learn it all the night before the exam.

Anticipate what will be on the exam. Notice what the professor spends time on in class. If the professor assigns specific problems, make sure you know how to work every one of them and then some. If you miss a homework or quiz problem, make sure you know what you did wrong so that so that you will do it right the next time. Some professors give out study guides. If it says that you need to know a specific concept, make sure you know it. Sometimes a professor will even say This problem will be on the exam. If a professor says this, believe it! Know how to work that problem and that type of problem. Many professors will come right out and tell you almost exactly what will be on the exam except for specific numbers or examples. Pay attention! Know the vocabulary of chemistry. In many ways, learning chemistry is like learning another language. Make sure you are familiar with terms like electronegative, polyprotic acid, etc. that you do not have to spend time worrying about them during the test. If necessary, when learning nomenclature, make flash cards of vocabulary words. Get into or start a study group with some of your classmates. It is helpful to be able to talk and argue about the material with other people. Make sure that you take an active role in these discussions. Too often does a student passively study by simply watching their friends work problems. You will do much better if you are the one explaining the material to them! On the night before the exam, go to bed at a reasonable hour and get a good night sleep. Do not stay up all night studying or your brain will be mush the next day. Eat a good breakfast before the exam and go easy on the caffeine. Make sure you bring everything you are allowed to use to the exam. You will always need a calculator and most professors will allow you to use a pencil so make sure you have a good eraser. When you get the exam back, make sure you understand what you did wrong. You will need to know how to do it right the next time. Because chemistry builds from a base of knowledge, everything you learn from the beginning will be needed later for something more complicated. If you miss a concept on the first test, you will need to learn it for some other part of the course.

If you start out well at the beginning of the semester, keep it up. Do not try to coast through on one good grade. One A or B will not counterbalance a string of Fs. The professor cannot grade you on what you are capable of doing, only on what you actually did.

VIII. Summary In conclusion, do not fall into these common traps:

Thinking that you do not need the prerequisites Skipping class and getting the notes from friends Showing up for class only on quiz and exam days Copying someone elses work Thinking that you can understand the material without working lots of problems Putting off studying until the night before the exam Disappearing from class after getting one good grade Expecting to be able to catch up after missing much of the semester Expecting to be allowed to do extra credit project to salvage a failing grade at the end of the semester Expecting the professor not to count all exams, quizzes, homework or labs you missed Expecting to pass even if you have failing grades

Also Remember The Following:

Learning is hard work which demands personal sacrifice and discipline. There is no substitute for daily preparation. A student must learn to study and work on academic matters independently. Education helps a student develop a sense of personal control over their life and environment to cope with the changes in the world around them. Education is a lifelong process that does not end with formal training!!!

An education isnt how much you have committed to memory, or even how much you know. Its being able to differentiate between what you know and what you dont. Its knowing where to go to find out what you need to know, and its knowing how to use the information once you get it. William Feather