Chemistry 104A

Spring 2014

Course Policy
Instructor: Office: Email: Phone: Dr. John Overcash 207 Chemistry Annex overcas1@illinios.edu (217) 300-6083 3-4pm 10-11am 3-4pm 10-11am

Office hours: Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

Or by appointment I have an open door policy. If my door is open, you should feel free to drop in. Email policy: The best way to contact me is by email. With so many students in my classes emailing me, proper email etiquette is essential. The email should be sent from your Illinois email address, and should contain your full name, netid, course number, and section. I will not respond to emails that do not meet these requirements. Course Information: Lecture: MWF 2-2:50pm in 100 Noyes Laboratory Discussions: Various times and locations (please check your course schedule) Most students are required to take Chem 105 (General Chemistry 2 Lab) concurrently with Chem 104. This is a one-hour lab course that provides active demonstrations of principles covered in lectures and introduces experimental (hands-on) skills. Course Website: chem.illinois.edu; select Course Web Sites (on the left menu); click the link for Chemistry 104A. Links to the online homework (Lon-Capa) and the gradebook are found on the course website. Required Materials: Chemistry, 9th ed. By Zumdahl & Zumdahl (ISBN: 9781133611097) Organic Chemistry: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Edition, Hart, Hadad, Craine, and Hart (ISBN: 9781305033535) Calculator with log function (this includes most graphing calculators). Smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc. are not allowed as calculators for exams. You are strongly encouraged to become comfortable with an allowed calculator in class and on homework before the first hour exam. Suggested Materials: i-Clicker. Either the original or the iClicker 2 will work. Only multiple choice questions will be asked during lecture. 1 of 4

Chemistry 104A Grading: Grading in the class will break down as follows: Online Homework (Lon-Capa) Online Quizzes Hour Exams (150 pts each) Final Exam Total 100 150 450 300 1000

Spring 2014

Online Homework: The online homework is accessible through the course website, and uses the Lon-Capa system commonly used in the chemistry department here and elsewhere. You have 99 tries for every problem. You are encouraged to work together to solve the homework, but remember, you will be taking the quizzes and exams by yourself, and you need to be able to solve these problems by yourself without your classmates assistance. The Lon-Capa system will keep a running total of all points earned during the semester. At the end of the semester, the points earned will be scaled to 100 points. If you do all assigned problems correctly by the deadline then you will earn a 100 (a perfect score) for your online homework grade. If you do 90% of the assigned homework problems correctly then you will earn a 90 for your homework grade, etc. Please note that the online homework sets are not inclusive of all the types of problems expected for you to master. This is why worksheets and suggested problems from the text and are also given. Online quizzes: Throughout the semester there will be seven online quizzes. You will have 30 minutes to complete each quiz. The quizzes will open on Lon-Capa on Friday at 5pm and will remain open until the following Sunday at midnight. If you begin the quiz after 11:30pm on Sunday, you will not receive all 30 min to take the quiz. Each quiz will be worth 25 points. Your lowest score will be dropped. Each quiz will contain 2-5 questions. You will have two tries only to answer the questions before they will be marked wrong. These quizzes are open note/open book so expect them to be challenging. Hour Exams: There are three Hour Exams which will take place from 7-8:15pm on February 20, March 20, and April 24. If you have an excused absence (e.g., a deans or medical excuse), you will need to take the conflict exam, given at 5:30pm on the same days. There will be no make-up exam. If you miss the exam and the conflict due to an excused absence, your other hour exam scores will be prorated. If you do not have a valid excuse and miss the exam, you will receive 0 points for the exam. Typical averages on exams range from 60% to 70% (my goal is to have an average ~66%). A grade above the average will be considered an A or B, whereas a grade below the average will be considered a C or D.

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Chemistry 104A

Spring 2014

Final Exam: The Final Exam will take place on May 9 from 1:30-4:30pm. Procedures and acceptable excuses are given in the Student Code, Section 3-201. The Final Exam will be worth 300 points. There will be NO extra credit in this course. If you are struggling in the class, please come talk to me. The earlier you talk to me or your TA, the fewer points youll lose out on in the semester. At the end of the semester, grades will be assigned based on the class distribution with 15% of the class receiving As, 35% Bs, 35% Cs, and 15% Ds with a few Fs. Midterm grades will be given after each hour exam to keep you informed of where you stand in the class. Please see me as early as possible if you are at all concerned about your grade so that we have as much time as possible to improve your grade. While the class is graded based on a distribution, if you receive 90% of your points you will be guaranteed an A (80% for a B, etc.) as this is a common grading practice.

Worksheets Worksheets will be available every week on the material that we will cover that week. The questions asked will range from basic questions to exam type (challenge) questions which require not only chemistry knowledge, but also problem solving skills. They will be available on Lon-Capa.

Discussion Section Discussion sections will meet once a week on Mondays, Tuesday, or Thursdays (see your course schedule for times and locations). This is a time for you to meet with your TA and review material that weve gone over previously in lecture. If you have questions on homework, the worksheets, the quizzes, or the exams, this is a great time to ask those questions.

Friday Reviews Many of the Fridays during the semester will be review only (see the syllabus). No new material will be introduced. Instead, the focus will be on problem solving and challenging clicker questions. This will also be a time to clarify concepts learned during the week. You can think of these reviews as large discussion sections.

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Chemistry 104A Academic Dishonesty (Cheating, etc.)

Spring 2014

Cheating will not be tolerated in this course, and the proper university procedures will be carried out if there is suspicion of cheating. The following excerpts are taken from the universitys Student Code, Part 4: Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. Expectations of Students. It is the responsibility of each student to refrain from infractions of academic integrity, from conduct that may lead to suspicion of such infractions, and from conduct that aids others in such infractions. Cheating. No student shall use or attempt to use in any academic exercise materials, information, study aids, or electronic data that the student knows or should know is unauthorized. During any examination, students should assume that external assistance (e.g., books, notes, calculators, and communications with others) is prohibited unless specifically authorized by the Instructor. A violation of this section includes but is not limited to: (1) Allowing others to conduct research or prepare any work for a student without prior authorization from the Instructor, including using the services of commercial term paper companies. (2) Submitting substantial portions of the same academic work for credit more than once or by more than one student without authorization from the Instructors to whom the work is being submitted. (3) Working with another person without authorization to satisfy an individual assignment. Facilitating Infractions of Academic Integrity. No student shall help or attempt to help another to commit an infraction of academic integrity, where one knows or should know that through ones acts or omissions such an infraction may be facilitated. A violation of this section includes but is not limited to: (1) Allowing another to copy from ones work. (2) Taking an exam by proxy for someone else. This is an infraction of academic integrity on the part of both the student enrolled in the course and the proxy or substitute. (3) Removing an examination or quiz from a classroom, faculty office, or other facility without authorization.

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