Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Attachments:5 Added by Michael Evans, last edited by Michael Evans on Apr 06, 2012 (view change)
General advice:
1. Enter the exam room with a strategy. For example, it's more important to answer all the questions correctly than it is to get them correct on the first try so take some risks. Don't be discouraged by incorrect responses (there are a lot of residual points on this test). 2. Bring some swagger with you. Stay cool. You've prepared; you're ready to think; you'll prevail. 3. Put on your favorite tunes and get in the zone (you're allowed to wear earbuds during the exam but respect your neighbor and keep the volume low). 4. Practice the mock exams under mock conditions. Set the timer and take them in a place that is free of distractions. 5. Be skilled with ACE. Practice using the ACE shortcut keys. Watch the other ACE instructional videos and do the tutorials if the ACE graphical user interface is not "second nature" to you. Know how to copy and paste structures efficiently in ACE. 6. Be able to draw curved arrows in ACE for reaction mechanisms. Always pay attention to the atoms that will be connected as indicated by the blue dashed lines and parentheses. Note: For enlarged working space, open a "B-A" Sketcher Window (View -> Sketcher Window). 7. Be able to communicate stereochemistry to ACE (i.e., R/S configurations of sp3 centers AND E/Z configurations of double bonds). Tip: always turn on R/S labels and E/Z labels before you submit an answer, just to be sure that ACE is correctly interpreting your stereochemistry. 8. Knowing the nodal patterns for linear n-atom pi-systems (e.g., n=2 through n=6) will help you solve problems faster; draw them out ahead of time and understand them. 9. Be skilled using SHMO. Given a complex molecule, know how to add only the relevant atoms into a SHMO calculation. Do the Aromaticity & Cyclical Pi MOs POTDs. 10. You must know how to interpret MOs (e.g., from WebMO). If a problem requires a WebMO calculation the results will be provided for you (in other words, no problem on the exam will require you to do a WebMO calculation, but you are allowed to use WebMO if it will help you solve a problem). 11. Review the elementary steps as summarized in Frontier Molecular Orbital Theory notes and the CHEM 232 Webcasts; specifically, pt (15.2), DN, AN, SN2 (18.2), DE, Ebeta (19.2), E2 (19.3), 1,2R (21.2), AE (24.1), AdN (28.1), Ebeta (29.2). Be able to use elementary steps to help you work through problems. 12. Make sure you don't spend too much time on any one question. Make a plan as to how you'll navigate through the exam, and what you'll do when you hit a wall. For example: I'll spend no more than 6 min. on any one problem. Once I've attempted a problem so many times that it's reached its residual value, it's time to move on. I'll return to this problem only after the other problems are finished. If I get stuck I will look ahead because it may be helpful to work some problems backwards.