ORGANIZATIONAL BLURB FOR CHEMISTRY 301X, FALL, 2006
A NOTE:
There is no cap on this course - it is open.
Teachers: Maitland Jones, Jr., Henry L. Gingrich, Jay Schneekloth, plus a group of undergraduate TAs, all alumni of this course.
Frick 229, 258-3909 (Jones), Frick 230, 258-3880 (Gingrich), Frick 54, 258-9049 (Schneekloth)
Office Hours: Announced each week in class, or by appointment
Before you read all the detail below, please read the following short description carefully. It contains some frank talk:
General Course Description for Chemistry 301X
This course will open in the traditional lecture style, but will rapidly change to small group problem-solving sessions. This course is not intended to transmit facts to you. Instead, we focus on learning how to "think in organic chemistry," and especially on becoming an effective problem solver. This course is intended as a lead-in to the second semester's problem-solving course, 302X, which will again be taught entirely in the no-lecture, small group problem-solving mode. If you take 301X, the presumption (but not requirement) is that you will go on to the problem-solving section of 302X.
The course will cover the traditional first-semester material, mostly structure, bonding, spectroscopy, and the fundamental building-block reactions of organic chemistry: substitution, addition, and elimination reactions. We will cover approximately 12 chapters in the book.
Freshmen with AP 5 have historically done substantially better than the average in 301X-302X, and such people are completely qualified for 301X.
HERE IS THE FRANK TALK:
This course demands a lot of you and us. Our aim is to teach the best course in organic chemistry anywhere. Although we may (or may not) fall short of this goal, it will not be for lack of effort on our part. In turn, we ask a lot of you. For this course to succeed, and for the people in it to do well, you must participate strongly in the problem-solving sessions. You cannot sit passively and absorb information. You must be willing to put your ideas out for discussion - and some of those ideas will inevitably be wrong. That's how real science gets done - necessarily imperfect ideas are discussed, argued over, and refined to a better approximation. After some years of experimenting in 301-302X, I am convinced that the small group technique works, that the problem-solving method is superior to an all-lecture course. But this course is not for everyone. For example:
You must keep up with the reading and you must go to class.
Before you sign up for this course, think carefully - are you willing to do these things? Be very tough-minded and realistic. Please do not take this course if you are not willing to commit to doing the reading and to coming to class. If you do not do these things, you will not do well, and you will hurt others. There is an alternative sequence, Chemistry 303-304.
1. DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE if you are not likely to keep up with the reading and come to class.
2. Note that this course meets Friday morning early. That Friday class is important, so....
2. DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE if you plan to party every Thursday night.
3. Please DO NOT TAKE THIS COURSE if you are intending to take only one semester of organic chemistry.
A more detailed description:
Format. In 301X we will start with traditional lectures, but these will rapidly fade away as the semester goes on. A detailed schedule will be posted on the web. The class will be divided into groups of four and these groups will work problems together. The idea is to get you ready for the second semester, which will be taught entirely in the "no-lecture" format. We will cruise around the room helping to keep you on track, responding to questions, and making suggestions for different approaches and/or extensions. In practice, this method works very well. But it absolutely requires that you keep up with the reading and that you come to class. The 301X experimental section leads naturally into 302X, although a switch to the regular, lecture-based course, Chemistry 304 may be possible. It is not - repeat: not - possible to switch from 303 to 302X because you will not be trained in the problem-solving method.
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. Both books are available from Micawber Bookstore on Nassau Street. A list of errors and typos will be posted on the course website.
The text and lectures/problem sessions are separate parts of the course. There will be material covered at length in the book that is mentioned only in passing in lecture and vice versa. We will give out general chapter and page listings on this website, 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. 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. Those who miss many problem-solving sessions will not - repeat, not - be allowed to take 302X.
Models. Darling models are available through the www: http://www.darlingmodels.com/ccp51/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi. 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, opportunities for extra hour-test points, as well as random exhortations and annoucements will be distributed on the Chemistry 301X page on the www. Check it often.
Laboratory. The lab is 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. We 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, especially as the semester proceeds and other claims on your time increase. One obvious solution is to do only some of the problems. That technique 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 - most 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. 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 (like MJ) 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. As Ted Williams once said, "If you don't think too good, don't think too much."
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. Experience teaching Chemistry 301/302, 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 to Jones, Gingrich or Schneekloth 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 Schneekloth 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: in the X-course, 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, which only means that there is 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, 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, in the fall semester about 65% of the people get A's and B's (so it's not that hard a course). This number is usually higher in the second semester.
What should you do if you feel that the course is not going well? GET HELP. See Moore, Jones, Gingrich, and/or your Director of Studies - QUICKLY. The course is highly cumulative and getting help early is essential in any bail-out procedure.
How to Get Help. The Resource Center is open many hours each week, and should be one of your main sources of help. Shop around, find a TA whose style matches yours, and who seems to be able to explain to you what is going on. Use that person to get your questions answered. If you find a particularly vexing question that you can't get answered to your satisfaction, by all means do not let the matter rest, but ask one of the undergraduate TAs, or one of us. Start with email. We read and answer email and, remarkably, email has proved to be a good way to deal with many questions. Many students have told us that having to work out a question in words only has led them to the answer. If email doesn't work, we'll get together to discuss the matter. But do NOT be reluctant to communicate with us by email.
Information:
Maitland Jones, Jr. email address: mjjr@princeton.edu
Henry L. Gingrich: email address: hankster@princeton.edu
Jay Schneekloth: email address: jschneek@Princeton.edu