STUDYING ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
Here are some things to think about in
relation to the Organic
Chemistry courses but they apply to other courses too.
One of the biggest issues facing a modern student is how to
successfully make the transition from a High School mode to a
University mode.
What are the differences ? Here is the most important one....
YOU, THE STUDENT are in control of your learning at University.
It is up to you to be motivated and learn the most from your lectures
etc. Your Instructors are guides and mentors, they will help the
process, but they will not do it all for you nor will they chase you
down if you get behind or don't do well.
Some of the transition starts in first year, but the second year is
often where the major differences appear. Courses expect an average
student to work on the course for 10 hrs per week (every week).
We expect you to already have solid grip of the materials from the
prerequisites. (If you don't it's your responsibility to do what it
takes to make it so). We will also expect to do some of the work
on your own, outside of classes and there maybe topics that are in the
text that you need to work on that will not be covered in lectures.
Some material is only covered in the laboratory or only via CAL
tutorials.
We are interested
primarily in the APPLICATION of knowledge not just memorisation.
The "HOW ?" and "WHY ?" are important.
Here are the key tips :
- Treat
the course as a whole : lectures, laboratory and tutorials are all part
of the whole, not separate. They connect and interrelate: look for those connections.
- Read the appropriate text book
materials prior to class : a general week to week reading guide is
posted on the WEEKLY
BULLETIN.
- Take
notes in lecture (a ring binder / loose pages is better /more
flexible for this than a fixed notebook).
- Review
your lecture notes as soon as possible after class (most effective
in the first 24 hours).
- Supplement / complete your lecture
notes as needed from the text or other resources.
- These
notes should be your PRIMARY study tool for examinations,
- Study with pencil and paper.... you will need them the work things out as you go.
- Work
problems especially those posed in lecture.
- Work problems from the text book and
other resources.
- Get and use a model kit to help you visualise some of the key concepts.
One of the best ways to study for courses of
this nature is to work through questions from both the text book and
old examinations. This enables you to see the style of questions you
can expect
to see in your examinations, thus reducing the element of surprise. It
also allows you to establish what you know well before you write an
exam.
This should enable you to perform better.
A key fact often overlooked by students
when they say "the questions
in the exam are nothing like those in the book" is based on the
fact
that when they look at the ones in the book, they know which chapter
the
question relates to and probably have just spent some time looking at
the
material covered by the questions. This means that the most important
step
of recognising what the question is about is already done. In an exam
this
"flag" is gone, and you have to make that first step for yourself. If
you
cannot do that, the questions start to seem impossible.
The following resources will help in this
mission (should you choose to accept it)
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