Chemistry 103 Fundamentals of Chemistry I

Instructors: Lecture and Prelab: Prof. Jeff Byers, SC 525

Phone: x5207

Laboratory : Ms. Kathy Jewett SC 531 or SC 403

Office hours: Jeff Byers - officially scheduled, MWF 11-12

I'm almost always around M-F "normal working hours", feel free to drop in any time except before 10 am MWF - I need this time to wake up and think about my lecture! Also available by appointment, occasional evening hours around test time

Kathy Jewett (SC 531) Office hours: M,W,Th, F 8:30-10:00; M 1-4; T, 3-5

Chem 103 drop-in tutor Pam Keil, SC 519, 3-5 pm every Sunday

web site: http://cweb.middlebury.edu/f98/ch103a

Grading:

Mid-term exams: 15% each 30% total

Dates: Tues, 10/13 (SC117,127) at 7:00 pm

and Wed 11/11 (SC127, 123, 125) at 7:00 pm

Graded problems @1% each 10% total

quizzes @1% each 10% total

Laboratory 25% total

Final Exam 25% total

Date: Sat, 12/19 at 2:00 pm

Grading scale: 90-100% = A

80-89% = B

65-79% = C

50-64% = D

0-49% = F

plusses and minusses applied in the usual fashion.

Required Texts: "Chemistry, the Central Science" by Brown, Lemay, and Curtis, 7th edition

Laboratory: Chemistry 103 Laboratory Manual, available at bookstore

Available, Recommended: Study guide for course text, a spare copy will be kept on reserve in the science center library

"Rules of the Road"

Mid-term exams will be designed to take about 1-1/2 hour, but a slightly longer time limit will be enforced. Postponement of exams for individuals will usually be allowed for the following reasons; serious personal illness, death in the family, conflict with intercollegiate athletics, or direct time conflict with other academic requirements, such as exams, required movies and performances, etc. I will never grant postponements if you have other exams or papers due on the same day at a different time - so don't even ask! I am letting you know when exams are far enough in advance that it will be your responsibility to plan accordingly. However, if some other conflict not of the type listed above arises, I may be willing to let people take tests early. The final exam will be cumulative in nature, and designed to take 3 hours. Only a Dean's excuse will be acceptable for rescheduling.

There will be two types of problem sets. A large number of problems will be assigned from the text. I will not collect or grade these problems. The problems which are "assigned" for each unit from the text comprise a "minimum set" in which I've gone through and culled out those which I think are either overly repetetive or dumb. A copy of the answer guide to the text are on reserve in the Science Center Library - Use it conservatively. If you're having a hard time, I recommend that you do more problems than assigned. On each exam, 10% will be taken directly from previously assigned problems.

During every Wednesday class, I will assign a problem, or small set of problems. These will be due in class the following Wednesday. These will be graded, and will be designed to be particularly diagnostic for you to use in self assessment. PROBLEM SETS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AFTER THE END OF CLASS ON WEDNESDAY WITHOUT ONE OF THE EXCUSES OUTLINED ABOVE. Please note that if you miss class due to illness, you are still required to hand in the problem set, but it will be accepted late (within reason) for full credit. It is your responsibility to let me know if this is the case.

Brief quizzes, usually involving multiple choice or short answer questions will be given at the end of every Friday lecture. These quizzes serve several purposes: They will give you regular feedback on your progress, and force you to keep up with the material on a regular basis, thus facilitating your studying for the longer, more important exams. Finally, while I am not a big fan of multiple choice tests, for most of the people in the class, the only way your knowledge of chemistry will ever be assessed is through standardized tests such as MCAT's and GRE's. Thus, this will provide at least a little idea of what these tests are like. In fact, many of the questions I use come directly from standardized exams. QUIZZES CANNOT BE MADE UP DUE TO ABSENCE. IF YOU MISS CLASS FOR SOME REASON OTHER THAN THOSE OUTLINED ABOVE, YOU WILL RECEIVE A ZERO FOR THE MISSED QUIZ. If you miss a friday class due to illness it is your responsibility to let me know so that a zero does not get averaged into your grade.

Class participation will not be factored into your grade. From time to time, I am sure the temptation to miss class will exist. Part of the reason why I have regularly scheduled brief assignments due in class is to help you to resist the temptation! In my experience, those students who miss class regularly are almost inevitably those who do poorly on examinations. If you do your best to get yourself here, I'll do my best to make you glad you did. I would rather have you come to class late (sneaking in the back of the room) than not at all. For those of you who share my favorite chemical dependency, there is good strong coffee up in the 5th floor lounge at the bargain price of 10 cents a cup. Note, however, that I make important announcements at 10:10 sharp, and class lecture starts immediately thereafter - thus "stragglers" may miss important information. While showing up for class late is better than not showing up at all, stragglers tend to be disruptive. Show your fellow students proper respect and be here on time! Please set your watch (and alarm clock) to the clock on the classroom wall in SC 117.

While I encourage you to work together on problem sets, graded or otherwise, the work which you hand in must be your own. Collaborative work on take-home assignments is acceptable, but copying someone else's results will be considered an honor code violation. Obviously, all examinations will be taken independently, and honor code violations (which are surprisingly easy to pick out when grading exams) will be dealt with severely.

HINT FOR A GOOD GRADE: Getting an A or high B in lab and on the problem sets is very straightforward. Many students will thus get an excellent grade in this large chunk of the course, making up for difficulties which are more commonly encountered on the exams.

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