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I'm pretty sure I've mentioned the following in class, on my<br>
webpage or previous e-mails. However, I've still received<br>
a couple of questions about whether there will be "problem<br>
sets" in 1250 or online homework exercises. I do not use<br>
(assign problems from) Mastering Chemistry, Aleks, Sapling,<br>
etc. or collect problems for a grade or extra credit. I know<br>
some instructors do. My belief is, if you do ALL the assigned<br>
homework problems (and then a few extra) AND understand<br>
what you are doing AND understand the concepts in the book<br>
AND do things the proper way (read the "How to Study" link)<br>
AND seek help when you need it, you should be fine. The<br>
problem is most people do NOT do the proper things. I will<br>
treat you as adults and it's up to you to be responsible enough<br>
to do homework and come for help. I will provide as much<br>
help as possible but ultimately it comes down to you being<br>
responsible enough to do the proper things.<br>
<br>
You can find the "assigned" homework on the class web page,<br>
<small> </small>
<h3><small><a
href="http://chemistry.osu.edu/%7Erzellmer/chem1250/chem1250.htm"><u><b>Chemistry
1250 - Sp18<br>
</b></u></a></small></h3>
<small> </small> Once there you will see links for "Homework".
Click on the<br>
appropriate link for the edition of the textbook you're using.<br>
What you will find are the end-of-chapter problems you should<br>
do.<br>
<br>
Just looking at the solutions (mine or the publishers) is NOT the <br>
same as YOU doing the homework problems. YOU must be<br>
able to do them on your own in a reasonable amount of time.<br>
Chem 1250 involves lots of concepts and equations. You need<br>
to understand these concepts and truly understand the equations<br>
(when and how to use them, what the eqns tell you about the<br>
relationships between the variables in the eqns, etc.). If you<br>
attempt the homework problems I've assigned but can't do them<br>
on your own or don't understand the concepts and eqns. you<br>
should seek help from me and/or the TAs and then work some<br>
more problems. If you don't do this you won't do well in the class.
<br>
<br>
You MUST keep up with what we are doing in class. If you are<br>
behind, even by one lecture's worth of material, you will find it<br>
will be difficult to catch up and understand things. This is not a<br>
course you can put off for another day. You will need to spend<br>
2.5-3 hours EVERY DAY in order to do well. You should be<br>
spending about 18 hours per week (sometimes less, sometimes<br>
more) on the lecture material (and 3-4 on lab to prepare for one<br>
lab and write the report). Students often tell me (after failing
the<br>
first midterm) they spend a lot of time every week studying.<br>
When I ask for specifics I'm often told "a lot" is 6 or fewer hours
<br>
a week. That won't work. Always skim 4-6 sections ahead in<br>
the book before class so that lecture will make a little more sense.<br>
You should then finish the sections in the textbook and associated<br>
homework for sections covered in one lecture before the next. I<br>
generally follow the order of the sections in the book. This way
you<br>
are keeping up and the next lecture will make more sense. You<br>
should only have Thursday/Friday lecture material for the weekend.<br>
You should be done with ALL the assigned sections and homework<br>
for the week by Saturday or Sunday, except for the Integrative
Exercises.<br>
These often require knowledge from multiple sections or
chapters(wait<br>
and do these after finishing the chapter). Read about how to study
for<br>
this class at the following link,<br>
<br>
<a
href="http://chemistry.osu.edu/%7Erzellmer/studying/studying_1250.txt"><b>Studying
Methods - 1250</b></a><br>
<br>
As stated in a previous e-mail, to help yourself keep up, learn the<br>
material and remember it you need to do things more than once.<br>
Each week pretend you have a quiz covering the material from the<br>
previous work. Pick a day for the pretend quiz. If you had a quiz<br>
each week you would review the material the quiz would cover and<br>
do some more EOC homework problems the day before. In this<br>
case you can do it the day before your pretend quiz or the day
you've<br>
chosen for your pretend quiz.<br>
<br>
This class is quite a bit tougher than most, mainly because we move<br>
very quickly. Most of you have probably seen most of the material<br>
in chapters 1-10 in high school, but not all and not at the same<br>
level we will be covering it. Most of you will not have not seen
most<br>
of this material beyond chapter 10, and if you have, probably not at
the<br>
level of understanding we expect. We cover a lot of conceptual
things<br>
and that is often something most students do not see in high school
or<br>
in other classes. <br>
<br>
You will be busy with this course. It takes a lot of hard work<br>
and effort. It will be mostly up to you how much you learn. <br>
Probably 90% of what you learn will be on your own with about<br>
10% coming from me, both in class and by you asking me<br>
questions. I'm always very willing to help and will help as much<br>
as I can. You can always come by my office or e-mail me questions. <br>
You will likely get a lot of e-mails from me throughout the
semester.<br>
When someone asks me a good question I usually send my answer<br>
to the whole class (usually when there's one person with a question<br>
there's probably several more with the same question). I will also<br>
send answers to questions I've received in previous years. As a<br>
matter of fact, the answers to some of those can be found at the<br>
"Helpful Tidbits" link on the 1250 class web page (not Carmen).<br>
Check this page and my other links for answers to your questions<br>
before e-mailing me. However, if you still don't understand
something<br>
do not be afraid to seek me out in my office or send an e-mail.<br>
<br>
Dr. Zellmer
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