Textbook problem sets, Mastering, etc.

[Zellmer, Robert]

I've received a couple of questions about homework, both the
MasteringChemistry on-line homework and the textbook "assignments".
I think all of you have been able to get into MC by now, although it
appears some of you haven't done any MC or very little.  If you haven't
been able to get in, please look at the links on the class Carmen
homepage.  You'll find instructions there for getting help.

Much of what is below has already been enumerated in class, my web
page or more than one e-mail.  I'm just making sure everyone has it
straight.

As I've mentioned multiple times, we are doing on-line homework
using MC.  I'm trying to limit this so as not to overwhelm you.
Overall this will contribute 7.5% of your course score.  All the various
types of problem sets are always available to work on, even past the
due dates (although you won't get credit for anything done after the
due dates).  However, the on-line homework I'm giving is not enough.
I discuss this below.

After using various things in MC for the last couple of years I've come
to some conclusions about what seemed to work best for most students
based on what they stated during the course.  Similar info can be found
in an e-mail with subject line "MasteringChemistry - Credit/Noncredit".
If you didn't save it, you can find it on my personal web page at the
bottom where you'll find links for e-mails sent to the class.

*****************
1) For credit:

a)  Tutorial sets:

There are the tutorial problem sets which are for CREDIT.  I've tried to
limit these to a reasonable number based on giving a broad enough
sampling of problems.  I don't want someone getting "stuck" in these
and spending too much time.  The tutorials provide hints but there is a
minimal penalty of 2% for each hint.  There's also a penalty of 3% for
incorrect answers.  This is to keep you from simply asking for hints or
guessing until you get the right answer.  The point values for the questions
differ, from 1-3 pts depending on the difficulty (higher difficulty level
is worth more points).  Most students have told me the tutorial sets
are very useful.

These will generally have names with the following format:

Ch 13 Tutorials
Ch 13 (section #s) Tutorials

These will normally be due by the Friday before the quiz which
corresponds to the MC material.

b)  Homework Review sets:

There are homework review problems which are for CREDIT.  Again,
I'll try to keep this to a reasonable number of questions.

Some of these have hints or feedback but most don't.  That's determined
by MC. These may be actual book problems or problems from the MC
test bank  (which are generally multiple choice).

These will generally have names with the following format:

Ch 13 Homework Review
Ch 13 (section #s) Homework Review

These will normally be due by the Saturday before the quiz which
corresponds to the MC material.

For both of the above sets, multiple choice questions limit the number
of attempts to no more than (the number of possible answers - 1 ) before
it gives you the answer and no credit.  They're not set up so you can
just keep guessing until you get the correct answer and the points.

Other types of questions have a maximum of 6 attempts until you don't
credit but you lose points (3%) each time you get it wrong, as indicated
above.

You can still do them after the due dates but you won't get credit (points).
However, they will be more beneficial to you if they're completed after
you've done problems from the textbook (which you should be doing as
we go along) and BEFORE a quiz, as a review for the quiz.  The on-line
problems are NOT enough practice if you really hope to do well.  That's
why I have the End-of-Chapter suggested exercises on my web page.
Try to do most of these as we're going along and before you try the on-line
homework and use the on-line MC for your quiz review.  This will make
the MC problems go faster and you will maximize your scores.

2) NOT for credit:

a) Dynamic Study Modules (DSM) sets:

These are NOT for credit.

There are the Dynamic Study Module (DSM) sets which are technically
always available in MC but I will make some up specifically.   To me they
seem to be easier than the end-of-chapter problems.  Students stated
this to me as well.  There were other things they stated about why they
didn't think these were as useful.  I would do these after doing the book
problems and the for-credit MC problem sets, if you're still having
problems. Maybe if you didn't do well on the quiz you could do these to
help learn what you didn't know for the quiz. You could use them as part
of your review for the exams.  These are at a lower level than the textbook
EOC problems.  I spoke to the Pearson rep recently who said they're
mostly intended to make sure you understand the bare minimum.

There will be "due" dates, generally around the time I think you should
be completely done with the material.  The due dates mean nothing as
you always have access to them and they're not for credit.  I'm just
trying to let you know when you should be done with that material.

The names for these are set by MC but have "Dynamic Study Module"
in the name.  They changed these between autumn and this semester
which rendered all of the ones which were copied inoperable.  I have to
redo them all.  I will probably be changing the way these are presented
as by chapter as a review before midterms.  That's how they've set
them up for the future.

b)  Practice Exercise 1 sets:

These are NOT for credit.

Within every chapter there are Sample Exercises.  As I've explained
elsewhere, you should make a valid attempt at doing these as you
come to them while reading and analyzing a section.   Then there are
a couple of Practice Exercises following the Sample Exercise.  Try
PE2 since there's answers to those in the back of the book (in the
"Backmatter" after the answers to the Go Figure questions for a chapter).
There are no answers in the book for PE1.  PE1 is always multiple
choice but even if you got one of the answers that doesn't necessarily
mean you got the right answer.

The PE1 questions are available in MC.  I've made "practice" sets
which contain the PE1 questions for each chapter.  This will allow
you to get the answers. This way, if you're trying to answer these PE1
questions as you're reading along you will no longer have to worry
about whether you did or didn't get them right.  You can now pull up
the PE1 set and find the answer.  I reiterate, these are just for practice
as you're reading through the sections.  Those for Ch 13 and 14 are
up (although PE1 for Sample Exercise 13.6 is missing in MC).

There will be "due" dates, generally around the time I think you should
be completely done with the chapter.  The due dates mean nothing as
you always have access to them.  I'm just trying to let you know when
you should be done with all the reading and homework for a chapter.

These will generally have names with the following format:

Ch 13 Practice Exercise 1 or Ch 13 PE1

These are NOT worth points.  Honestly, I think doing the Sample Ex.
and PE 2, the homework from the book, the MC tutorials and the MC
homework review sets (the latter two are for credit) should be enough.

*********************

The on-line homework is NOT a substitute for reading the textbook
and critically analyzing the material.  Included in this is doing
homework exercises more than once.

I've "assigned" end-of-chapter (EOC) problems from the book
which you will find on my class web page (not Carmen).  You do
not get credit for these.  However, it is of utmost importance you
do these.  If I see people are not doing as well as in the past I will
attribute this to people not reading the book and doing the EOC
assignments and only doing the MC problems.  I may then decide
to include more of these EOC problems in the on-line homework
for credit.  I would prefer not to since I want you using the book and
EOC problems to figure things out and not be "afraid" of making a
mistake or needing help from someone or the solutions manual.
But you have to, use the help correctly and not lean on it too much
(i.e. don't just read the solutions manual and think you know it).

In which order should you do these?  It kind of depends on how
things are going for you.  You get credit for the on-line homework
and do lose points for hints and wrong answers.  Doing the book
problems first will make the on-line homework a little easier.  On
the other hand the on-line homework does have tutorials available.
Technically, so do the book problems, it's called the solutions
manual found on Carmen.  If you get stuck on an EOC problem
you can get a hint from the solutions manual and feedback on
how to approach and do the problem.

I suggest you do the book problems first.  If you have trouble you
can peek at the solutions manual on Carmen for help (and then
do another similar problem).  That doesn't cost you anything. These
don't count for a grade so getting one wrong or getting hints won't
cost any course points.  This allows you to try working through the
problems and material w/o worrying about whether you're going to
lose points for doing something wrong.  You learn more from your
mistakes and by fixing them than by just guessing and getting the
right answer or always getting help from someone.  By doing these
first you should already know the material pretty well before
attempting the on-line homework.  Do at least 80% of the EOC
problems I've assigned (including some from the Additional Exercises
and Integrative Exercises) before attempting the on-line homework.
You can then use the MC as a review before the quiz each week.
It should go quicker and you can maximize your points since you
will have already done the book problems and have a good idea of
what to do.  I will say this again, doing just the on-line homework
isn't enough if you hope to do decently.  If you want to do really well
you have to do a lot of problems and of course understand what
it is you're doing.

The on-line homework does have due dates.  They are there to
try to force you to at least do some homework and not fall behind.
They are "flexible" and could change, maybe pushed back from
the due dates I'll show (doubtful I would make them sooner). I
actually pushed back the MC homework for section 14.3 from
this weekend to next weekend since we hadn't finished that
until this past Wed.

I keep stating how important it is not to fall behind and there are
many of you who have not started the MC problems.  Hopefully
you've started the EOC problems.   But you absolutely MUST
do the MC as they are for credit.

You would want to complete the MC stuff which apply to the
sections covered by a quiz before the quiz.  I'll let you know
which those are before the quiz.  For each quiz I put the sections
covered and relevant the homework problems, both EOC and MC,
on my web page.  I also e-mail it.

My belief is,  if you do ALL the assigned homework problems (and
then some extra, MC) AND understand what you are doing AND
understand the concepts in the book AND do things the proper
way (read the "How to Study" link) AND seek help when you
need it, you should be fine.   That's a lot of ANDs but it's pretty
much what is necessary.  The problem is many people do NOT
do the proper things. For the most part, it's up to you to be
responsible enough to do homework and come for help.  I will
provide as much help as possible but it ultimately comes down to
you being responsible enough to do the proper things.

This would apply even w/o on-line homework.  We shouldn't have
to "force" you to do the work you need to do to learn the material.
You're here to learn and you do so by doing the work, not by simply
showing up to lecture and doing the minimum possible.

You can find the highly suggested "assigned" EOC homework
on the class web page,

Chemistry 1220 - Sp2<https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/zellmer.1/chem1220/chem1220.htm>1

Once there you will see links for "Homework".  Click on the
appropriate link for the edition of the textbook you're using
(this should be the 14th ed. for everyone at this point).
What you will find are the end-of-chapter problems you should do.
I've listed the EOC problems as 2, 4, 6, etc.  For example, for the
Chapter 11 review material, this means 11.2, 11.4, 11.6 in the
EOC exercises.

Just looking at the publisher's solutions is NOT the same as
YOU doing the homework problems.  YOU must be able to
do them on your own in a reasonable period of time.  Chem
1220 involves lots of concepts and equations.  You need to
understand these concepts and truly understand the equations
(when and how to use them, what the eqns tell you about the
relationships between the variables in the eqns, etc.).  If you
attempt the homework problems I've assigned but can't do
them on your own or don't understand the concepts and eqns.
you should seek help from me and/or the TAs and then work
some more problems.  If you don't do this you won't do well
in the class.

You MUST keep up with what we are doing in class.  If
you are behind, even by one lecture's worth of material,
you will find it will be difficult to catch up and understand
things.  This is not a course you can put off for another
day.  You will need to spend 2.5-3 hours EVERY DAY in
order to do well.  You should be spending about 12 hours
per week (sometimes less, sometimes more) on the lecture
material and 3-4 hours on lab to prepare for one lab and write
the report that's due.  Students often tell me (after failing the first
midterm) they spend a lot of time every week studying.  When I
ask for specifics I'm often told "a lot" is 6 or fewer hours
a week.  That won't work.  Always skim 1/2 a chapter ahead
in the book before class so that lecture will make a little more
sense.  You should then finish the sections in the textbook and
associated homework for sections covered in one lecture before
the next.  I generally follow the order of the sections in the book.
This way you are keeping up and the next lecture will make more
sense. You should be done with Friday lecture material by Saturday
or Sunday.  This means you should be done with ALL the assigned
sections and homework for the week by Sunday.  Read about how
to study for this class at the following link,

Studying Methods - 1220<https://www.asc.ohio-state.edu/zellmer.1/studying/studying_1220_normal.txt>

This class is quite a bit tougher than most, mainly because most
of you have not seen most of this material in high school and even
if you have probably not at the level of understanding we expect.
We cover a lot of conceptual things and that is often something
most students did not see in high school or in other classes.

You will be busy with this course.  It takes a lot of hard work
and effort.  It will be mostly up to you how much you learn.
Probably 90% of what you learn will be on your own with about
10% coming from me, both in class and by you asking me
questions.  I'm always very willing to help and will help as much
as I can. You can always come by my office or e-mail me questions.
You will get a lot of e-mails from me throughout the semester.  When
someone asks me a good question I usually send my answer to
the whole class (usually when there's one person with a question
there's probably several more with the  same question).  I will also
send answers to questions  I've received in previous years.  As a
matter of fact, the answers to some of those can be found at the
"Helpful Tidbits" link on the 1220 class web page (not Carmen).
Check this page and my other links for answers to your questions
before e-mailing me.  However, if you still don't understand something
do not be afraid to seek me out in my office or send an e-mail.

Dr. Zellmer
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