Jeff Byers, BiHall 551 (office), 552 (lab), x5207
Official Office Hours Mon-Fri 11-12 am, or by appointment.
Negative Office Hours (don't come see me except in emergency situations) Tues.,
Thurs. am before class
Web Page for most important information: http://s05.middlebury.edu/chem0242a
or community.middlebury.edu/~byers and look for the ch242 link in the text.
Some material will also be placed in the server account, classes/vol1/spring05/chem0242a\HANDOUTS,
for the course.
Last Year's Exams with answers on reserve in Armstrong Library- Ask for "Old
Exams folder". Also available on course server account (NOT web site).
Answers to exams you actually take and "homemade" problem sets available
on reserve in Armstrong Library- Ask for "Answers" folder.
Answer key to Bruice is available on reserve in Armstrong library.
Major Units Covered, In Order:
Redox in Organic Chemistry (CH 20.1- 20.9)
Aromaticity, Reactions of Aromatic Compounds (CH 12.8, CH 15, CH 16, CH 20.12)
The Carbonyl Functional Group as an Electrophile (CH 12.11, 12.12, CH 17, CH
18, CH 22.10-22.14)
Nucleophilicity at the alpha carbon (CH 19)
Detailed syllabi with assigned problems handed out at the start of each unit
or subunit.
Midterm Exams, 7:00 pm Tues 3/1 ,Wed. 3/30, Tues, 4/19
BiHall 216 (14% each)
CUMULATIVE FINAL EXAM As Scheduled by registrar (28%)
5-minute quizzes End of Prelab, every Mon. on non-test weeks (5% total)
Prelab/Discussion Mon, 8:00 am, 1:30 pm, or 2:35 pm in BiHall219 THESE ARE NOT
OPTIONAL! You may attend any section.
Laboratory Tues. Wed., Thurs afternoon (25%)
Other Vital Info:
Postponement of exams for individuals will usually be allowed for the following reasons; serious personal illness, death in the family, or direct time conflict with other academic requirements, such as exams, required movies and performances, etc. If you need to reschedule an exam due to conflict with your participation in intercollegiate athletics, or some other comparably committed extracurricular, I will allow for you to take the exam early. Please give me a week's notice so that we can schedule an earlier time to take the test. 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. The final exam will be cumulative in nature, and designed to take 3 hours. Only a Dean's excuse will be acceptable for rescheduling.
Brief quizzes, usually involving multiple choice or short answer questions
will be given at the end of every Monday prelab in "non-exam" weeks.
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 midterm exams.
Finally, while I am not a big fan of multiple choice tests, I believe they are
legitimate in moderation, and for most of the people in the class, the only
way your knowledge of organic 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. If you fail to attend the prelab, and do not have one
of the aforementioned accepted excuses, you will get a zero for the quiz. If
you miss a quiz due to illness, let me know so that it will not count against
you.
I do not collect or grade problem sets. I find that my generously available,
but alas, limited time (or the time of a grader/tutor) is better spent helping
those who are having real difficulties in CHEMJ 242, rather than grading problem
sets. The problems which are listed for each unit from Bruice comprise a minimum
set in which I've gone through and culled out those which I think are either
highly repetitive or dumb. If you do not own the answer guide, a copy is 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. I also will
frequently assign additional problems, usually of my own creation, which are
particularly diagnostic for you to use for self assessment.
Academic Honesty Policy
Collaborative work on laboratories is encouraged, 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.
Policy on Personal Electronic Devices for CHEM 242:
There will be no need for calculators in examinations for this course, thus they should not be brought into the exam room. Other personal electronic devices such as cell phones, PDA's, IPOD's, and Walkmans are not allowed on your person during an examination. If you have one of these on your person during an exam, it will be considered an honor code violation.
There has been a recent surge in cell phones going off in classes here at Middlebury College. This is not acceptable for obvious reasons. If I hear your cell phone signal during class or lab, 10 points will deducted from your next major exam.
HINT FOR A GOOD GRADE: Getting a high B in lab in CH 242 is very straightforward, and A's are more common than in CH 241. 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.