Class Advice

To the incoming group of students taking Physical Chemistry:

Below are comments from the previous group of students given near the end of the semester. Heed their advice as they are deep within the course and have an excellent perspective. I hope they are helpful.

When you are in PChem you have to keep up with the reading and the homework. Also, always do ALL the homework, and ask Dr. Jez questions over it. I am almost positive that he selects the questions that no one has asked him about to put on the test because he knows those are the ones no one did! Just do not get behind because you will not have time to catch up. Remember that this is more than just a hard class, it is a right of passage and it will all be worth it.

Finish all the homework! Dr. Jez will know if you didn't! I don't know how. I think he might be psychic. Make sure to ask questions if you are unsure about something in class, and if you don't understand the answer tell Dr. Jez you still don't understand. I am pretty sure he has infinite patience and infinite ways of explaining things, so don't just keep asking until you get it. Do not avoid mathcad. It can be your best friend or your worst enemy and your grade will change accordingly. It's not that bad once you get the hang of it anyway. It is also much easier to ask questions when you can just send Dr. Jez a mathcad file. He also likes fixing the red on mathcad worksheets. Don't ask why... Just go with it.

I have only a few pieces of advice to give incoming students. The first is to skim over (or outline) the sections in the book before they are covered in lecture, that way if something doesn't make sense when you see it the first time you are able to ask for clarification when Dr. Jez covers it in the lecture. As soon as possible after the lecture review your notes to reinforce the material covered that day. The second is to stay caught up with the homework, attempt problems as soon as (or even before) the methods or concepts required to solve the problem are covered in class. WORK TOGETHER when trying homework problems. Use your classmates to check, not copy, your answers. That way if your answers do not agree you can try to figure out who went wrong and where. Copying answers will do you ZERO good come exam time because even if you have the correct answer, you will not know how the problem was solved. One last thing, do not waste all your time copying every equation (especially the really long ones) written on the board during lecture, focus on what the terms in the equations represent as well as why/how they are being used. For example in spectroscopy, the expression for the rate at which molecules are promoted, W, contains 3 terms: one for stimulated emission, one for stimulated absorption, and one for spontaneous emission. Instead of writing the whole equation just make a note of which MCAD document the equation is in and leave space to write it in your notes after class. Make sure you get the concepts in lecture, the equations you can find in his notes or in the book.

The two biggest mistakes to avoid when taking this class are: First getting behind on the homework. If you wait until the week of the exam to try all the hom! ework problems it will be impossible to finish. Start the homework early and work on it often. The second big mistake you can make is being afraid to ask for clarification when a concept or equation is not making sense to you. Do not get behind simply because you are afraid of asking a dumb question.

Welcome to Physical Chemistry!! You have probably heard many horror stories about this class and yes it is going to be difficult but fear not. There are 5 main points to keep in mind for being successful in this class.

You can do it! This class is hard but not undoable. Remember that you are not the first student to take this class. We did it before you and there were many more before us. Something I wish a previous student had said to me was that it is manageable instead of all the fearful things I had heard. So I am here to tell you that it can be done.
The professor is NOT your enemy. Dr. Jez wants and is willing to help you in any way he can so go talk to him. Start from day 1 and never be afraid to ask for clarification.
Go to class. The easiest way to start learning is to be there when the material is being taught. Dr. Jez makes very helpful lecture notes and he doesn't do it just for recreation.
Manage your time well. This class requires many tedious hours of study in and especially out of lecture. There is a lot of homework and LOTS of reading required from the book and Dr. Jez's notes. So be prepared to spend lots of time on PChem. I know Iron man 3 is getting ready to come out and it's a total bummer that you have to spend your night working on a PChem web exam instead, but it feels like a huge accomplishment when you get through it! Iron man will be waiting for you when you are done. :)
Always stay focused. It will get discouraging with low grades and exhausting after all the hours you spent on the work. So the main point is to stay focused and keep with it. I know you can do this because I have. Good Luck!

While taking this course it is imperative that you do not slack off on your homework or reading. The course material is laid out for a reason and it only comes back to hurt you if you don't do it. Don't wait until the half way through the semester to tell Dr. Jez you don't understand something. This material builds up from previous work so not understanding one thing leads to not understanding the next thing. Lastly, always make time to read Dr. Jez's notes. They are very helpful and give a different perspective from the book so you have two sources for the material. Always remember you can do this!

As a word of advice I recommend you start becoming familiar with the most important tool you will be using in this class which is Mathcad, this will be an integral part of understanding the material and also in accomplishing the web exam. Do the primers and introductory material and try to become as familiar with it as you probably are with Microsoft Excel or Microsoft Word. Do the homework, you might think since it is not picked up at the beginning of class it is not important, WRONG, this will help you learn and apply the material. It also can help you on the exams as sometimes he asks for certain homework problems to be turned in or just asks questions pertaining to homework problems. Doing the homework using Mathcad serves as good practice and allows you to easily email questions about homework problems to Dr. Jezercak. Ask questions, whether it is during class or after class, Dr. Jezercak is here to help you preserver in this class. Get used to waking up early if you are not already. Class starts at 8 AM and exams start at 7 AM, enough said. Lastly if possible form a study group. If you don't understand the material, most likely one of your fellow classmates does. At the end of these two semesters you will feel a sense of accomplishment and pride, and most importantly you will get a BUMPER STICKER!!!! GOOD LUCK!!!

While taking this class I made mistakes, so I'm going to give you an opportunity to learn from them instead of experiencing them yourself. Try to do the homework as it is assigned. You do not want it to pile up before the exam; if this is left for the last minute you will not only have to worry about the homework, but also the web exam. DO NOT solve something numerically on Mathcad unless told to do so by Dr. Jezercak! You might think you are getting the right answer but actually you are cheating yourself on the material. Imagine solving an equation numerically on a homework question but being asked to explain the derivation pertaining to that homework question on an exam; points down the drain. Do not whine! If I can't convince you, there is a small decorative orange traffic cone in Dr. Jezercak's office that will express the same sentiment. Hopefully you will learn from my mistakes, I wish you good luck and good day.

New students entering Physical Chemistry should find a group of students that they are comfortable around. This encourages accountability to do the readings and the assignment. Students should never underestimate the course work for this class. All assignments should be attempted as detailed in the schedule. I will repeat again. Please do the readings.

I tried to keep up with the reading, however, due to a heavy work load i had to be struggling to read multiple sections and do the assignment during the week of the exam. This did not turn out that well.Hence READ the text as you should!

My advice would be to start the homework the very first day, and then work on it everyday after that. The first test will feel like you've been punched in the face with a brick. You'll eventually recover and get over it. Use that test as a learning experience because its the same format as all following exams. No matter what anyone says the test get harder as you go, because he expects you to get better and quit making stupid mistakes on mcad. Ask as many questions as you need to in order to understand the material. He doesn't mind you camping in his office as long as you are asking good aka "smart" questions. Learn to LOVE mcad, it will save your life. Brush up on your calc. skills because everything you thought you would never have to use shows up at one point or another. Most importantly this class requires a major time commitment. Not to recieve a good grade, but to pass in general. Be prepaired to spend several hours a night on homework. If you put it off you'll spend all day and all night and not have accomplished anything. As Jez says you'll be a stronger better person when you are done, if it doesn't kill you first. Good Luck.

Ask questions...lots of them. Understand that there is no full understanding of the concepts you will learn, take it at face value and don't try to investigate too much of the why. Try and foresee possible exam questions, then ask questions about the scenario. There are instances when Dr. Jez will somewhat imply that there are other varying scenarios to general rules, watch for "notice" and "relate." If you can think of way to change the entire derived expression for a rule, then so can he, you better go ask him before the test if you're not sure how. It doesn't hurt to refresh on Calc, or keep a book handy. Use all the resources you can. With that being said, expect the unexpected. Solutions are never what they seem. Almost always a little! more in depth than expected or it's easier than you think. The more possible scenarios that you can think of before the exam to ask him about, the fewer curve balls you'll see. Working through your homework is a must, but don't rely purely on it. In lecture, taking notes is imperitive, but do not catch yourself only writing what he writes on the board, it is better to sit and listen and soak in the concepts than to write a bunch of junk you won't understand ten minutes later. ASK QUESTIONS!!! If you don't get it, or don't know where to start, take a wild guess and then ask Dr. J for a push. He would much rather give you less points for help than no points for giving up. Some of us former students will be around, and though we are by no means tutoring material, you can always ask us a question that we might be able to throw an idea at. Again, you can't let the pressure from this class get to you, understand that you will hit walls and you won't understand things, tha! t's ok, that's just P chem. Fight your way through the battle and you 'll be fine. It's the most difficult subject to wrap your mind around, so instead of solving the world's problems through P chem, just solve the ones in front of you. P.S.-True or False- The answer is typically shaped like an elephant....

If nothing else, make sure you do your homework because it WILL be on the test. If you wait until the week of the test to catch up, you are already too late. If you've forgotten something from P Chem I that you need for this class, don't be afraid to ask for a reminder on how to do something - Dr. Jez is a patient person. We can't all integrate large equations off the top of our heads :D

I recommend the incoming class to show up to lecture, and ask for clarification on everything that is unclear. IN OTHER WORDS THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE SEMESTER. Start on the homework early and make sure you finish the homework problems prior to the exams. WORK IN A GROUP AND SHARE YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS IN REACHING AN ANSWER. This course is not one to underestimate. Before entering this course the sun seemed to shine brightly be prepared for it and your soul, and life to be striped away from you before your eyes. GOOD LUCK!!!!!! hahahaha

I would definitely advise students to be VERY familiar with calculus, especially integrations and how to approach multiple derivations with complex integers. Now I know why calculus 4 and differential equations are both "recommended" for my degree. If I had been more experienced with calculus I would have been able to actually focus more on the concepts of physical chemistry rather than working out all of the math. Good luck! This is an extremely challenging course.