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.

Advice-to-be-Successful: Surely by now you have heard the horror stories.... They are all true! They are true only if you don't take this course seriously and treat it as the serious subject it is. Foremost, do your homework! This is the single most important piece of advice anyone could give you. It is the only way you will gain a working understanding of the material and have the ability to perform on exams. Secondly, you should NOT put it off until the week or day before the test. Aside from the fact that there will never be enough time to finish it, you won't have the time to get the assistance you will need. Unless you are a prodigy (most of us are not), you will need a large amount of assistance from Dr. Jez. Don't let this intimidate you, he is very willing to help you succeed if you put in the work, he will put it in right along with you. Be as dedicated to the subject as he is, and you can not only succeed, but excel. It all rests upon you and your dedication. Don't let yourself down, and you can be one of the few, the proud... the ones who have passed Physical Chemistry!

Advice-NOT-to-do: As described above, I learned some of this the hard way. I have always been able to pretty much succeed in most subjects with a minimal amount of work and time investment. As an adult student returning after a long hiatus to earn my degree, I assumed that this methodology would still serve me well. My schedule was too tight, and I wasn't able to put in the time necessary to succeed. Don't make this mistake. Set aside at least a couple hours a day to work problems and study... this is your road to success.

Advice-to-be-Successful: First off, a person must have a willingness to work hard to succeed. Be prepared to dedicate many hours to this course. This is not the type of class that one can routinely skip. Success depends on showing up to class and working hard. There is no slacking or coasting. It is not permitted.
Secondly, do the homework and become intimately familiar with MathCad, this is absolutely crucial.
One of the most important things not to do in Pchem is to procrastinate. Cramming for a test the night before will not produce success, even if it has worked in the past. Do not put it off or you will be playing catch-up the rest of the semester.
Put it off and you'll hear Gandalf yelling "You shall not pass!"

Do not stress out too much about low test scores. Focus on continually improving, learning what you can, and plowing forward.

But above all, do not hesitate to ask questions...many, many questions AND visit Dr. Jez frequently!

Advice-NOT-to-do: One point to be made is study with your classmates. Multiple heads are better than one when it comes to learning and understanding the concepts covered in Pchem. Trying to fly solo is a no no. That was a big mistake I made through Pchem 1.

Memorization can only get you so far. Do not try to memorize everything. Your brain may shortcircuit because there is simply too much information coming in too fast to absorb. Understand the concept and know how it applies.

Advice-to-be-Successful: Weeks before the semester starts, become familiar with Mathcad. Work through the tutorials. They’ve helped me so much.

Do. Your. Homework. You’re only hurting yourself by not doing your homework.

If you have any questions, ask Dr. Jez! He’ll guide you through the homework. Visit him during his office hours. If those times aren’t convenient for you, set up an appointment with him or e-mail him—he’ll write helpful comments on your homework problems.

Advice-NOT-to-do: When Dr. Jez assigns homework, start working on it immediately. Don’t put it off and wait until the day before or the day of the test to ask for help. This isn’t an easy class. Don’t procrastinate!

DON’T be afraid to ask for help.

Advice-to-be-Successful: 1. DO YOUR HOMEWORK 2. Do not be afraid to work together in a group ( but do not cheat) 3. Ask lots of questions This class is hard, but it is passible. You need to make sure you stay on top of the material and do the homework when you cover it in the class. Make sure you take detail notes and not go into lala land. You should also make sure you treat yourself to some you time once you take a test becasue it is the time to wind down from the hecktic week you had doing your web exam and in class exam.

You should also make sure you get to know mathcad. MATHCAD is YOUR FRIEND!!

Advice-NOT-to-do: Something I did that I wish i didnt was pushing my other classes out of the way until after my test and so when I could breath I was overwhelemed with make up work for the other classes I was taking. Also do not push off doing your homework for this class until the last week before the test because you will not understand it as much as what you would as doing it as you went.

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!

Advice-to-be-Successful: Do NOT skip class even if it is at 8 am. The material is really hard to learn on your own and the notes look like jibberish if you do not attend class for an explanation. I would also recommend reading through the chapter in the book or look at the notes, if they are posted, ahead of time. You don't have to understand the material but just to be familiar with terms and equations. I would also start on the homework early and go in for help after every class period if possible. You may think a week is long enough to do the homework but that is a lie. Also, do not be afraid to e-mail/ask questions. Any question is acceptable even if you do get a snarky response :). In summary, be active in the course.

Advice-NOT-to-do: Do NOT assume you can do the homework in a week. You have a web exam to in addition to studying the concepts. The homework was my worst grade. Also, don't apologize for asking too may questions.

Advice-to-be-Successful: Many of you are seniors so I believe you are already knowing that the science courses require you to put more effort. Having a right attitude always works so you don't need to be afraid of this course and you need to overcome the obstacles and come up with some smart methods to pass this course. For this course, you need to put much more effort. If you try your best and learn, you will get what you should get. Here is what I did for passing this course.

1. Go to every class. This seems to be easy, but not everyone can do it. Our professor is our best resource for learning the subject.
2. Ask questions. In every class, listen carefully and take good notes and if you don't understand some points, put a question mark and ask your professor after class. If you don't ask questions, its means you don't have questions, but that's impossible.
3. Before you go to class, you need to take time to prepare the subject. If you don't prepare, you will not understand what your professor is talking about. If you really don't have time to prepare, you need to have a recorder to record the lecture. You can listen many time if you want.
4. Try to work together with your classmates because you can learn from each other. No one knows everything. You can set up a study group every week and review the material or work on the homework problems.
5. You need to continue this process. If you got a good grade this time, do not relax too much and keep doing what you did before. If you got an unsatisfied grade, do not give up, recall what you did for the good grade and keep doing.

I hope everyone can pass P chem course.

Advice-NOT-to-do: 1. Do not wait until last few days to do homework and study for the exam. You need to study everyday (at least study 3-4 hours per day).
2. Do not be afraid Mathcad program. You should try to use Mathcad in each homework problem.
3. Do not look at solutions manual when you doing homework.
4. Do not memorize equations. You should understand the meaning of each term in the equation.