Academic Year 25/26 - Semester 1
​
Lecturer: A/P Hunh Han Vinh
Lab Instructor: Dr. Chui Sin Yin Stephen
Assessments:​
-
Test 1: 20%
-
Test 2: 20%
-
Lab: 20%
-
Finals: 40%​​
​
No. of responses : 2
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
REVIEWS
What advice would you give to someone considering taking this course?
m: try not to skip any minor details in the slides, Prof Vinh tends to test "minor" details.
​
Marcus: Most of the content in Part A is not new, focusing on A-Level concepts like the various bonding theories (valence bond, hybridisation and molecular orbital). The depth is much smaller than CM1102 with only basic homonuclear or heteronuclear diatomics MO diagrams being relevant and everything being mentioned on a 'touch-and-go' basis. Important concepts from Part A will mostly be on Slater's Rule. For Part B, there will be more content and equations regarding each Group elements of the periodic table. More time is needed to study Part B, but the whole module is manageable should sufficient time is dedicated to revise the module.
​​
​​​​
What did you enjoy or find most useful from this course?
m: Lectures for 2nd half of the sem was recorded videos so there was some flexibility (first half was not recorded). Lab reports were more manageable compared to in CM2122 where its longer.
​​
Marcus: For the lab, Dr Chui publishes a detailed video with instructions on how to operate certain apparatus and perform the experiment. It was very useful and I appreciate his effort in preparing such a video as it made the practical much easier to execute. The requirements for the reports are not very high, requiring a short and concise 2-paged short report and a pro-forma.
​​
​​
What aspects of the course did you find most challenging, and why?
​
m: The nature of this module is very rote memorisation. Memorising the equations for production, hydrolysis, acid-base, a whole laundry list of equations, which I did not find very meaningful and was only a small % tested in the finals, which I did not find very gratifying too.
​​
Marcus: There are no recorded lectures or tutorials, so attendance in-person is recommended so that you are able to catch up on the content taught. Tutorials are done during lecture slots, so there are no actual tutorial slots in which we need to attend outside the lectures. In Part A, lectures and tutorials are taught in person. In Part B, lectures are in form of YouTube videos while tutorials are held during the lecture slots. There is quite limited resources available apart from the notes, videos and the tutorials. So overall, the attendance and the limited resources proved to be a challenge in this module.
​
​
What resources did you find most helpful in helping you better understand the course material?
​​​​
m: CM1111 materials (find them online), but largely just follow lecture slides. There was no past year papers given, which is tough for revising.
​​
Marcus: CM1111 materials are quite useful in my revision (the pre-CHS inorganic module). Otherwise, you can make use of past A-Level materials on Periodicity, Atomic Orbitals, Molecular Orbital Theory. You can also relook at some of the CM1102 materials on structure and bonding, though the requirements in this module is lower than that in the gateway module.
​​​
​
What other courses do you think should be taken before or concurrently with this module?
​​​​
m: CM2122
​​​
Marcus: Only the pre-requisite - CM1102.​​​​​
​
