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CM2143 - BASIC TOOLKIT OF ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY

Academic Year 23/24 - Semester 1

Assessments:​

  • Lab Proforma: 32%

  • Homework: 5%

  • Test 1 (CA1): 25%

  • Test 2 (CA2): 30%

  • Viva: 8%

Lecturer: Dr Tan Wee Boon

Lab Instructor: Dr Jeremiah Chen 

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Course Overview: 

  • Error, Hypothesis testing (Z test, t test, Pooled t test, Paired t test, Fischer F test, Dixon Q test, ANOVA), Sampling, standardization and calibration (Least square analysis)

  • Introduction to analytical separations, Gas chromatography, Liquid chromatography

  • Potentiometry, Voltammetry

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No. of responses : 5

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REVIEWS

What advice would you give to someone considering to take this course?

 

Yihan: While I appreciate the lecture slides, I also find YouTube videos to be helpful in my understanding of the material. The workload is not high.

 

Anonymous: Focus on understanding the topic thoroughly.

 

udonzzz: I would say that this course mainly involves calculations and hypothesis testing. As the durations for tests are not very long, students might run out of time if they take too long for calculations. Hence it would be recommended to do the practice questions so students are more familiar with what formulas to use and also get used to keying in the numbers into the calculator quickly without making mistakes.

 

Anonymous: Compared to CM2133, everything feels light, and the workload for this course is manageable. It mainly consists of occasional short homework assignments, lab reports, and useful tutorials and exercises that will help you to prepare for the two tests.

 

Anonymous: Stay consistent. The content is not heavy, but it is definitely not something you can just study overnight.

 

What did you enjoy or find most useful from this course?

 

Yihan: During the lab we get to explore various equipment.

 

Anonymous: Relevant knowledge!

 

udonzzz: We got to try our hand at various analytical techniques, namely gas and liquid chromatography, potentiometry and voltammetry. These techniques are bound to be of use if students want to work in industrial or lab settings.

 

Anonymous: The lab techniques learnt are very relevant and important for industry or research.

 

What aspects of the course did you find most challenging, and why?

 

Yihan: I find it more challenging to grasp concepts from the textbook, and I believe there is potential for improvement in organising the slides to help me understand the concepts better.

 

Anonymous: The exams were particularly challenging. You need to be comfortable with having numerous calculations.

 

udonzzz: The most challenging aspect of the course for me was the calculations, as there are really quite a lot of formulas, and even though we are allowed to have a cheat sheet, when under time pressure, it still gets a bit stressful.

 

Anonymous: For the viva, you need to have a thorough understanding of your experiments. Be well-versed in what is happening, why certain steps are taken, and grasp the underlying concepts. The questions can be spontaneous, making it challenging to predict what will be asked.

 

Anonymous: There was not a lot of practice provided, and even the homework we submitted was not graded, so we did not receive any feedback throughout the semester regarding how we were performing and how we can improve. The viva component also seemed quite arbitrary, and we were not provided any resources to prepare for the viva, especially since this is a very new exam format for many of us.

 

What resources did you find most helpful in helping you better understand the course material?

 

Yihan: While there are sufficient exercises provided for exam preparation, the focus seems to be more on applying formulas rather than understanding the underlying scientific principles behind it.

 

Anonymous: Slides were sufficient.

 

udonzzz: For the part on hypothesis testing, if students have already forgot what it is about, the GEA1000 notes are helpful to a certain extent for revision before the course starts.

 

Anonymous: The slides seemed sufficient to tackle the tests.

 

 

What other courses do you think should be taken before or concurrently with this courses?

 

Yihan: Maybe some statistic courses.

 

udonzzz: As CM2133 also involves a considerable amount of calculation, taking CM2133 and CM2143 at the same time might be useful as students will probably be faster with all the calculations given practice from both courses.

 

Anonymous: Honestly this course can just be taken by itself. Maybe brush up a bit on the stats part of H2 math.

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