CM2112
Lecturer: A/P John Yip
Lab Instructor: Dr Chui Sin Yin Stephen
General Overview
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Assessment Format and Weightage
Lab proforma (2 labs): 10% each
test 1: 20%
test 2: 20%
Finals: 40%
(Number of Responses:4)
Overall difficulty
Very easy:1 Easy:1 Moderate:2 Difficult:0 Very difficult:0
Difficulty of Assessments
Lab proforma Very easy:1 Easy:0 Moderate:1 Difficult:2 Very difficult:0
test 1 Very easy:1 Easy:1 Moderate:2 Difficult:0 Very difficult:0
test 2 Very easy:1 Easy:1 Moderate:2 Difficult:0 Very difficult:0
Finals Very easy:1 Easy:0 Moderate:3 Difficult:0 Very difficult:0
Pace of Module
Too slow:2 Just right:2 Too fast:0
Workload of Module (On Average per week)
-Time spent on assignments : 2.52Hrs
-Time spent to keep up with content : 2.23Hrs
Enjoyability
(1 being not at all enjoyable and 5 being very enjoyable)
Enjoyability:2.5
Usefulness
(1 being not at all useful and 5 being very useful)
Usefulness:3.0
Reviews
How did you find the contents (e.g. how it was delivered) and the assessments of the module?
-Workload gets too heavy during weeks that have lab sessions, otherwise it is manageable.
-Prof. John Yip is a dedicated professor who definitely tries to make his lessons interesting and relatable to students. Assessments were reasonable and questions from tests were similar to those found in lecture notes or tutorials.
-Prof would ask questions to be answered live during lectures which made the lectures more engaging. The assessments were not particularly difficult but tricky and required understanding of concepts.
-Barely anything new was taught that deferred outside CM1102. Assessments were mostly simple and there were some questions that were purely about regurgitating information. Prof. John Yip mostly did a good job in content delivery but was hampered but the lack of new topics in that module.
How was your experience in the module?
-To know the cores of elements and their properties👍
-Some topics are interesting, especially when real-life examples are given.
-While the lectures were kind of fun, and the tutorials were a good reflection of the assessments, the module itself felt as useful as HS1501. I wish more content was delivered that followed up on Dr Chong's Env. section in CM1102, ie backbonding, transition metal, crystal field or even solid state.
-Unfortunately, the content taught in this module makes it such that the module is not extremely useful to most students who have taken CM1102. A lot of time in the module is spent covering content that most students would have already been exposed to such as MO theory and VSEPR. New content includes ligand group orbitals, HSAB theory, 3c2e/2c4e bonds and chemistry of main group elements. However, Prof Yip went through the MO theory part of the content without delving too deeply into character tables and symmetry groups. Although the second half of the module was supposed to be dedicated to main group chemistry, a lot of it was also glossed over due to the lack of time. The module will definitely benefit by putting more focus on introducing newer concepts such as point group symmetry and main group chemistry.
CM2112 - CHEMISTRY OF ELEMENTS
Academic Year 22/23 - Semester 2
Assessments:
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Lab Proforma: 20%
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Test 1: 20%
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Test 2: 20%
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Final Exam: 40%
Lecturer: A/P Huynh Han Vinh
Lab Instructor: Dr Chui Sin Yin Stephen
Course Overview:
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Periodic Trends, Slater's Rules, Lewis Structures, Bond Character
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Solid State Chemistry
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Acid-base and Donor-acceptor Chemistry
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Redox Chemistry
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Descriptive Chemistry of Main Group Elements
Review 1
Overall Difficulty: Average
Difficulty of Assessment:
Test 1: Difficult
Test 2: Difficult
Lab Proforma: Average
Final Exam: Easy
Pace of Course: Just Right
Workload of Course (Average Number of hours spent per week):
To learn the course: 5 hours
To complete assignments: 2 hours
How did you find the contents (e.g. how it was delivered) and the assessments of the course?
On the difficulty of content, I would say it's pretty manageable. Part A tests mainly on application questions while Part 2 is mostly memory work. Due to the negligible amount of tutorials/assignments, the workload was relatively low. After Week 6, all lectures were delivered through Prof Vinh's Youtube videos, and one of the lecture slots was converted into a mass tutorial.
How was your experience in the course?
A/P Huynh Han Vinh is very knowledgeable on Inorganic Chemistry. However, I feel that he focuses too much on the exact definitions. I also find it very difficult to tell what will be tested on the exam, with questions like “What is the name of the Group 15 elements” (Pnictogens). Dr Chui Sin Yin Stephen was very helpful during the lab components of the course. You can count on him to help you out during lab if you have any issues. I found the bell curve for this course to be quite tough. This course is not that difficult, and with the unpredictability of marking, the bell curve is exceedingly unforgiving. Hence, it is very difficult for me to predict my grades for this.
Review 2
Overall Difficulty: Average
Difficulty of Assessment:
Test 1: Average
Test 2: Average
Lab Proforma: Very Easy
Final Exam: Average
Pace of Course: Just Right
Workload of Course (Average Number of hours spent per week):
To learn the course: 1 hour
To complete assignments: 3 hours
How did you find the contents (e.g. how it was delivered) and the assessments of the course?
The course was split into two parts. The first part discussed basic chemistry (mostly repeating stuff taught in O level and A level chem like orbitals etc) and solid state chem (basically unit cells) while the second part discussed stuff like acid-base, redox and main group chem. The first part was done in person, while the second part didn't have lectures, instead Prof Vinh just linked his YouTube videos from like 2020 lol (for all the overachievers trying to 1-up your course mates you can find his channel and the videos if u search 'vinh chemistry' on YT). The class would meet once a week for QnA (tutorial also got absorbed into that session so it's mass tut for half the sem).
For lab, Prof Stephen will usually give a short briefing before letting everyone go do the experiment... If you've done any other lab course it's probably more or less the same... Assessment-wise, Prof Vinh usually tells us about it one/a few weeks in advance and the topics tested. For us, test 1 was up to acid-base and test 2 was the rest of the topics. Prof Vinh is quite strict with his marking so it's good to be meticulous with how you present your answers.
How was your experience in the course?
I binged all the videos 1 week before finals. Please don't be like me. Ok but this course is pretty chill, I mean like the entire course just disappears from your timetable for half the sem so its pretty good if you're the kind of person who likes to study at their own pace or is too lazy to travel to science. The downside is the number of actual contact hours is lower so you don't really get to know the prof or the other students in the course if you're interested in that. For lab, the lab only has a few machines (centrifuge, uv-vis etc) so you will spend a lot of time queueing to use equipment. Depending on your efficiency and the queue efficiency, you may or may not be late for your next class, so plan your timetable accordingly.