Lab Work & Your CHEM 205 Course Grade
Your overall laboratory grade will be a weighted average calculated according to the final grade distributions below. At the end of the semester, your laboratory grade will be reported to your lecture instructor who will incorporate it into your final lecture grade as indicated in your course syllabus. An explanation of each grade category is provided in the next section.
Final Grade Distribution
Orientation 5%
Project 1 15%
Project 2 15%
Project 3 15%
Project 4 15%
Project 5 20%
NMR Workshop 5%
Characterization Problem Set 10%
NOTE: In order to be permitted to advance to CHEM 206, you must earn a grade of 60% or greater in CHEM 205 Lab!
Grade Category Descriptions & Grading Practices
Orientation Workshop: The orientation workshop is completed during the first week of the semester. The purpose of the workshop is to familiarize you with lab operations, safety guidelines, and digital materials you are required to use in this course.
Projects: The laboratory experience is divided into projects. Work required to complete each project spans multiple weeks. Each project is built around an overall objective and includes various assignments that enable you to accomplish the goal. Early in the course, projects include a variety of learning assignments that will familiarize you with new laboratory techniques and analytical methods. Later projects focus on the application of skills learned in the first half of the course. An explanation of the various types of assignments that may be included within a project score is given below. The Overview page for any project outlines in detail how each assignment will contribute to the total project score.
• Workshops: Workshops are learning experiences that may involve online work, in-lab work, or a combination of both. The purpose of a workshop is to introduce you to a concept and give you a chance to practice related skills. Workshops often are structured as active learning experiences in which you must use data to draw conclusions about the relevant concept.
• Proficiency Quizzes: Proficiency Quizzes are short tests that are completed in Blackboard. Each proficiency quiz is associated with a specific workshop concept. Your goal should be to master the concepts presented in this course by the end of the semester. For that reason, you may retake the proficiency quizzes as many times as you wish before the last day of the classes. Your highest score on each proficiency quiz will be incorporated into the associated project score.
• Prelab Quizzes: Before you will be allowed to perform laboratory work for a project, you must complete the associated Prelab Quiz. These assignments are short (~10 questions) assessments that are completed in Blackboard. In order to answer the questions successfully, you should read the laboratory procedure, review any relevant techniques, and prepare your laboratory notebook prior to taking the quiz. Prelab Quizzes are due BEFORE the associated lab meeting and may only be attempted once.
• Lab Notebook: Your lab notebook will take the form of an electronic document for each project, a template for which is provided. Your notebook must be completed according to the information presented in the Lab Notebook section of the website and any specific instructions provided for each project.
NMR Workshop: The NMR Workshop is a multi-week learning experience focused on one of the most complex and informative analytical tools used by organic chemists. It spans multiple Projects and therefore has a separate grade.
Characterization Problem Set: You will complete a Characterization Problem Set that will help you learn to synthesize characterization data from the various techniques employed this semester. The goal of the problem set is to help you learn to make an effective argument regarding the structural identity of a compound.