Failure rate for Chem1011 (1 Viewer)

[rainbow612]

i was thinking about doing chem at uni but i am not sure how difficult it is. I didn't like it that much in high school.

I heard it has a high failure rate and that it was quite hard and it isn't taught very well, is this true?

Does anyone have info on the pass/fail rate?

 

[Manipp]

Dunno about failure rates as such, but I personally found it was taught quite poorly, with the exception of Nick Roberts in the first few weeks, the rest was a bit disorganized, and god forbid if you think of switching between lecture streams.

That said, if you've done HSC or Year 11 Chem, it's basically a rerun, and it's not particularly difficult. I'd never done any Chem before uni, but I got 70 for the subject without really doing all that much studying, so I don't think it's particularly difficult.

Chem1021, surprisingly, is far better structured and easier to understand.

 

[rainbow612]

alright, sounds ok.

so, for those who have done chem 1011 how did u find it?

 

[EdmondDW]

It depends on different people...Actually I got a pretty high mark for that but some of my friends failed...so it is hard to say...

alright, sounds ok.

so, for those who have done chem 1011 how did u find it?

 

[Rekkusu]

Unless if you love chemistry and have an extremely good chemistry mark. This course is taught so badly that you can align it with 2nd Year Genetics.

Also the 1st year Chem courses will probably never be improved since some idiot thought that if they placed Chemistry as pre-req for pretty much every BABS major, they'd get hundreds of students enrolling in this course = lots of money.

If it weren't for the pre-req, CHEM10XX would probably be under-enrolled, and all the crappy lecturers would be fired there.

You never know about failure rates, in 06 we knew, but now it's almost definitely changed since you guys now have a mid-session test based entirely on organic chemistry.

For the 60 or so people I knew who did CHEM in my year, only 2 people achieved HDs. The rest of us hated it, even if you placed 90% time to study for CHEM, all you get is a pass-credit. 6 People have repeated CHEM1011, and out of those 6, 3 failed again. Those who passed 1011, failed in 1021. It's creepy statistics haha but of course its different for everyone and every year

 

[Tim035]

If you did HSC chem, then the 1st 1/2 of CHEM1011 is basically complete revision. The 2nd half, there is some new stuff with thermodynamics and organic chemistry but even that is pretty basic.
Being a pre-requisite for everything means you probabley should do it 1st year, unless you have your heart set, and know exactly what you want to major in and that it doesn't have chem1011 as a pre-requ.
- If you do the tutes (and redo them before exams) as well as the past papers they hand you, then a HD is achievable.

 

[Rekkusu]

Note that no answers are given for the tuts. The tutor won't give you the answers to all the 'yellow' tut sheets either.

 

[Morbo]

I'm doing CHEM1011 at the moment and can say that it is a complete bore. I did CHEM1031 in Semester 1 and failed miserably because I stopped attending lectures during the organic chemistry section and didn't even turn up for tutorials, labs or even the final exam lol. If you have done Chemistry in high school I strongly recommend you do 1031 (its about the same difficulty as 1011 if you have had no prior chemistry knowledge), its far more interesting and if you did Chemistry of Art as your option in the HSC, that would help you immensely in the first half of the course. Just attend all lectures and you should do fine. However, the labs can be very tiresome, mixing chemicals together, putting it on the steam bath and repeating with two other chemicals can get rather repetitive and boring especially if you are doing this for 3 hours (2 for 1011).

 

[Forbidden.]

I'm doing CHEM1011 at the moment and can say that it is a complete bore. I did CHEM1031 in Semester 1 and failed miserably because I stopped attending lectures during the organic chemistry section and didn't even turn up for tutorials, labs or even the final exam lol. If you have done Chemistry in high school I strongly recommend you do 1031 (its about the same difficulty as 1011 if you have had no prior chemistry knowledge), its far more interesting and if you did Chemistry of Art as your option in the HSC, that would help you immensely in the first half of the course. Just attend all lectures and you should do fine. However, the labs can be very tiresome, mixing chemicals together, putting it on the steam bath and repeating with two other chemicals can get rather repetitive and boring especially if you are doing this for 3 hours (2 for 1011).

Please describe your encounter with organic chemistry, it's not just alkanols or esters is it?

Rock On

 

[BIGTYMA]

Chem1011 is really basic chem they teach you the foundations ie moles, conc etc then it gets into alittle bit of organic chem in the second part of the sem. Only do this course if you didnt do chem in high school or your abosuletly shit at chem.

For those who did hsc chem i was suggest you do chem1031 as it is basicly a continuation of high school.

Except i found organic chem is hell in 1031 but managed to get through.

From i can gather chem1021 is chem1031 but a watered down version.

As for chem1041... ill tell you guys how it was after i finish it.

 

[Tim035]

Chem1011 is really basic chem they teach you the foundations ie moles, conc etc then it gets into alittle bit of organic chem in the second part of the sem. Only do this course if you didnt do chem in high school or your abosuletly shit at chem.

For those who did hsc chem i was suggest you do chem1031 as it is basicly a continuation of high school.

Except i found organic chem is hell in 1031 but managed to get through.

From i can gather chem1021 is chem1031 but a watered down version.

As for chem1041... ill tell you guys how it was after i finish it.

Or CHEM1011 / CHEM1021 is for those of us who got a band 6 in HSC chem and wanted to maximize our WAM in 1st year, by getting 87 & 85 in the subjects; and who aren't planning on doing a chem major, in which case most other subjects don't require more then what's taught in the fundamental courses.

 

[Morbo]

Well seeing as I've stopped attending CHEM1011 lectures now as well I wouldn't really know lol. From what I've gathered in tutes, its basically high school stuff (functional groups, organic reactions and so on). In CHEM1031, they did stuff like SN1/SN2 reactions and stuff like that which I have no idea what that is (hence, I stopped attending tutes because I didn't know what the hell was going on).

 

[Nebuchanezzar]

Please describe your encounter with organic chemistry, it's not just alkanols or esters is it?

Rock On

Its more or less functional group analysis from memory, but that stuff is vital for the more enjoyable second year stuff. Oh my yes.

I enjoyed 1st sem chem at unsw. Lecturers weren't fantastic (Nick Roberts is good) and I was afraid I was going to fail all the way through the unit because I was finding it somewhat difficult, but I ended up with a fairly decent mark (73 I believe). Anna Choy was my tutor, as well as the duty tutor lady, as well as one of the course co-ordinators so I found her tutoring and coaching pretty helpful. Try to get in one of her tutorials or suffer, I suppose.

 

[Forbidden.]

Its more or less functional group analysis from memory, but that stuff is vital for the more enjoyable second year stuff. Oh my yes.

I enjoyed 1st sem chem at unsw. Lecturers weren't fantastic (Nick Roberts is good) and I was afraid I was going to fail all the way through the unit because I was finding it somewhat difficult, but I ended up with a fairly decent mark (73 I believe). Anna Choy was my tutor, as well as the duty tutor lady, as well as one of the course co-ordinators so I found her tutoring and coaching pretty helpful. Try to get in one of her tutorials or suffer, I suppose.

Anna Choi is pretty cool, she's asian and doesn't even have an asian accent at all.
Did you or anyone of you have Prof. Bishop as a lecturer?

 

[jemsta]

i remember having that indian lady as one of my lecturers.
She was fucking horrible. And i agree...nick roberts is teh awesome.

 

[EdmondDW]

I cannot understand Indian accent at alll...I drop every course if I found the lecturer is Indian...
It doesn't mean anything else, I know some Indians r really good at researching...but I can not understand their accents...That is all...

i remember having that indian lady as one of my lecturers.
She was fucking horrible. And i agree...nick roberts is teh awesome.

 

[Nebuchanezzar]

Anna Choi is pretty cool, she's asian and doesn't even have an asian accent at all.
Did you or anyone of you have Prof. Bishop as a lecturer?

Yes...Bishop. I'm split about him. On one hand he was an ancient dicksmack who refused to put his notes online or anything like that, which is a sin when it comes to organic chem. On the other hand, I asked him to speak louder (he did), and asked him to put up a summary online (he did), and he answered all my nerdy questions about organic chem, so he can't be all that bad.

I figure that most of my mark for that course came from the organic component.

 

[ichiraku]

I had Prof. Black as my lecturer for organic chem. He was pretty good at explaining the concepts and answering queries. Very old school though - always wrote everything on the black boards and wore a lab coat into the lecture.

I agree that Anna Choy is probably one of the best tutors in the school of Chem. If she hasn't already, ask her to hold a revision lecture or make use of the time she is in the study lab and ask her questions. Way better than my actual tutor.

 

[Forbidden.]

Yes...Bishop. I'm split about him. On one hand he was an ancient dicksmack who refused to put his notes online or anything like that, which is a sin when it comes to organic chem. On the other hand, I asked him to speak louder (he did), and asked him to put up a summary online (he did), and he answered all my nerdy questions about organic chem, so he can't be all that bad.

I figure that most of my mark for that course came from the organic component.

Hahahaha ancient dicksmack and Bishop doesn't speak very loudly but uses the microphone.
Now he is no longer teaching Organic Chemistry (it's taught by Dr Anthony Granville who is this young American fella who is actually better).

 

[Omium]

I had Prof. Black as my lecturer for organic chem. He was pretty good at explaining the concepts and answering queries. Very old school though - always wrote everything on the black boards and wore a lab coat into the lecture.

I agree that Anna Choy is probably one of the best tutors in the school of Chem. If she hasn't already, ask her to hold a revision lecture or make use of the time she is in the study lab and ask her questions. Way better than my actual tutor.

Could you post a pik or a link to a pik of her.
I think i might have her for a tute. but i dont know her name :S