Do you guys have any tips on doing well in a general chem labs? The labs at my

[alexfoleyc]

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The labs at my university are seriously killer courses! You should feel highly satisfied with a B. In a class of 26, only 1 or 2 students get an A. And most will drop out of the course. While the ones in between end up with a C. They are only 1 credit but require a good amount of time dedication, yet studying for hours is still not enough to do well. I screwed up both of my bio labs. I do not wish to screw up in my chem labs. It is not the lab itself that is tough, rather the practicals are extremely hard. The practical exams account for 70 percent of your grade. Bio labs required a lot of memorization. Are chem labs like that?

Even though labs are only one credit, they do have much influence on the science gpa. So, any tips on how to do well on a general chemistry lab practical exam? And the class in general?

 

[loveoforganic]

What exactly are your practicals on? I can't think of anything in gen chem that would be so involved

 

[Dotsin]

Study your @ss off

 

[URHere]

A few things that will help you with just about any undergraduate lab:

1) Read the manual. Actually read it (skimming doesn't teach you the details), then read it again, and then try to explain it to someone else in detail. If they don't understand what you are trying to say, then go back and read it again.

2) Keep a good lab notebook. Write down everything you do, exactly how you do it, and why you are doing it. When you study later, go back and read through your lab book. If your notes are good enough, that should be all you need.

3) Be careful with your experiments. I know that in college, your grade doesn't depend on your percent yield, but you are much more likely to actually understand and remember what you are doing if you do the experiments well. Be precise with how much you add, avoid contamination, and just pay attention.

 

[Lukkie]

try to find the smartest kid in the class and become his lab partner

 

[URHere]

try to find the smartest kid in the class and become his lab partner

Also, make sure your lab station isn't right across from "that guy" who is notorious for hooking up his tubing improperly and spraying water everywhere.

Samples never dry correctly when doused with EPIC AMOUNTS of water.

 

[austinap]

Study your @ss off

I've taught organic labs for the past two years, and my best advice is to understand the format and the expectations. Students seem to lose points primarily in two areas: first, by not recording their results accurately or by just not doing the work, but primarily by not following instructions when writing up their results. The first you can fix by just putting in the effort and keeping a good notebook. The second takes a bit more work.

I think it's often under emphasized how important communication is to science, and I think that's unfortunate. Sure, you need to be able to understand the science, but nobody is going to care what you discovered if you can't communicate it to them. It's a skill, but it's one that you can gain with practice. In the case of a lab, you need to be able to efficiently communicate the point of the lab and your results to your instructor.

In the sections I've taught, students are graded primarily on their lab write-ups. While there were some students that routinely lost points for inaccurate (or just plain wrong) explanations of their data, most points were lost because I simply wasn't able to figure out what they were trying to say. My advice here: read some scientific articles, learn the terminology that applies to whatever experiment you're doing, and spend a bit of time trying to organize your thoughts before you start writing.

One last thing: write-ups are one of the best examples of a 'less-is-more' situation. Don't write just for the sake of filling the space, just try to convey your ideas in the clearest (and shortest) possible way.

 

[Mattabet]

I know that in college, your grade doesn't depend on your percent yield

...Except when it does. The phrase 'percent yield' still gives me shivers. I know that I lost points for low percent yields (such as 0%. Hey, it's the thought that counts).

 

[loveoforganic]

Oh God, your 'percent yield' comment is giving me flashbacks of quantitative analysis lab. % Error isn't exactly the same thing, but close enough!

 

[Toadesque]

gen chem lab was one of the worst experiences i ever had. i got c's both semesters. gen chem I lab was even worse. the labs were really hard and you were graded based on how accurate your results were. i remember on a 200 point lab i lost 60 points automatically because the wrote down the wrong compound, and then on numerous labs you lose credit for percent error.

Gen Chem II lab was actually a lot easier but unfortunately for me, my professor got really sick on the 2nd day and we had a sub for the rest of the term. He had no idea what to do with the labs and couldn't help us with them so we would just turn them in to him and he would hand them off to someone else to grade. We never got our labs back until the end of the semester lol. Qualitative analysis was fun though. Even though it's ridiculous how we were graded.

Overall it's probably gonna be terrible for you too, you put in 6-8 hours a week in the lab and most of the time you won't get a grade that reflects your effort.

I'm actually happy about going to o-chem lab, i heard it's way more fun.

 

[Charles English]

Oh God, your 'percent yield' comment is giving me flashbacks of quantitative analysis lab. % Error isn't exactly the same thing, but close enough!

this was me last semester. i now have shivers too. i once had a relative standard deviation of 0.5% (most times we shot for <2.0%) and got a 60 😱.

everything else was fine. on the rubric i only lost points for being soooo far off the true value. that class took a few years off the back end of my life for sure.

 

[CoolWhipp]

...1) Read the manual...

Most questions I came up with were answered the second or third time I read the manual.

 

[image187]

Also, make sure your lab station isn't right across from "that guy" who is notorious for hooking up his tubing improperly and spraying water everywhere.

Samples never dry correctly when doused with EPIC AMOUNTS of water.

dude last year my orgo lab partner was "that guy" and sprayed water in my face by accident doing that lol


to the poster, there is no substitution for good studying and working out problems. Try to understand the idea of the experiment and what lesson it teaches, and drink mad caffeine