Attendance at quizzes, mid-term exam, practicals: 

• If you are unable to attend a practicnal class, exam, or hand in a form of assessment due to illness or misadventure, you must submit a Disruption to Studies notification at ask.mq.edu.au no later than five (5) working days after the assessment task date or due date.  You should also immediately contact the Unit Convenor, Professor Robert Willows (robert.willows@mq.edu.au).
• You may only attend the practical classes for which you are enrolled, as shown in your eStudent timetable.

Final grade: 

• Your final grade will be based on the mark from the aggregation of the individual assessments (in-class and online quizzes, mid-semester test, practical), but you must obtain a Pass grade or better (40% or greater) in the final examination to be awarded an overall Pass grade or better. That is, you must meet this hurdle in the final exam to be able to pass overall.

​Online Quizzes

Due: Weeks 4, 9 and 12 Weighting: 10% 

There will be three on-line quizzes.  You will find that these quizzes assist you in revising the course material as the course progresses.  Further specific details on the quizzes will be provided at the CBMS108/618 iLearn site.

• Quiz 1 (on line) due Thur 24th August at 11 pm 
• Quiz 2 (on line) due Thur 13th October at 11 pm 
• Quiz 3 (in class) due Thur 3rd Nov at 2 pm

See General Assessment Information below for further information on the requirements for the CBMS618 assessment tasks.

This Assessment Task relates to the following Learning Outcomes:

• Describe and predict reactions of matter including precipitation, acid base chemistry and oxidation/reduction processes and the energetics and rates of chemical change, and explain methods of detection and analysis of matter.
• Explain the chemical and physical properties of solids, liquids and gases, metals and solutions.
• Discuss the central role and impact of the chemical and biomolecular sciences concepts covered in this unit in our lives and its modern applications.

PRACTICALS

​Due: every practical Weighting: 25% 

The pre-practical exercises, performance in the practical, the practical report, and the post-practical exercises will be used to calculate the final practical mark.  The assessment tasks start off simple and build on skills and knowledge developed throughout the course.  

Attendance: If you are unable to attend a practical class, exam, or hand in a form of assessment due to illness or misadventure, you must submit a Disruption to Studies notification at ask.mq.edu.au no later than five (5) working days after the assessment task date or due date.  You should also immediately contact the Unit Convenor, Professor Robert Willows (robert.willows@mq.edu.au).  

This Assessment Task relates to the following Learning Outcomes:

• Describe and predict reactions of matter including precipitation, acid base chemistry and oxidation/reduction processes and the energetics and rates of chemical change, and explain methods of detection and analysis of matter.
• Solve problems and process and interpret data related to the chemistry and biomolecular sciences concepts covered in this unit, and have an understanding of where to apply these concepts.
• Undertake laboratory investigations requiring basic laboratory skills related to the reactions of matter and the energetics and rates of reaction, and their detection and analysis, and demonstrate an awareness of general laboratory safety procedures.
• Record and analyse scientific data, as well as judge its reliability and significance and interpret and communicate conclusions, including using the basic elements of scientific report preparation.

Mid-term Exam

Due: Week 7 Weighting: 15% 

There will be a 50 minute test in Week 7 in the lecture room (unless approved special conditions are obtained via Wellbeing) and will cover lectures up to the end of buffers. This is designed to give you specific feedback on your understanding of the topics up to this stage to assist you in your further study of the unit.

See General Assessment Information below for further information on the requirements for the CBMS618 assessment tasks.

This Assessment Task relates to the following Learning Outcomes:

• Describe and predict reactions of matter including precipitation, acid base chemistry and oxidation/reduction processes and the energetics and rates of chemical change, and explain methods of detection and analysis of matter.
• Explain the chemical and physical properties of solids, liquids and gases, metals and solutions.
• Discuss the central role and impact of the chemical and biomolecular sciences concepts covered in this unit in our lives and its modern applications.

Final Examination

Due: University Examination Period Weighting: 50% 

The final exam (50%) will be 3 hours in length with 10 minutes reading time. It is designed to address specific understanding of all the topics presented within the course and to show that the knowledge obtained can be applied to new problems. 

The final exam is a hurdle assessment and you will need to get >= 40% in the final exam to meet the hurdle.  In the event that you make a serious first attempt at the final exam, you will be provided with an opportunity to sit a new final exam to meet the hurdle. The faculty define a serious attempt as a mark of 10% below the hurdle which in this instance is a mark between 30-40%. You will NOT be given a second attempt to pass the exam if you get below 30% in your first attempt.

Final Examination Details:  The examination timetable will be available in Draft form approximately eight weeks before the commencement of the examinations and in final form approximately four weeks before the commencement of the examinations.  You are expected to present yourself for examination at the time and place designated by the University in the Examination Timetable.  This could be any day after the final week of semester and up until the final day of the official examination period.  It is Macquarie University policy to not set early examinations for individuals or groups of students.  All students are expected to ensure that they are available until the end of the teaching semester, that is, the final day of the official examination period.  NOTE:  If you apply for a supplementary examination, you must make yourself available for the week of Dec 4-8, 2017.  If you are not available at that time, there is no guarantee an additional examination time will be offered. Specific examination dates and times will be determined at a later date.  

The only exception to sitting an examination at the designated time is because of documented illness or unavoidable disruption.  Absence from the final exam will result in a grade of F except in the case of a genuine medical emergency or misadventure as defined by the University (see below).  In these circumstances you should apply for a Supplementary Exam at ask.mq.edu.au.

See General Assessment Information below for further information on the requirements for the CBMS108 assessment tasks.

Lectures

Lectures will be presented formally, although quizzes and general questions may be asked in class, demonstrations provided, and examples of problems worked through, to strengthen and increase understanding of the concepts. Most lecture material will be available on the unit web site, while other material will be provided in the lecture class. You are expected to download the lecture material and bring it into the lecture class so you can spend most of the time listening to the lecturer rather than transcribing. Do not assume these notes or recordings/video capture are a suitable substitute to attending the lectures. Students historically fall behind and perform poorly if they do not attend the lecture classes and often further material is provided in the lecture class, so a student that does not attend the class will not be as well prepared as they would otherwise be. Learning is an active process, and as such, you must engage with the material. This means downloading and reading the lecture notes and relevant sections of the textbook (and beyond) before and after lectures is strongly recommended. A quiz and a mid session test will be run in the lecture classes. The quiz will be multiple choice and short, but cover material in recent weeks prior to that days lecture, therefore all students are expected to keep up to date with lecture material through revision each week. Additional on-line quizzes will also be provided. The quizzes and mid session test are designed to allow you to continuously learn and to identify what you understand and the areas that you need to spend more time on, with minimal assessment penalty.

Tutorials

Tutorials will be run to assist your understanding of the course material. Attempting the questions before the tutorial class to identify what you need assistance on is highly recommended. The tutor will often ask for students to assist in answering the questions throughout the class. Attendance records will be kept. While tutorials do not contribute formally to your mark, anonymous teaching evaluations from past students have identified tutorials as a valuable learning tool.

Laboratory classes

Practical classes are designed to develop basic laboratory skills, general safety practices and critical and analytical thought. Pre-practical questions are designed to make sure you are ready for the practical work and have grasped the relevant theory and safety practices necessary. In-lab and post-lab work are designed to allow you to appropriately record your experimental observations and your calculations in a detailed and accurate manner and assess your understanding of the theory behind the experiments conducted and to use this understanding to solve related problems. The practicals are scaffolded such that the expectations of pre-practical, in-practical and post-practical reports increase throughout the course as understanding of the concepts and skill in how to record the data and interpret results develops.