Requirements to Pass this Unit

To pass this unit you must:

• Achieve a total mark equal to or greater than 50% overall, and
• Participate in, and undertake all hurdle activities (practical attendance)
• Achieve at least 40% in the final examination

PARTICIPATION in workshops, quizzes, mid-term exam, practicals: 

• If you are unable to attend a practical class, or exam, or hand in a form of assessment due to illness or misadventure, you must submit a request for special consideration no later than five (5) working days after the assessment task date or due date.  Information for Special consideration can be found here: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/my-study-program/special-consideration
• You should also immediately contact the Unit Convenor, Dr Abidali Mohamedali (abidali.mohamedali@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 exceed the hurdle threshold mark of 40% or greater in the final examination to be awarded an overall Pass grade or better. That is, you must meet this hurdle to be able to pass overall. If you get between 30-40% you will get a second attempt at the exam but ONLY if you can pass the unit with a grade of 40% in the final exam. The SECOND attempt is to demonstrate that you have obtained a minimum level of understanding to pass the unit and your maximum grade in the SECOND attempt will be 40% of the final exam mark. It is university policy that you cannot improve your mark more than the hurdle boundary mark if you are given a SECOND attempt.

​ONLINE QUIZZES

Due: 10 Weekly online quizzes from Weeks 2-12 (Check iLearn as any weeks without a SGTA (Small Group Learning Activity) do not have a quiz). Weighting: 15% 

There will be 10 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 CHEM1002 iLearn site.

PRACTICALS

​Due: To be submitted at the conclusion of every practical class. Weighting: 20%. You must attend all 5 of the practical sessions. If you cannot you must submit a special consideration request. 

The pre-practical (pre-labs) 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.

Pre-practicals exercises for practicals 1, 3, 4 and 5 must be handed in online on iLearn the WEEKEND PRIOR to your scheduled practical class. See iLearn for dates for online submission prior to the practical class. These "pre-labs" represent 20% of the mark for these 4 lab classes and will guide you in the data analysis for the practical class.

Practical reports are due at the end of the each practical class and post-practical excersises due ONE WEEK after the sheduled practical session. 

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, Dr Abidali Mohamedali (abiodali.mohamedali@mq.edu.au).  

MID SEMESTER TEST

Due: Wednesday 6th September during the lecture time. Weighting: 15% 

Covering lectures up to and including week 6 content. 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 iLearn for location and details.

FINAL EXAMINATION

Due: University Examination Period Weighting: 50% 

The final exam is designed to address a specific understanding of all the topics presented within the course and to show that the knowledge obtained can be applied to new problems. Details of the final exam length will be made available as part of publishing the university exam timetable.

The final exam is a hurdle assessment and you will need to get >= 40% in the final exam to meet the hurdle.  If 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 meet the exam hurdle of 40% if you get below 30% in your first attempt. The Final exam is a hurdle requirment as passing it ensures you have met the mimimum learning outcomes for this foundational unit. The concepts taught in this unit form the basis of your 2nd and 3rd year units in your degree. 

Final Examination Details:  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 the semester and up until the final day of the official examination period.  Macquarie University's policy is not to 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. The only exception to sitting an examination at the designated time is because of documented illness or unavoidable disruption. In these circumstances, you should apply for a Supplementary Exam at ask.mq.edu.au.

Late Assessment Submission

Late assessments are not accepted in this unit unless a Special Consideration has been submitted and approved.

Hurdle Assessments

Assessment: Practice-based task (0%)

Development of knowledge and skills requires continual practice at authentic problems in a laboratory-based setting. This unit has 5 laboratory classes and you must demonstrate your progress in developing and communicating knowledge and skills all these classes. This is a hurdle assessment meaning that failure to meet this requirement (attendance and participation) may result in a fail grade for the unit.

COVID Information and on-campus classes

Students are requested to minimise the risk of spreading COVID to themselves and others in accordance with the university and NSW Health guidelines: https://www.mq.edu.au/about/coronavirus-faqs and https://www.nsw.gov.au/covid-19/stay-safe.

Required Textbook:

"Chemistry the Central Science- Global Edition" by Brown and Lemay

Lectures (IN PERSON)

Week 1 Classes: Lectures commence in week one, with workshops and practicals beginning in week 2. Please refer to Ilearn for a detailed guide. 

Lectures will be run in person, and students must listen to lectures. In-person attendance makes for interactive sessions that enhance learning. Lecture recordings and supplementary shorter summaries will be available through iLEARN ECHO and PowerPoint slides via iLearn.  Lectures will also include working through examples of problems to strengthen and increase understanding of the concepts. Learning is an active process, so 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 attending the lectures is strongly recommended. Weekly online quizzes will also be provided, so it is strongly recommended that you listen and work through lecture examples before completing these quizzes. The quizzes are timed. The quizzes and mid-session tests allow you to learn continuously and identify what you understand and the areas you need to spend more time on, with minimal assessment penalty.

Workshops (Weekly in PERSON)

Workshops will be run to assist your understanding of the course material. Attempting the questions before the workshop to identify what you need assistance with is highly recommended. Teaching staff will often ask students to assist in answering the questions throughout the course. Participation records will be kept and logged. Anonymous teaching evaluations from past students have identified workshops as a valuable learning tool, and participation is thus critical for passing the unit. Workshops are interactive and are designed to consolidate the lectures. Students are advised to prepare for the workshops by ensuring all previous lectures are studied. 

Laboratory classes (On campus and are compulsory)

Practical classes are designed to develop basic laboratory skills, general safety practices and critical and analytical thought. Pre-practical questions are designed to ensure you are ready for the practical work and have grasped the necessary theory and safety practices. The pre-practical questions MUST be submitted online through iLearn by the due date, as in iLearn before the scheduled practical class. 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 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 an understanding of the concepts and skill in recording the data and interpreting results develops.

Methods of Communication

We will communicate with you via your university email and through announcements on iLearn. Queries to convenors can either be placed on the iLearn discussion board or sent to the unit convenor via the contact email on iLearn. Dr Abidali also has specific availability for drop-ins please use these to ensure continuous support of your learning. 

The detailed unit schedule will be available on Ilearn. The topics covered, however, are as below: 

1. Matter and Change
2. Electronic Structure of the Atom 
3. Electronic Orbitals
4. Electronic Configurations and the periodic table 
5. Bonding and Geometry
6. Transition metal Complexes
7. Gas Laws and Kinetic Theory 
8. Chemical Kinetics
9. Chemical Equilibria
10. Acid-base Equilibria
11. Oxidation and Reduction
12. Buffers and solubility equilibria
13. Thermochemistry
14. Spectroscopy

We value student feedback to be able to improve the way we offer our units continually. As such, we encourage students to provide constructive feedback via student surveys, to the teaching staff directly, or via the FSE Student Experience & Feedback link in the iLearn page.

Student feedback from the previous offering of this unit was very positive overall, with students pleased with the clarity around assessment requirements and the level of support from the teaching staff. As such, the workshop sessions have been made more interactive, and time increased from 1hr to 1.5hrs to enhance support and engagement with he unit.