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CHEM2054 – Experimental Chemistry

Lecturer Dr Jack Clegg
Course Link UQ Site
Faculty Science
Prerequisites None
Contact Hours 1 Contact hour, 6 Practical or Laboratory hours
Semester(s) Taught Semester 1
Course Units 2
Submit reviewView reviews (4)

Rating

Total average

89.2/100
Learning Materials ( 86 )
Learning Activities ( 98.8 )
Blackboard Management ( 89.5 )
Course Content ( 89.8 )
Course Structure ( 85.3 )
Contact Availability ( 97.3 )
Course Difficulty ( 77.8 )

Reviews (4)

Anonymous
   
CHEM2054 – Experimental Chemistry 80.3

This is the course where I've learnt the most so far in my degree. You can't help but learn, as you're in the lab 6 hours a week, but it's honestly worth it - especially if you enjoy chemistry or are just on the hunt for some lab experience. Sometimes you will finish 4 or 5 hours into the lab - they deliberately give you excess time so you can get it done without rushing.
They definitely mark the lab reports a bit too harshly but there is no final examination which is a major plus. The lab tutors were fantastic. This course made me discover my interest in structure determination and inorganic chemistry. This course will equip you with many skills and allow you to figure out what aspects of chemistry you enjoy most. Highly recommend!
Semester taken

Semester 1 - 2022

Your program/major

BSc

Is lecture attendance necessary?

For error analysis and structure elucidation - yes. Otherwise, not super necessary.

Is the textbook necessary?

Not really

Positives
  • Great practical, hands-on lab experience
  • No examination component
  • Attentive and chill tutors
Negatives
  • New content in labs can sometimes be overwhelming
  • Harsh marking (reports and results sheets)
Posted on July 15, 2022 4:29 pm
Anonymous
   
CHEM2054 – Experimental Chemistry 84.1

This was a really good course and would highly recommend it. The labs are interesting and fun for the most part and the tutors are very entertaining and helpful. Would recommend choosing a prac class that is on all day so you can let things dry over the break. The results sheets and full reports are monstrous but the tutors and lecturers are helpful with difficult concepts. I did the course semester 1,2017 (the first year with an exam).
Semester taken

Semester 2 - 2016

Your program/major

B Science

Is lecture attendance necessary?

not really

Is the textbook necessary?

no

Positives No positive points
Negatives No negative points
Posted on June 15, 2017 11:30 am
Anonymous
   
CHEM2054 – Experimental Chemistry 97.3

This is definitely one of the best courses I've taken so far. Unlike the rushed, stressful practicals in first year chemistry courses, there are six hours of prac per week (in two three-hour sessions) so there was PLENTY of time to get things done. In fact, some of the experiments only took four or five of the six hours. This meant that it was never stressful and if you made mistakes in your experiments, there was no need to panic at all. Most importantly it also allows you to think about and appreciate the chemistry. Another difference from first year was that experiments were performed alone rather than in pairs.

The course is divided, somewhat unevenly, into two sections: the first four experiments are inorganic, and the other six experiments are organic chemistry. The first five experiments require you to submit results sheets (which are not simply a sheet of results - there are questions and calculations you have to do) and the other five experiments require full written reports (approx. 8-10 pages each). These required considerably more effort, time and thought than the results sheets but needed to be done in the same time frame of one week. This may sound like a lot of time but with assessment from other courses, these full reports almost killed me. However, despite almost dying every week in the second half of the semester, I actually found them quite enjoyable to write.

I would highly recommend this course to be done with CHEM2050. The pracs line up well with the content taught in CHEM2050 so they complement each other and I would have found it difficult to do well in this course if I hadn't done 2050 at the same time. I would also recommend choosing a prac group that has both three-hour sessions in one day because that way you can set up equipment in the first session for use later in the second session, and you can also use the one-hour break in between the two sessions to leave your product to dry with vacuum. Another thing I would recommend is to really make use of the tutors, lab staff and lecturer(s) - they are always keen to help and want you to do well.

NOTE: I took this in Semester 1 2016 but this is not an option in 'Semester taken'.
Semester taken

Semester 2 - 2015

Your program/major

Chem major

Is lecture attendance necessary?

Perhaps - but you can just look at the slides. But for some reason they actually took attendance at first but all they did was send the absent people an email asking them why they didn\'t attend the lecture.

Is the textbook necessary?

There is no textbook

Positives
  • You get to play with chemicals
  • Challenging in an enjoyable way
  • Fun and interesting
Negatives
  • Some lectures out of sync with NMR knowledge needed for reports
  • Had multiple near death experiences from writing the reports
  • Tutors seem to have an infallible tendency to pick out small, meaningless errors in reports and take off part marks so it was difficult to get 20/20
Posted on July 15, 2016 2:05 pm
Alice Galbraith
   
CHEM2054 – Experimental Chemistry 95.0

I loved this course!! If you have a free elective and plan on doing anything related to lab work I highly recommend this course!

Semester taken

Semester 1 - 2015

Your program/major

Chemical Sciences

Is lecture attendance necessary?

not at all

Is the textbook necessary?

No textbook

Positives
  • Very stimulating course
  • Tutors and lab staff were great
  • fast feedback
Negatives
  • Prac manual unclear at times but not a big deal
Posted on June 19, 2016 6:55 pm

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