CHM1052: Chemistry 2 advanced

10 weekly quizzes worth 1% each(total of 10%)
Lab work worth 35% in total, includes 7 prelab exercises(worth about 4%) and 6 lab reports(although one is split into 2 parts)(worth the other 31%).
Final exam worth 55%

This subject was very well-run. I appreciated the clear separation between the 1022 and 1052 content, as well as how the workshops were run. I found them well-paced and generally went through most of the content that was a little more tricky. Personally I lost interest about the second week into the unit, with the organic content being a bit different from high school and I found it both difficult and a little dry. The labs were done online, and I don't think they were adapted very well. Joel took the first 6 weeks, which was organic chemistry. He was pretty good, but I preferred David Turner's style of using powerpoints with the answers to help go through everything. David is an entertaining character, and he helped make inorganic chemistry more engaging. My least favourite week was week 12 but that's probably because I read the word 'bio' and tuned out. But it seemed to have a lot more content than the other weeks.
The assessment was pretty good, definitely a step up from 1051 with having to do an actual lab report, but overall pretty fair and not too much of a workload.
My main recommendation is to try to engage, make sure to ask questions in workshops(if you're confused, I guarantee other people are too) and just to keep up with the content. Don't go in expecting things to be like high school, organic chemistry especially introduces some difficult concepts and ignores other ones that were seen as important earlier.

We had 8 lecturers overall.
There were 6 lecturers delivering the CHM1022 content(one per 2 weeks) and 2 lecturers giving the CHM1052 content(one per 6 weeks). The CHM1052 lecturers also attended our workshop for their area, and Sara Kyne also helped out at the workshop throughout the semester.

CHM1022 lecturers:
David Lupton-Weeks 1/2(Introduction to organic chemistry/aromaticity)
Sara Kyne-Weeks 3/4(Chemical detectives/stereochemistry)
Philip Wai Hong Chan-Weeks 5/6(ketones and aldehydes/acids, esters and amides)
Drasko Vidovic-Weeks 7/8(introduction to transition metals/compounds and complexes)
Stuart Batten-Weeks 9/10(ligands/crystal field theory)
Victoria Blair-Weeks 11/12(colour and magnetism/bioinorganic chemistry)

CHM1052 lecturers:
Joel Hooper-Weeks 1-6(organic chemistry)
David Turner-Weeks 7-12(inorganic chemistry)

Yes, 2 practice exams were available

4 out of 5

Yes, only way to access lectures was via recordings. Some recordings were from previous years.

Chemistry Atoms First, and Chemistry 4e. Both are available online, neither were particularly useful. The prereadings have textbook pages for reference but they aren't really necessary.

One 1 hour workshop per week, one 1 hour lab most weeks. It was done online so would have been about a 3.5 hour lab in person.
Plus roughly 2 hours of online lecture content to watch in your own time

2021 semester 2(all online)

89 HD

35% - x6 labs
10% - x10 preworkshop quizzes (1% each)
55% - exam

-Preworkshop quiz due each Sunday night before you start that week. Helps you keep up to date with content.
-textbook prescribed reading is unnecessary to read imo, I only read for the first week, they cover everything thoroughly in preworkshop material/lectures
-Each week: >read preworkshop material and write notes
>do preworkshop quiz
>watch lectures and add extra bits to notes if needed
>skim (or if you have time try) workshop worksheet
>workshop (ask questions, try to participate)
+try finishing lab work soon after lab so it's fresh in your mind
-preworkhop quiz is easy marks, you get two attempts at each.
-labs (-2020 online learning-) were a lot of mc questions/drag and drop/select from drop down, however there were discussions and conclusions that had to be written by yourself. I'm assuming it's harder when it's irl?
-try your hardest on in-sem assessments so you have more room for error in exam. (I found the exam much harder than the in-semester assessments).-

Dr Sarah Kyne (unit coord.)
Dr Joel Hooper
Dr David Turner
Dr Drasko Vidovic
Dr Victoria Blair
Prof Stuart Batten
Dr Brett Paterson

Yes, two

4 out of 5

Yes

They provide you with pdf/online textbook 'Chemistry: Atoms first 2e' and 'Chemistry, 4e'

~2h lecture per week
1h workshop per week
1h zoom lab (When irl 4h lab) ev 2nd week

2020

84 HD

Unlike the first semester where it feels like you've learnt a bunch of crap and will probably have trouble seeing where it relates until the end, this semester everything is structured and makes sense. The unit can be easily broken into 2 topics, organic and inorganic chemistry.

Organic Chemistry
This single chemistry section is going to be the most similar to VCE chemistry. The first three weeks are all about naming organic molecules, what organic molecules look like, how to make them, how to identify them using various methods (namely NMR, Mass spec and IR spectroscopy) and finally about stability and aromaticity.

The next three weeks is a repeat of all the biological chem stuff from VCE (minus biofuels), and some polymerisation tagged on at the end.

There's not really much else to say about this section - you've probably never seen a mechanism before, and might not have heard of carbocation stability - but otherwise, there's not much new stuff.

Inorganic Chemistry
This section revolves entirely around metal complexes, in particular focusing on the 3d metals - that is, the metals where the 3d sub-shell is the outer shell. You learn all about the different kinds of complexes that can form, naming them, and finish it all up with some Crystal Field Theory and applications in biological systems.

This section is a LOT emptier than the previous one, and you might feel like you're often repeating things you already knew. However, this is mainly because of the lack of inorganic chemistry in year 12.

However, something to note is that a lot of what you did last semester will come back into the game this semester - whilst there will be no calculations, thermodynamics will often be mentioned ("more thermodynamically stable" is Phil's favourite phrase), equilibrium constants will be mentioned, MO theory and VSEPR (more MO theory) and all the orbitals/sub-shell diagrams come into the game more often this semester than last semester when you actually learned it.

Practical Work
This semester, the practical work is a LOT more related to what you'll be doing in lectures. Whilst last semester, it was more a case of "here's pretty chemistry stuff" with little reference to lecture material, your labs are split equally into organic and inorganic labs.

On top of this, half of your lab mark is comprised of two extended investigations - one to determine the composition of some unknown chemical and then synthesise it, and the other to determine the percentage composition of two cymbals (Chris is an avid drummer, y'see... There is no real way to explain it. It must be felt in those pre-lab videos). These investigations were my FAVOURITE part of the CHM1052 labs - there was very little guidance from the demonstrator, and the whole prac was very open-ended in how we could do it. There was definitely a direction the demonstrators wanted us to go in, but it was up to us to find and go in the direction. I know quite a few people struggled with these labs, however they were also my highest scoring labs of the semester (probably second highest of the year), because I just found them that interesting and wanted to devote that kind of time to them.
Something else to note - the extended investigations will only really require you for 3 hours (although you can take more time if you wanted - not suggested for the organic ones, though you'll find out why during it), however the other labs are quite intense, and are a real step up. Unlike last semester where you probably very rarely went until 6, expect to use all 4 hours this time round. Unlike last semester, this time the labs are very different to 1022, and you will be tested.

• Kellie Tuck
• Phil Andrews

Kellie is an AMAZING lecturer and quite honestly my favourite lecturer ever - of all time. I'm looking into doing a second year research project, and am considering asking her to be my supervisor just because she was that good. She really puts the effort in to make sure you understand everything, and does her best to teach it in a way that is very understandable.

Phil on the other hand wasn't that great (however, I know a lot of people who will argue this). Not to say he's bad at what he does, however his lectures definitely lacked a certain structure that I craved. I didn't feel like I was learning anything with him, and it was after he stepped in that I stopped going to lectures.

No, but there were two CHM1022 sample exams - however, neither were very indicative of the actual exam.

4.5 out of 5

Yes, with screen capture.

"Prescribed" text is Blackman, again. However, there was a separate book recommended for the organic section of the unit titled "An Introduction to Organic Chemistry" by William H. Brown. It should be available from the library.

2014, semester 2

81, HD