CHM2951: Environmental Chemistry: Water

25% Laboratory reports
Hurdle requirement - you need an overall grade of 50% in lab reports to pass the unit. There were six lab sessions throughout the semester. There are 12 possible experiments, and at the start of the semester you are allocated a lab partner, a group of four (two pairs combined) and what experiments you'll be doing. I had a wonderful partner and group, which made the labs more entertaining! The labs consist of a pre-lab activity (usually a few questions to prepare you for what you'll be doing in the lab), doing the experiment in class and writing up the report afterwards. These reports were often quite long (1000+ words) and sometimes had questions not really discussed/explicitly related to the lab that had to be researched and referenced. The reports took up a lot of my time each week and most involved a bit of excel work/data analysis that also was time-consuming. Each report is due one week after your lab starting time.

15% Field trip reports
There were two field trips during semester that occurred during your lab time (instead of a lab experiment, you go on a field trip), so each report is worth 7.5%. The first trip was to the Yarra River, and the second was to Dandenong Creek. At each location, water quality and light measurements were taken, sediment and water samples were collected and site descriptions were written. I found that being able to take samples and do tasks that an environmental scientist/chemist/manager would do when looking at the health of a waterway was extremely beneficial and enjoyable. The following week, a 1-2hr tutorial takes place during the lab session where you go through the data and questions with your lab co-ordinator to help you know what to do when you start writing the report. You get two weeks to complete these reports and I would recommend trying to start as soon as you finish the tutorial session, because there is a lot to get done.

10% Weekly online quizzes
There were 10 quizzes throughout the semester, worth 1% each. They are based on the lecture content of that week and aim to reinforce ideas/concepts taught in lectures. Because this year there were only two lectures each week (as opposed to three), some weeks have online videos with content that is examinable and appears in the quizzes. You get two attempts in the 'assessment mode' and unlimited attempts in the 'tutorial mode' which isn't assessed, so you're able to practice before taking the assessed quiz.

50% Exam
Hurdle requirement - you need 30% on the exam to pass the unit. A two-hour exam with a calculator and double-sided A4 notes sheet in the exam period. The first half of the exam focuses on weeks 1-6, and the second half on weeks 7-12 (so there is equal weighting on all parts of the course). I found the exam to be not too bad, with a mixture of simple and difficult questions. I would recommend doing the sample exams and re-doing some of the quizzes. New this year was the ability to bring in a double-sided A4 cheat sheet/notes page to the exam. Because of this, they removed the formula sheet, so any formulas needed had to be on your cheat sheet. I only found the cheat sheet to be helpful in a few circumstances, however as there was quite a bit of content in this subject, it was nice to have something in the exam with information on it to help in answering questions.

This subject hasn't really changed since DisaFear's review in 2013, however I thought I'd just give a little update to a few things. The main changes are dropping down from three to two lectures (with the missing lecture made up in online content/videos) and bringing in a cheat sheet to the exam.

Despite its high workload, I did enjoy this subject. I found the content we learnt was interesting and relevant to my potential career, especially the lab sessions and field trips. However, you are writing lab reports almost every week, which do require quite a bit of time and can be frustrating at times. Both lecturers were passionate about what they were teaching, and the lab TA's were very helpful and kind!
So in summary, an enjoyable unit that looks at important aspects of chemistry in the environment, with a high workload and field trips.

A/Prof Mike Grace (weeks 1-6), A/Prof Perran Cook (weeks 7-12)

No past exams, but two sample exams. One had no answers, and one had answers given in a revision session during swotvac (that wasn't recorded).

4 out of 5

Yes, with screen capture

Environmental Chemistry - A Global Perspective, 4th edition by vanLoon & Duffy. To be honest, I didn't actually use the textbook at all. In some weeks of lectures, chapters in the textbook were referenced and they were said to have good explanations in them, however I didn't really have enough time to read them, as most of my time spend on this subject each week was on the lab and field trip reports. I found that the lectures were sufficient in teaching me the required information.

2x1hr lectures, 1x4hr lab

2018, Semester 1

3-4 exams available, no solutions available. However, there are revision lectures during SWOTVAC where they pretty much give you every answer to one of the past exams

3.5/5

Yes, with screen capture

Semester 1, 2013

89 HD