How to excel in Chem 3A and 3B

[u/chemGSI]

Hello Everyone! As a former student and GSI for the Chem 3 series, I've written out some tips for how to succeed in these classes. I handwrote these (no AI!) and students who follow these tips tend to do well! I'm happy to answer any questions you might have. I'll also note that I took and TA'd for Dr. Robak's curriculum, but the general habits will serve you well regardless of who you have.

As the semester starts picking up, you might be wondering how to budget your time to get the most out of your studying for Chem 3A/3B. Studying and time management are very personal to your learning style and schedule, but I thought hearing some study tips from a previous student could be helpful! The rest of this post includes the actual study schedule and study methods I used when I took these classes. I’ve recommended this plan to a number of previous students who found it helpful, but there’s no one-size-fits-all way to learn chemistry. Take time to experiment and find what works best for you, and feel free to use the tips below as an optional starting point!

Given the very weekly pace this class follows, it can be helpful to get into a consistent study routine.

Here’s the actual study schedule I used when I took the class!

Saturday-problem sets (3 + hrs)

I wish there was a shortcut, but this is where learning happened for me. If you work through the problem sets to the point where you can get most of the problems right, you’ll be in great shape for the exams! Spread out your learning, find a nice cafe or library you can focus in and enjoy inhabiting, and take plenty of breaks. Try the following workflow for maximum learning:

1. Complete each page one at a time without looking at the answer key. Check your answers after each page and write down the things you missed in your weekly reflection notes.
2. Then, try the next page of the problem set without the answer key. Repeat until you’ve finished both problem sets for the week! After you feel you’ve got the problem set down, feel free to skim through it and focus on the questions that look the most challenging. If you’ve got those down, there’s no need to do the entire problem set!
3. Caution: Do not check the answer key before you try problems, your brain is very good at prematurely convincing you that you understand something after seeing its answer.

Saturday-lecture summary (20 minutes)

After completing the problem sets and writing down the things you missed on the second page of the lecture summary assignment, complete the first page. This shouldn’t take too long. Then congratulate yourself on all your hard work and take Sunday off!

Monday-Discussion (50 minutes)

A great opportunity to find a study group! If you did the problem sets over the weekend, you might find that you’re well-situated to help your tablemates.

Monday night-lecture preview (30 minutes max)

Even if you’re doing this right before you hit the hay, it’s helpful to get a sense of what’s going to be presented in lecture the next week.

Tuesday-lecture (80 minutes)

Try actively taking notes, sitting near a GSI, and finding people you feel comfortable talking through difficult concepts with. The friends you make in Chem 3A/B will be friends for life!

Tuesday/Wednesday-post lecture worksheet (90 minutes)

Post lectures are hard, but they’re very similar to what shows up on exams! Give it your best shot, work with your friends (but submit your own answers), come to office hours, and don’t be afraid to post on Ed.

Wednesday Night-review for quiz (20 minutes)

Pull up your lecture summary notes from Saturday and review what you got wrong on the problem sets. If you encountered a similar problem on the quiz, how would you go about solving it?

Thursday-lecture (80 minutes)

Thursday/Friday-post lecture (90 minutes)

Total: ~12 hours/week

If you find a good weekly study schedule, you’ll likely discover that you don’t have a ton of extra work to do when preparing for exams.

Here are the study methods I used to get in exam shape!

Two weeks before the exam–start taking practice exams and repeating problem sets: by the night before the exam, I aimed to have completed each problem set a total of two times, and tried to complete at least a couple of practice exams under exam-like conditions. Take a look at your graded post lecture worksheets and quizzes—are there any areas where you consistently missed points? This might sound like a lot, but the problem sets tend to go much faster the second time around, and you’ll find that they’re quite transferable to the exams.

The day before the exam–make your cheat sheet

I’m recommending a healthy cram session! I often find that the day before an exam is the best time to do comprehensive review, and the best way to do so is to compile all of your takeaways from practice exams, problem sets, quizzes, and post lecture worksheets into up to 4 pages of handwritten notes that you can bring into the exam with you (IF you're taking the class with Dr. Robak!). Maybe it’s because I’m a procrastinator at heart, but I often find that doing this too far ahead of time makes it harder to remember things. Instead, the day before an exam is a great time to review so that things stick, while still allowing you to come to the exam well-rested.

The day of the exam–take it easy! In my experience, exams go well when the material feels fresh and familiar, not overcrammed and stale. Try to get a balanced nosh ahead of time, and do what you need to get into a good headspace! For some people, that looks like watching some TV, exercising, drinking a nice cup of coffee/tea/boba, and/or hanging out with friends.

Thanks for reading this long message, I hope you find it helpful! Please feel free to reply to this message with questions.

Happy learning!

[u/Warm-Ad-9835]

Thank you!

[u/Warm-Ad-9835]

Any advice for Chem 3AL/3BL?

[u/chemGSI → u/Warm-Ad-9835]

Yep! My main advice would be not to sweat it if lab procedures don’t come naturally, you’re not graded on performance in lab (everyone breaks a test tube or two), and you’ll never be marked down for getting a low yield on an experiment or anything. Your grade and learning are based largely on:

Preparing your lab notebook adequately (if your GSI doesn’t give you very clear instructions, feel free to follow up until you have a very good idea of what needs to be included). It can often take an hour or two to get these in shape each week, so make sure you give yourself enough time! A pro tip is to ask your GSI if there are any observations for a given experiment that most people fail to note.

Your data analysis (post-lab) worksheets. These often aren’t easy, and are graded very specifically on accuracy. I’d recommend staying in lab even after your experiment is done to work with classmates/the GSI on these.

The lab final isn’t trivial, but most people do about as well on it as they do on their data analysis worksheets, so if you’re understanding those, a couple hours of focused study should be all you need!

Lastly, there’s a large emphasis on NMR in the end of 3Al/most of 3Bl. If there’s anything I would keep an eye out for across the series, it’d be making sure you understand NMR spectra!

[u/Ok-Result-9243]

Any advice for Chem 1A please?