AP Chemistry: Jack Coakley

Course Overview:

WHAT IS AP CHEMISTRY? This is a second-year high school chemistry course (the rough equivalent of a college “gen chem” course) designed to expand and deepen your understanding of the wide and wonderful world of chemistry. You will be pleasantly surprised by how literate you already are in chemistry from your first high school course. The increased depth will simply make the material that much more meaningful to you. While the course is not focused specifically on the Advanced Placement chem test that is offered in the spring, by the conclusion of this course, you will have been exposed to all of the material covered on the test. As such, you certainly will be prepared to take the test should you decide to do so; CPS students do very well on it every year. However, you do not have to take the A.P. test in order to take this course. GENERAL PHILOSOPHY: As long as you are willing to use your head and put in some effort, learning chemistry – one of nature’s coolest stories – can be fun, stimulating, and relatively painless. Science, especially biological science, is everywhere, so common and familiar phenomena are frequently integrated into this course. Effective science learning is a combination of understanding the important concepts (qualitative material) and manipulating them in problem-solving situations (quantitative material). Seeing the BIG picture is of greater importance than memorizing every detail. It is my hope that this class will: - increase your appreciation for nature as well as mankind's persistent effort to understand and respect nature; - increase your observational and critical thinking skills; - help you become a more cooperative worker and better scientist. TEXT: CHEMISTRY, 9th edition, R. Chang. You will also need your math department-sanctioned calculator. GRADING FORMAT: Based on a point system, your grade is determined by the percentage of the total possible points that you accumulate through class participation and homework (15%), lab reports (25%), and quizzes and tests (60%). (These percentages are approximations.) LAB REPORTS: These should follow a reasonable format, be clearly presented, show original thought, and include error analyses. Please emphasize quality and presentation over quantity. Lab report format will be discussed more fully in class. You are requested to use a graph paper composition book (no wire spiral notebooks, please) for your lab book. HOMEWORK: The grade evaluation for homework is based on effort rather than objective correctness. Make corrections and learn from your mistakes! At the onset of each unit, you will be given the homework assignment for that particular material. It will include both text questions and topic-appropriate AP test questions from previous AP chem exams. You receive 1/5 point for each Chang question and 1 point for each part of an AP question. Please make your responses to the questions meaningful. Answers to the even-numbered questions can be found at the end of the text. Answers to all homework questions can also be found online. Homework will be collected on the day of the test covering that material. It should be completed, however, prior to the test date so that you can ask questions. You should learn to pace yourself accordingly. Please note: you do not have to do any of the text questions for homework if you so choose. The minimum homework you must do is completing the old AP questions on the assignment sheet. DUE DATES: You will be held accountable for all due work at the beginning of the due-date class period. Late work receives half-credit if turned-in within one week of the due date; it will receive zero credit if turned in later than one week. If unforeseen circumstances arise, of course please see me. All missed work should be made up. “ASSESSMENTS” There is a major graded item (test, problem set, etc.) per unit. There is a short quiz every Friday of non-test weeks. MISCELLANEOUS: There will be a 1st semester final exam. There will not be a 2nd semester final exam. Assignment sheets, old AP chem test question answers, and solutions to Chang’s chapter-end questions can be found on Coakley’s website on CPSNet at http://www.college-prep.org/Program/academics/science/course.2007-02-02.9465494374/ap_chemistry/ap_chemistry_coakley/ Seniors: you may drop any one item except the semester final for your 1st semester senior drop option. Regarding plagiarism: If you are feeling tempted, please see me first so that we can talk about what's bothering you and/or making you feel the need to do so. You will receive zero credit and your advisor and the academic dean will be notified, which may lead to subsequent consequences. SMART MONKEYS: If questions arise that you can't solve, you must seek answers. If you have trouble asking questions in class, please find time to get help outside of class. I hope that you will seek help from me, the Learning Center, friends or other chem teachers. DO NOT SIT IN AN IGNORANT STUPOR. Hopefully, I will realize when you are having difficulty and will endeavor to clarify things for you. However, you are ultimately responsible for obtaining help.

Other Section Resources:

Class Resources

Potentially useful odds and ends.

Useful Links

A collection of web links relevant to this class.