[NUS Module Review] CM2192: Experiments In Chemistry 3

CM2192: Experiments in Chemistry 3

(INTRODUCTION)

Y'know, lab just reminds me of a Taiwan drama series; it never ends. Well, at least we know that after this, we are more than half way done through these lab series and I don't have to endure VIVAs, ridiculous assessments and gradings for lab. 

For a lab module that never ever grades you for your lab skills... what even? Without doing the experiments, there will be no results. You could even understand every single theory, content and explanations there is to know in lab, yet without doing the experiment, all will be futile. So a lab module that is not testing us on the actual practical of it... I feel like we are in 2019 but living like we're in 0019; the grading of lab is just absurd. Bet some people can't pass this lab module if they actually test the practicality of it. But oh wells, suck thumb lor. 

(LECTURERS)

The lecturers for this module are pretty much known for how nice or not nice they are. Anyone who ever took this module will tell you that the two lecturers; Dr Saradha and Dr Michael Patuwo are simply night and day from each other. You will like one of em and you might possibly end up hating the other one. As to which one, I will let you experience it yourself.

Dr Saradha is in charge of the Analytical portion of this module, while Dr Patuwo is in charge of the Physical portion of this module, alongside Dr Tan Wee Boon. The good thing about this module is that the lectures are all webcasted so you do not have to wake up early at 8am in the morning.

Apparently, Dr Saradha and Dr Patuwo both came up with this idea of COMMUNICATIONS instead of the usual Pro-forma. Is it any easier? Well, nope, it isn't. The idea of communications is simply like a report minus the citations, headers, aims, and essentially, the useless stuff. While it is good that we are trained to technically write more "reports" (or so they call Comms) so that we are well prepared for the level 3k lab modules, it's simply just a fancy name to call a report to me. In fact, I think that the normal reports are easier to write than the communications. So don't be fooled to think that the communications are any easier than the reports.

(EXPANSION OF TOPICS COVERED)

The topics will be split according to Analytical and Physical:

• High Performance Liquid Chromatography (Analytical - Report)
• Fluoride Ion Selective Electrode (Analytical - Communications)
• Potentiometry with Silver Electrode (Analytical - Communications)
• Cyclic and Linear Sweep Voltammetry (Analytical - Communications)
• Gas Chromatography (Analytical Communications)
• Rovibrational Spectroscopy of HCl (Physical - Report)
• Raoult's Law (Physical - Communications)
• Kinetic of Methylene Blue Reduction (Physical - Communications)
• Surface Tension (Physical - Communications)

Be prepared for lotsa calculations and a whole lot of data and graphs here, there and everywhere for Analytical. Sometimes I would just take a break after barely 15 minutes of staring at the great deal of data present on my computer screen. It's just terrifying. Experiments that could be familiar to you are the Fluoride ISE and Potentiometry with Silver Electrode.

For physical, I think that it consists of lesser calculations and data than the analytical portion, which is obvious. However, the standard of the results and the accuracy it demands are higher than Analytical. Experiments that could be familiar to you are the Raoult's Law and Kinetic of Methylene Blue Reduction. In fact, I think that both experiments should have been done back in CM1191 while it was still fresh in our minds. But oh well, it's Chemistry...

One thing I gotta say is that the experiment of Rovibrational Spectroscopy of HCl could be really useful in understanding the topic of Rovibrations in CM2101. The usage of excel here could also help you here in the computer part of CM2101. Once you get how to use excel to churn out the data, everything else should be easy peasy for you for the computer lab component in CM2101.

(SCHEDULE)

As mentioned earlier, CM2192 is webcasted so there isn't a need to wake up early for lectures. Lab is as per usual; long six grueling hours of tiredness. The final paper for lab will be done during the proper lab lecture timing.

 (PASSING THE ASSESSMENT)

I think I've been repeating myself for all lab modules lmao. It's pretty much the same grading across all lab modules. Here it goes:

• Analytical Report: 6%
• Analytical Communications: 2 x 4% + 2 x 3% = 14%
• Physical Report: 8%
• Physical Communications: 3 x 4% = 12%
• Viva (Analytical): 10%
• Viva (Physical): 10%
• Finals: 40%

I think the report gradings and communications grading are all self explanatory. 

Unlike CM1191 however, there will be 2 VIVAs per lab module. And you will see later why I'm so pissed off with this module's VIVA. But anyways, thankfully, the VIVAs are positioned a week after our final experiment date, and both VIVAs are 1 week apart so we have some time to study for them. That's it... Nothing nice other than that lol.

Finals will test on mostly calculations. Formulas aren't really provided in this paper, and even if they are, they do not help much in allowing you to solve the answer.

(EXPERIENCE AND FINAL GRADING)

Okay, let's begin with the positives from this module. The good thing about this module is that I somehow was allowed to pick my own lab partner. So that means I could work with the people I know, which is a good thing considering that having lab partners without chemistry (pun not intended) can go a long way. With that said, I worked with one of my friends whom I met in CM1131 tutorial class and he was awesome. Certainly not the best lab partner (heh, sorry if you're reading this) but definitely better than what I would've gotten if they actually followed the class list. To make that even better, for analytical lab, our group consists of 3 people teaming up to do the experiments. So not 1, not 2 but 3 people now!

Now here comes the not so bad stuff. You would think that 3 people working on the same thing would speed things up right? But noooooo... One was so damn meticulous and one was so damn lost and then there was me lol. And so when you think that we would finish lab in 4 hours considering the number of people we had, we ended up finishing in 5 to 5 and a half hours. So yeah, my point is that more doesn't always been merrier.

Doing the communications was quite okay. I think the greatest challenge in this was truly to ensure that everything was kept concise and on point, because there are so many information to write down and yet so little space to do so. Not to mention graphs and tables are also part of the two pages of the communications. I usually take a couple of days to complete the communications and the reason for that is because I'm constantly cutting down words and adding in information that it was hard to finalise this in a day. (p.s when I mean I take more than a day to finish my comms I don't actually mean I actually utilise all my free time to just solely do comms. I usually split my module revision in a single day)

Now for the rotten part of the module; the VIVA. I think I've been very vocal in my previous blogs about how much I dislike the concept of VIVA. For those who don't know what VIVA is, it's simply the lecturers conducting a one-to-one session with the student, asking questions on lab theory and content and even to the extent of the knowledge of how to operate a computer system/excel. Now, while these asking of content and theory is good and all, are we actually forgetting the main component of lab; which is the actual doing of the lab itself? 

The hands-on aspect of this module is so much forgotten that people who are actually lazy or poor in conducting the experiment, but are somehow good in theory have a considerable edge over those who are better at doing the experiment but aren't that good in content/theory. And to me, VIVA is more like a pressure test if anything else. For students who crack under the pressure, it doesn't mean they don't know, but rather it means that they can't be put on the spot. And they are marked down for apparently "not knowing" their shit.

And for those who disagree with me, fair enough, because we each have our own opinion. But what I do not like about lab modules are that the actual doing of the experiment isn't credited at all. Is it fair for those who have to end up tanking their lab partner's workload, while he or she does nothing? No, it isn't. And I think that lecturers should address this point in the future labs because it ain't fair that people who shake their legs and don't pull their own weight in a pair work, gets credited for the data results that they would not have gotten if they actually did the experiment themselves. 

And yes, I'm mad because I've been tanking a lot of experiments for lab and I've seen other cases of lab mates facing worse situations than I did and personally I think that it is not fair for me, for them and for the future students. 

However, there's also another thing that is weighing on my mind this entire time and this was brought up to me by my friend. Apparently, for physical chem, VIVA was conducted by 2 lecturers; Dr Tan and Dr Patuwo. To me, there shouldn't be two lecturers conducting the same type of VIVA for the cohort. The questions given by both lecturers were way, way different, with Dr Patuwo being the one giving the harder questions. They have different styles of assessing and the Prof that gives the easier questions will end up with higher marks than the one giving the harder questions. Dr Saradha conducts her VIVA for the entire cohort for Analytical. So why must the physical part be split? How do we ensure the fairness provided for the entire cohort?

(CONCLUSION AND TIPS)

Okay, I've honestly decided to blog because I wanted to be the voice of the voices and provide different opinions instead of following the masses. If I see certain unfairness and things that could be improved, I would provide my opinions and I think that all students should do that to ensure fairness to yourself and others.

Apart from that, I think that this module is easily doable. Certainly the most boring lab I've ever done so far, but the finals was considerably easier than CM1191 and on par with CM2191. Familiarize yourself with excel skills like equations, regression and graph plotting, because you will need to use a whole lot of em. And I think that had it not been for the VIVA issue, I'm pretty okay with this lab. I actually learnt a lot of excel skills here and also understood Raoult's Law more than I did in CM1131.

Ratings out of 5⭐:

• Rigor - ⭐⭐⭐
• Degree of doability - ⭐⭐⭐
• Bell Curve (to favour you) - ⭐⭐