[NUS Module Review] CM4211: Advanced Coordination Chemistry

 

(INTRODUCTION)

Before I start, I would just like to jump the gun and say that this is by far the best and possibly one of the easiest Chemistry module I have ever taken in my 4 years in NUS. At first, I thought that this could be my potential nightmare this semester, but instead, this module made Green Chemistry feel like quantum mechanics. Maybe it's based on my perspective, but everything truly clicked at every single instance I was just blown away. And with that, I'll be the first blogger to write about this module and hopefully more people would end up taking this module. So read on to find out! 

(LECTURERS)

Teaching this module is none other than Professor John Yip. I'm not gonna lie, 2 years ago when I took his CM2111 module, I was completely wrecked by that module that I felt that taking his module again would almost guarantee me a bad grade. I was contemplating so hard if I should take a leap of faith with this module and thankfully I did.

Prof Yip is such a kind professor who is super passionate in the stuff he is teaching. As a veteran lecturer and professor, his experience truly stands out and it simply amazes me how he continues to do his best to teach even when the class barely turned up during lectures. Unlike 2 years ago, somehow Prof Yip is less scary than what I thought he was. Maybe it was due to the smaller class size this time round which allowed a better understanding and communication between professor and students, but he certainly showed lots of care throughout the module.

(EXPANSION OF TOPICS COVERED)

The topics covered include:

• Outer Sphere Electron Transfer
• Inner Sphere Electron Transfer
• Mixed Valence Compounds
• Excited State Electron Transfer
• Metal-Ligand Multiple Bonds
• Metal-Metal Multiple Bonds
• Bioinorganic Chemistry (Myoglobin)
• Bioinorganic Chemistry (Hemocyanin)
• Bioinorganic Chemistry (Carbonic Anhydrase)
• Bioinorganic Chemistry (Liver Alcohol Dehydrogenase)
• Bioinorganic Chemistry (DNA)

I can safely say that 75% of this module pretty much hinges on the crystal field theory (i.e. t2g and eg) and molecular orbitals. As long as you are able to understand these theories well enough, you are good to go for this module. The tricky part would perhaps be the Bioinorganic Chemistry. This is where you are to study real life examples of your own body to see how electron transfer works and how coordination chemistry plays a vital role in our daily lives. Hence, the content would get a wee bit harder. But not to worry, because in general, the contents are severely manageable and easy to understand.

(PASSING THE ASSESSMENT)

The grading for the assessments in this module are as follows:

• CAs - 40% x 2 = 80%
• Report - 20%

As you can see from the percentages, the CAs are pretty much the make or break for this module. Thankfully, Prof Yip will split the contents into half, so after the first CA, there would not be a need to study the first half of the chapters for the second CA. The CAs are relatively easy, but you would need to write fast in order to complete the questions. As for the report, it is just simply summarising a paper or two based on the topic given to you. It could be a biological compound or perhaps a new discovery, but it should not trouble you much. There isn't any finals for this module. 

(SCHEDULE)

Similar to all Chemistry modules, there will be two two-hour lectures per week. Prof Yip will always stop at 1h 35 mins, so you would have ample time for your next lesson, or be able to relax after a content heavy lecture lol. There will also be a one-hour tutorial per week (although there were only just 4 tutorials throughout the semester). Since the class size is relatively small, Prof Yip will ask students to answer the tutorial questions and you can't escape his questions. Overall, his tutorials are insightful and highly recommended that you would go for them. 

(EXPERIENCE AND FINAL GRADING)

As I mentioned earlier, I was afraid of taking this module. I got wrecked in CM2111 and I wasn't the most confident person to guarantee that I wouldn't be wrecked yet again in CM4211. However, I was left without much of a choice because this was the semester that I planned to finish all my core. And it was down to this or organic spectroscopy or chemical biology. So after weighing all my options, I believed that taking CM4211 was after all an easy choice to make. After all, I did complete CM3212 so this would be a perfect module to take. 

There were only 8 people taking this module, including me. Yes, 8, and by the time we actually get to week 3, the class was literally down to 1 or 2 people actually bothering to attend the lectures. Looking at those 7 other people didn't give me much optimism either. Simply because they were very smart people from my cohort and it just felt that I was entering myself into a sea full of sharks waiting to destroy my guts. 

So the first lesson went by and to be honest, I was honestly blown away by the content. I knew after the first lesson that the content would be highly manageable due to the pace of the lesson and the type of content that was to be delivered. And I was right. The content covered mainly the crystal field theory and the molecular orbitals, both of which I was fairly confident in. So that was a positive sign for me. Prof Yip was also very generous with hints. He would tell students what he would most likely test, so all you needed to do was to study that and done. Of course, being the kiasu person that I am, I studied literally everything. Tutorials were essentially key to scoring during tests, as most concepts of test questions came from there. So if you understood the tutorials, you are already game for the test. Of course, I didn't like the whole "answer questions during the tutorial" concept, so that was a tormenting 1 hour. However, the insight gained was real. So if you're planning to take this module, do not forgo the tutorials.

Nonetheless, the first test came and whatever I did study for came out. Honestly, Prof Yip made it really clear on what would come out for the test so its hard for anyone to truly not study for it. There were, however some 50-50 questions that could have gone either way, but thankfully, I got all of those questions right. In fact, I got all the questions correct as I got full marks for the test. I would say that Prof Yip is extremely lenient when marking, so in the end, 2 out of 8 people got full marks and I'm one of em, yay!

The second test was pretty much the same concept, just different set of contents altogether. Again, most of the stuff that I studied came out too. One thing that I noticed between the two test was that the time given to you to do the paper is only 1 hour. Despite having a few questions, there was a lot to write (like it can be one page full), so taking your time would land you in danger. Answers should pop in your head just like that and hence, staying calm is a key to doing well here.

The report is pretty simple as well. Prof Yip will provide the topic and the relevant papers for you, so you need not find them yourselves. All you need to do is to pretty much summarise the main points and talk about your topic. A 5-7 page report is all he asked for, which I think is reasonably doable. 

(CONCLUSION AND TIPS)

I highly recommend this module for its simplicity and workload balance. If you did take CM3212, do not waste such an opportunity; take this module. To be honest, I think this module deserve more recognition than what I've described. Prof Yip did this module justice, so you should continue to show support to him by taking this module instead of giving him just 8 students. 

*For many weeks, I was the only person who attended his class since everyone knew his lessons would be webcasted. Despite this, I made an effort to come, otherwise Prof Yip would be lecturing in front of an empty LT. To be honest, I feel like I should get higher marks for attending all the lectures haha jokes. But in all seriousness, do not leave your poor lecturers to conduct a lecture to an empty LT. Give them every bit of support possible by attending to their lectures and I'm sure that you would be able to make their day.*

Ratings out of 5⭐:

• Should you take this module - Highly encourage to take this module if you did take CM3212
• Degree of Difficulty - ⭐⭐
• Effort Required - ⭐⭐
• Timetable Impact - ⭐⭐

**For more queries, kindly comment down below. Thanks**