CM2061 CHEMISTRY & BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY 1 (3.0 AU)

Taken in: AY 19/20 Sem 1
Grade: A-

Lab Reports (75%)
Finals (25%)

This module requires you to complete prelab quizzes each week before the lab session, similar to labs in year 1. However, as this lab is a whole module on its own, you are required to do each experiment individually so try to understand why you are doing certain things in the lab. To do so you need to read and understand everything in the lab manual and google for answers that you cannot find in the lab manual for questions you may have when reading the lab manual. I did that and I felt that it is very beneficial as it makes sure you will not be lost during the lab itself as there is no re-doing of experiments. Also, if you understand the rationale of every step in each experiment, it will reduce the time you need to study for the final exam. Some things to take note of in the lab that many people will make mistakes: make sure to throw the needle and the syringe separately into their respective bins. The TAs will close one eye for these mistakes in the first 1 or 2 weeks, but subsequently, they will check the CCTV to find out who threw it wrongly and deduct your lab behaviour marks. If you break anything in the lab (quite common), they will also deduct your lab behaviour marks but we do not know how many marks they will deduct. Lab skills learnt in CM1041 is also applicable here such as using the IR and NMR software, so do make sure you read up on them before the lab. If you have already forgotten it, it is okay as there will be TAs around to guide you during the first few experiments, so do learn/recap it during then and try to operate the machine yourself as you will definitely need it in future. Do not just rely on your friends who know how to do it.

The lab reports will have a section that requires you to write an experimental procedure in the correct format that we briefly learnt in year 1. Remember to leave a space for the units (mmol, mL, °C, etc). For example, “13.1mmol” is wrong, “13.1 mmol” is correct. Also, for the NMR spectrums that you will need to attach to your lab reports, do remember to include the peak for CDCl₃ at 7.26ppm, as marks will be deducted if you omit it.

The final exam comprises of 30 MCQs and 2 short answer questions with subparts (not sure if the format varies each year). There are some tricky questions but most are quite doable if you understand everything in the lab manual. There are no questions asking you to draw mechanisms, so you do not have to memorise that. You will need to remember the structures of common reagents used in experiments, there were 10 structures of reagents that were asked, 2 marks each. If you understand and know how to do each experiment yourself in the lab (i.e. you do not just blindly follow your friends/TAs) then you should be fine for this module.

This review was reposted with the kind permission of Awesome NTU CBC Student. Originally published at https://awesomentucbcstudent.blogspot.com/2019/12/ay1920-y2s1-review.html

Year Taken: AY 17/18, Sem 1
Grade: B

Labs and lab reports (75%)
Final (25%)

Horrible. It was so horrible. I kept hearing people getting upset when they had 11 marks deducted from their lab report(s), while I got 20+ marks deducted for quite a few of them. ._. Such big blow to my self esteem. *cries* I should have been much more careful in my work(given that I’m the opposite of meticulous). Ya its entirely my fault haiz.

Okay some lab safety tips to avoid being penalised during labs:
1. Use a container(for example beaker) to hold your syringe with needle when walking around
2. Needles are to be thrown into the big container in the same fumehood as the waste chemicals (NOT IN BINS)
3. Only syringes can be thrown into syringe bins (NOT needles)
4. Don’t throw filter papers with chemicals exposed into the bins, put them into used gloves and tie them first

There are still many more written in the lab manual but the above 4 are the common mistakes. Needles are dangerous cos they may hurt the cleaners if not disposed properly.
For lab reports, take note of the decimal places and significant figures and units. Your work must be typewritten as much as possible. There must be a space between the number and the units. For final exam, one thing that I didn’t expect is that we need to draw the structures of the common chemicals in labs, like acetone, ethyl acetate, diethyl ether etc, so take note. Also read the lab manual and try to understand each step. Some of the answers for the past year papers can be found online so can use them as reference since answers are not provided.

This review was reposted with the kind permission of Hairdryer. Originally published at https://ionhairdryer.blogspot.com/2018/01/ay1718-ntu-spms-cbc-y2s1.html

Welcome to your first practical shitshow in CBC. Hope you didn’t forget all your lab skills during summer – this lab mod and subsequent 3061 is solo work. No briefing at the start of each expt; you go in and take what you need and start. Learn as much as you can, the procedures, the theory, how to troubleshoot, how equipment works – from the good TAs and the other students who have exp in summer research, CNYang or those from work-study program, this mod really don’t teach you anything unless you are willing to make the effort to learn. Don’t follow blindly the guy next to you – 5 weeks in and there will still be ppl who don’t know how to even run a TLC or prepare NMR sample and they probably don’t even realise they’re not doing it right. Finals will test both theory and expt principles, so you can’t just play around in the lab like y1.