<p>the textbook for my chem class is ACP GENERAL CHEMISTRY 301 302 W/REBATE FOR ICLICKER 6TH 2009. if the textbook includes both 301 and 302, why doesn’t the CH302 class use this book as well? I was thinking about buying the textbook and using it for both semesters when I take 301 and 302, but I don’t know how much help it would be in 302.</p>
<p>I am also in a dilemma as to wait and just buy the ebook by Atkins and Jones from Laude or go ahead and buy a paper copy of the Zumdahl one. I have very little high school chemistry experience so which one would be better for me to understand? Also, is the ebook that Laude prefers incredibly hard to understand or can it be understood after reading it extensively? I want a book that is fairly easy to understand yet provides the necessary content in a concise way. I don’t want to go ahead and buy the book by Zumdahl and then realize that I would rather have the ebook that Laude marks up. Any help/advice is appreciated especially from people who have had Laude in the past. Thanks.</p>
<p>Remember, you can’t sell an e-book in the future like you can a textbook.</p>
<p>Yeah thats why I was considering buying a real textbook but another advantage of buying the ebook is that Professor Laude marks the important notes so it would help in studying for the quizzes/tests. I am very confused as to what I should do. Anyone else have any advice/help.</p>
<p>First, a caveat: I haven’t had Laude and haven’t seen his marked-up version of the e-book. I expect that his marked-up electronic version is more student-friendly than the hardcopy book I have. (If it’s not, I don’t know why he would put in the effort.) I have sat in on a couple of his lectures, and he taught chemistry very clearly and very quickly. At first I thought he was racing to beat a deadline, and then I realized this is his usual high-energy pace. So if you’ve got Laude, don’t skip class and don’t fall behind. You WILL have to do a lot of reading outside of class, and definitely go to the TA office hours and help sessions if you have any questions at all.</p>
<p>Now a few words about Atkins and Jones, the hardcopy edition:</p>
<p>Chapter 1 of Atkins and Jones is quantum physics, not chemistry. Here are the first few chapter subheadings:</p>
<p>1.1 The characteristics of electromagnetic radiation
1.2 Radiation, quanta, and photons
1.3 The wave-particle duality of matter
1.4 The Uncertainty Principle
1.5 Wavefunctions and energy levels</p>
<p>Does any of this ring a bell? Wein’s Law and the Stefan-Boltzmann Law first appear on page 4. Starting to come back to you now? I could go on – by page 12 you’ve been confronted with the Schrodinger Equation, the deBroglie relation, The Born Interpretation, particle in a box, and the Hamiltonian, which “takes the deceptively simple form H(psi) = E(psi).”</p>
<p>This book seems intentionally written to scare the pants off anyone foolish enough to open it. (And it works.) Even if you aced your way through a year of AP Chem, most of this is gibberish. When UT first started using this book, the students were paralyzed. Those who had never had high school chemistry were dead on arrival, and those who thought they understood at least some chemistry were no better off than the others.</p>
<p>Eventually UT realized that even though Harvard and Rice use this textbook for their general chem classes, it’s not right for the CH301 crowd (which consists mostly of life science majors), and they switched to Zumdahl instead. An excellent choice, in my opinion. But there’s something about Atkins and Jones that Laude likes, and he stuck with it for his classes.</p>
<p>Atkins and Jones does have a 90-page “Fundamentals” sections, which is an excellent review of high school chemistry. Unfortunately, none of that is covered in 301, so if you need it, you’ve got to learn it on your own (though the TA’s will help with that). And once you’ve finished that Fundamentals review, you’re thrown into the deep end of the pool that I described above. There’s no middle ground.</p>
<p>My advice is to wait until you get into class, listen to what Laude has to say, and decide which book best suits your needs. His marked up e-book might be perfect for you. Mostly you’re going to need to play this by ear. If Atkins and Jones doesn’t work for you, use Google or Zumdahl or any other book that makes sense to you.</p>
<p>And finally, I’m not trying to scare anybody by this. If you’re in Laude’s class, you’re going to see it eventually anyway. Atkins and Jones might not be nearly as imposing when you have Laude’s lectures and his edits in the e-book. Despite the fact that he uses this text, Laude remains the most popular 301 instructor at UT, so he must be doing something right. So don’t let my posts here scare you, and don’t let the e-book scare you even if it opens up with a bunch of quantum physics gobbledygook. Laude and the TA’s are there to help. But somebody post here after you’ve seen the marked-up e-book and let us know if it’s more understandable than the original.</p>
<p>I had Laude this past semester.
- You should purchase the ChemPortal (the online textbook) because he emails from there, and yes, he sends out emails a lot so be sure to give an email you check often, at least twice a day.
- The online book has some of his own edits of what-to-read or what-not-to-read but only for the first few chapters. I read through some of the book, not sure how many other people read it.
- He posts old worksheets, quizzes, tests on his website as well as the newer stuff and random musings. Bookmark both the chemportal site as well as his website since you’ll be referring to them often.
- You definitely need to be an active learner (Indirah story he talks about in his How to get an A lecture) and make the cards that have steps on how to do each problem type. These are not flashcards, btw, he insists that they’re not. Going to class and passively paying attention and then not seriously studying it afterward daily might cost you a letter grade. Study a lot outside of class.
- He and his 4 TAs have plenty of office hours. The TA practice quizzes are nearly the same as the quizzes.
- This fall, we got a substantial curve at the end of the semester, more than any other previous class he taught.
- Memorize the question types like he says to do, it helps to know whats on the test and whats not. He does say things like “This is gonna be tricky” or “Travis, is this on the quiz/test? Of course it is!”
- Buy his lecture book as well, its his own typed up/handwritten notes which is what you’ll be using to study from. His handwriting is terrible so he posts most things online.
- Test reviews are essential since him and a TA (Travis) go over each question type.
- He loves to play with liquid nitrogen, make fun of Travis (aww) and blow up lots of hydrogen balloons
- His only CH301 class has about 600 students. It’s very hard to get into unless you’re in a FIG, BSP (biology scholars program), and maybe FRI. His current CH301 students get priority on having him for CH302 and first pick for CH204 chem lab so it’s just as hard to get him for 302 (sometimes less than 7 spots available)
- Appreciate his grading scheme. If you get a better grade on the final than what you’re already making in the class, than you’ll get the grade on your final as your course grade. Basically, if you’ve done awful the entire semester but get an A on the final, you get an A for his class. It’s wonderful. If you’re already making an A in the class before the final, you’re exempt from the final. That’s good too.</p>
<p>I had Gondran for Chemistry but I think if you purchase the Book with both CH 301 and CH 302 you’ll be set for both semesters…</p>