Chem 360 Jasperse Final Exam Notes. Special Topics
1
Preview For ACS-Sandardized Final Exam
1. 70 Multiple Choice questions. Each has four possible answers.
2. Scoring is based on correct answers. If you don't know the answer, it pays to guess. I t
especially pays to rule out one or two obviously incorrect answers, even if you aren't sure about
which answer is actually correct.
3. Total time will be 2 hours (120 minutes). This means you have 1 minute and 43 seconds per
question. Time management is important, but most students complete in time. A more common
error than going too slow is to work too fast, hurrying early in the test and not taking enough
time to carefully read through the questions and look at all of the answers. I think it is foolish to
ever leave before time expires on a multiple choice exam, because the time wasted by leaving early
will usually be enough to have rechecked several guess problems and to have eliminated some
impossible answers. If time permits, you would like to answer the problem on your own, and
then see if your answer matches one of the listed alternatives.
4. Calculators are permitted, but there is only one problem that involves arithmetic, and you can
probably solve that one by hand.
5. Scores, Percentiles, and Grades
The statistical analysis is based on the performance of students from 64 colleges. Shown
below are some raw scores with the corresponding national percentiles and the grade that would
correspond.
Raw Percentile Grade Raw Percentile Grade
10 0 F 35 58 B
17 5 F 37 64 B
(17.5 should be the statistically average score 39 69 B
of a monkey guessing!) 43 78 B
20 10 D 44 80 A
21 12 D 45 81 A
23 18 D 50 89 A
24 21 C 55 95 A
26 28 C 60 98 A
29 38 C 65 100 A
30 41 B 70 100 A
31 45 B
33 52 B (this is average, slightly less
34 55 B than half of the answers!)
6. Problems are scattered from throughout the book. It is the intent of many of the problems to
try to integrate ideas from two or more different chapters. While most things are covered
representatively, it is imperative that you be well versed in the general principles of E1, E2, Sn1,
Sn2 reactions and of carbonyl compounds.
Nomenclature will be covered. Spectroscopy will be covered, but lightly (only about 3
problems, one H-NMR, one C-N MR, one IR.)
By my count there are about 45 problems that I would consider very straightforward,
comparable to problems you have seen before on tests, book homework, or quizes. There are
perhaps 20 problems that I would consider tricky but doable; there are maybe 5 problems that I
would consider very hard, and which may be almost totally unfamiliar to you.
