S205: The Exam

So the exam day dawns. I generally try to work through as many past papers as I can before an exam. Usually going through them 2 or 3 times.
The first time through is very slow, as I usually can't do or get stuck on nearly every question, or have nagging doubts about the answer. Either way, it means rereading sections of the books.
By the second time through, I've usually got better and can answer some of the questions without help, and others I still have to look up and check.
By the third time through, I'm no longer doing all the questions and only focusing on the areas I want to do. By this time, I'm starting to remember the answers anyway, so there isn't a lot of point going through them again.

So this plan worked well, although I quickly realised I just wasn't going to do much on book 9 - there is just too much seemingly random stuff in there to learn. I found the kinetics and molecular modelling and NMR/IR all quite good - but they are often in the same section so end up mutually exclusive.

There are 4 sections to the exam:

• A is short answer questions - you answer 8 out of 12
• B, C, D are long answer questions, and you do 1 from each section out of 3.

A questions are from all over, some can be answered in a couple of words, or with a simple diagram, others require maths of explanations. So its good to pick out the really short short answer ones, and build up some time for use later.
B is usually organic reactions and synthesis. Usually a retrosynthesis with analysis and some of the forward steps required. The rest are more conventional diagrams, but lots of curly arrows required (I took in a green pen just to draw curly arrows with).
C is typically kinetics, molecular modelling and NMR/IR stuff
D is often VSEPR, symmetry, and maybe some spectroscopy, thermodynamics (mainly Born Harber cycles) - and something on book 9.

Once the exam was a couple of days away, I sat down and did a timed exam using the sample exam paper they provide. This is good for showing up weaknesses, but very good for working out how much time you will have for different sections.

Anyway, in this exam I found a reasonable 8 I could do - I know your suppose to read the paper and digest, but I rushed straight into question 1, its nearly always of the same form. Fill in an orbitals diagram from an element. A nice easy 5 marks, as long as you get it right! In my mock I filled in 16 electrons when it asked for 14.

Question 2 was also so easy - I happened to know the answer, that I just wrote it down. You had to identify a compound from 4 possible options, and it happened to be very similar to a past paper - so although it was a book 9 question - I just knew it (or hope that is the case!).

Then I had to pause, and flicked through the whole paper.
I sorted out the ones I could do in the A section, and picked a couple of likely looking long questions. I worked through the A questions, leaving the thermodynamic one to the last, as that although fairly easy (and you can often check you got the right answer in the data book) it takes a little time and is easy to miss out a 1/2 or similar bit.

As usual, there is one that you can answer most parts of and one bit you can't, should you do this question or pick another one?


In the end I did about 10/12 from A, just in case (as they take your best marks). Also 5 long answer questions. I hope it's enough.

Prev S205.

S205: TMA-6

Last and final TMA, and one that gave me considerable heartache! Its mostly on book 10 which is full speed organics.

Question 1 is about the production of biodiesel. On the face of it, this looks a nice simple question. However the mechanism is basically a transesterification, related to saponification (soap making). Now both those words sound long and complex, but actually the reaction is really very straightforward. There are two parts to the question, the first is to predict the products of the reaction.
The second is to draw the mechanism.
Well firstly, I usually need to draw the mechanism to be sure I know what the products are, but thats OK I can do the second bit first. The real issue though is there are 6 marks for the first part, and 19 for drawing the mechanism. Even if I do it in painful detail, I can really make more than 2-3 maybe 4 steps out of the whole thing. For 19 marks, this sounds warning bells that I've misunderstood the question. I returned to the question time and again looking for the missing part, even donwloading a research paper on the topic - but no it appears it really is that simple!

Question 2 is some basic organic reactions to extend alkane chains. One part you need to pick appropriate reagents, the other part two different directions for the same reagent. Fairly striaghtforward, but after drawing the mechanisms of the two reactions, I've got a lot more diagram than Q1, and this is only worth 15 marks for the whole question.

Question 3 is on radical reactions - rather scary reactions that have been tamed in recent years. Gives me a chance to draw fishhook arrows, but its basically derived stuff from the appropriate chapters.

Question 4 is on retrosynthesis. You have to undo the reaction to find the products and a way of bringing it about. It leads you through the steps as part of the questions quite nicely, provided you get the right bits. There are some comments on steroechemistry, and on reagents you might need to bring about the final results. Just a case of working through it really.

So - that is all the coursework done! Just the exam to look forward to :-/
(However - I ended up getting the best mark for this TMA out of the whole course, so Q1 must have been "just that easy").

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: TMA-5

Last but one TMA. Not one I'm looking forward too as much. Its got essay like things in, and its so easy to lose marks in these. Oh well, after all the biology essays I've done, and skating quickly over the archaeology ones, I ought to be used to this sort of thing, so hey ho.

Question 1
In this one, you have to prepare an overhead transparency for a 1 minute talk. Of course almost no one uses overheads these days, they use powerpoint or similar. Gone are the days (hopefully) of getting acetates shrink wrapped around the photocopier drums. You have to prepare the overhead, on the subject of "The use of VSEPR to predict the structure of tellurium tetrachloride". You then have to write a script that when read aloud will take 1 minute to read in a normal voice and taking breaths etc. Apparently in some previous versions of the course, you actually had to record the talk and post a tape with it on, but thankfully that isn't required now. Your tutor has to read it and decide if you are within the time limits. You can annotate the script a little with markers to show where you are pointing to on the slide.
Anyway, not too bad a question - the topic is fairly striaghtforward, and a few graphics help spice up the slide.

Question 2
This is about book 9 - p-block materials. You have to identify an element given a few facts about its appearance and its reactions with flourine. Then a bit about its oxidation states, and then its reactions with acid and alkalis.

Question 3
Some entropy sneaks back in, as you have to compose a formation reaction for BCL₃. Then draw a lewis structure for it.
Thats followed up by a full blown thermodynamic cycle for the construction of it so you can work out the molar enthalpy. Finally an equation for the formation of BCL₃ from boric oxide and phosphorous pentachloride.

Question 4
More identification of solids and solutions based on some reactions. Some reactions are described and you have to predict what will be formed, then these in turn react and so on. Of course if you get step 1 wrong, your a bit lost for the rest of the question.

Question 5
Its essay time. "The chemistry of bromine can be predicted from its position in the Periodic Table". A report of 600 words explaining this. You can include graphs, diagrams, pictures, tables etc, and I throw in quite a few of these as it helps give me something to do rather than just writing words, and it also breaks up the structure a bit. Even a picture of dear old Dmitri Mendeleev helps give it a bit of colour.
You have to do all the usual stuff, introduction, conclusion, references etc. Anyway, after a lot of tinkering with it, I get something I'm not altogether happy with, but can't see how to improve it in the time and space available.

So - just one more to go, then the exam looms on the horizon.

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: Book 10 - Mechanism and Synthesis

Book 10 - the last real book. There is a Book 11, but its more of a pamphlet and discusses how to write essays and make presentations and stuff like that.

Anyway, Book 10 is all back to organics and synthesis.

First there is a whole section on carbonyl compounds and reactions - those things with a C=O in them somewhere. I guess you either like this sort of stuff, or not. I'm rather less than impressed with it all, although the rules seems straight forward there seem to be a lot of them.

Then the next section is all about organometallic reactions. Grignard reagents. Despite not really knowing how these are made, they seem awfully useful for glueing bits of molecules together.
It starts with magnesium compounds, then we move through into sodium, lithium and copper compounds. Then it finishes up with organoboron.

Section 3 looks at radical reactions - where you get compounds with single electrons lieing around. These use to be so rapid and violent to be unusable, but recent times they have found ways of taming them to make a useful way of doing things.

Section 4 is about retrosynthesis mostly. So knowing what you want to make, how can you work backwards to find a way to make it from everyday molecules. Basically there is no right way or wrong way, but some rules help you to break up compounds to make it easier. It seems a combination of science, experience and a touch of art.

The last section looks at biosynthesis, which rather puts chemist in the shade. Making complex molecules at room temperature and pressure without breaking a sweat.

Finally, there is a case study on polymers.

Phew - all done - finally got to the end of what has been a long course squeezed into what seems too short a time!

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: TMA-4

Another TMA - and they are coming thick and fast at this point. Two TMA's due in the same month! This TMA is a bit of a monster, but turns out to get my best mark so far, so maybe something is sinking in - although I suspect its just how it goes.


Question 1 is about analysis. You are given some weights of elements found in a compound and asked to work out the empirical formula for it. Its really not too difficult, as its sort of like the S103 stuff, but a bit more complex. A nice surprise after some of the nightmare questions!

Question 2 is all about identifying struture. Youy are given IR and NMR spectroscopy data, and based on this and the molecular formula, you have top work out what the structure is. I find the NMR pretty good to do. The IR is a little vague, but you can answer it pretty much just from the NMR data, and use the IR for confirmation.

Question 3 is NMR from the other direction. Given a particular structure, you need to predict what NMR peaks and troughs it should give you. Its not too bad - once you get the idea of carbon equivalence.

Question 4 is looking at oxoacids, and working out their strengths. Its fairly straightforward if you can relate it to Paulings rules and coefficients.

Question 5 is to write an essay plan for the essay that has to be written for TMA-5. An essay - in chemistry, I never thought I'd see the day! Oh well...

As I said, not a bad TMA - which I think is more down to the absence of complex organic reactions than anything else.

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: CMA-2

So - there is another computer marked assignment to do. There are 35 question to be done, and they vary a lot in format. Some you have to work out a number and type it in. Others require ticking boxes, and so on. These have their strengths and weaknesses. Firstly its a computer marking your efforts, although the questions are reviewed by the course team. This does mean you can sometimes get what you think is the right answer only to be caught out on a technicality, like typing 2.0 when it is expecting 2. Mostly though its pretty good at taking reasonable answers - but of course can't apply the same common sense a human can.

You generally get 3 attempts at an answer, unless its a true/false type one. A couple of them I got completely wrong. One was on the symmetry of SeOCl₄ using VSEPR - which even after 3 attempts I still got wrong, and couldn't work out why. My tutor suggested some possibilities given I knew the answer (it tells you once you get it wrong). I also checked it out with a chemistry lecturer friend and she came to the same conclusion as I had. After taking it up with the course team they explained (after the deadline) why their answer was right, but eventually they zero'd out the question as it was rather ambiguous. Even given the answer I couldn't see how you could come up with a definitive structure based on just the course notes - there simply wasn't enough data to cover these weird edge cases. The trouble with issues like this is that I find it suddenly undermines my confidence. Its not a silly mistake, its something I've thought about and still got wrong. I suppose whatever doesn't fail makes me stronger, but in reality it tends to lead to a certain fear of similar questions.

The other question I got wrong I could eventually see I'd just made a silly mistake. Its a bit weird doing these things, you tend to get CMA blindness. For instance I'd take all the data given, do all the calculations and come up with an answer - I'd probably check it too - and then look at the screen and see if my answer was there. If it was, I'd tick it, if not then I clearly need to try again. However often you get one of these calculations where you end up doing a load of steps and then the final one is to multiply by 2 -- or is that divide by 2... after due consideration you decide its multiply by 2, see the answer is there, tick and go. Wrong answer. My immediate reaction is not to do any more work (because I'm lazy by nature) but to assume it was divide by 2, and the answer is there to, so tick that and resubmit immediately without rechecking things. Wrong again! This is where you're 3rd chance comes in, and where you should sit down and rework the problem again - rather than phoning a friend or asking the audience.

Anyway - that was the last of the two CMAs in this course.

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: Book 9 - Elements of the p-block

Oh no -its another vast book - 242 pages about lots of stuff - its information overload, and I'm not really sure what you are suppose to take away from this book. There seems far too much to learn, so in the end I just end up reading the book and hoping some of the concepts sink in ... hummm.

It starts off of, by looking at oxidation states and how you can work them out from various rules. That's not too bad.
The next chapter starts to look at acids and bases, and in particular extends the definition to Brønsted acids - which are compounds that can donate a proton or hydrogen ion.
So having just got the idea of a new type of acid, we have another new type in the next chapter - the Lewis acid. This is a substance that can donate a pair of electrons. Okkkayyy - just about getting that.

Next chapter is all about the chemistry of hydrogen - what it can do and how it can form hydrides and things like that. I'm sure there is some general message here but it seems like just a large number of different reactions.
Next we look at halides, and all manner of ways that the halogens can form compounds. Again a confusing number of different reactions.
After that - a real walk on the wild side as we look at those most unreactive of elements, the noble gases and the various compounds they can form. Its a bit like being told there is no Santa Claus that compounds of the noble gases can form compounds. I mean - the one thing you generally learn in chemistry is that compounds struggle to form bonds to make noble gas like electron shells. Then along comes xenon, and starts disrupting these well rehearsed truths.

After a brief foray into some trends in second and third row elements (which is also covered - better for me - in a dvd accompanying the book), we launch into group 3. Boron, aluminium and so on. Boron is plain weird, it eschews the eightfold way and is happy to make compounds with only a shell of 6 electrons. Its all rather disconcerting.

Then its time to look at group 4. Carbon, silicon and their ilk. It seems we've been doing precious little other than looking at carbon for most of this course, but here it is again.
Follow this up with a look at group 5 nitrogen, and phosphorous, and all they can do. Then its on to oxgen, sulphur and its pals.
Finally another look at trends and the book is done, except for a case study look at acid rain.

So much information, so many reactions - my head is spinning. How can anyone possibly remember a 10th of this stuff.

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: TMA-3

Time for TMA-3 - and a bit of a disaster for me, despite thinking I'd done it almost perfectly!

Question 1 was about molecular orbital theory, and drawing diagrams and putting electrons in for a molecule of PS. Most of this was fairly easy, except for the last part where you had to work out how it would decompose. Despite questioning my tutor, I couldn't grasp exactly what this was asking, and got almost no marks for this part. I'm still not much the wiser.

Question 2 concerned semiconductors and the doping thereof. Some more diagrams to be drawn and some theory to be expounded on.

Question 3 was about organic reactions, and mostly to do with carbocations and yet more stereo-chemistry. I don't think I have the patience to do some of these reactions, and it shows in the marks I get! Some of the latter part of the question was on synthesis techniques, and how to get from one compound to another.

Question 4 was full on synthesis. How to move around from one molecule to the next, what sort of thing you needed to add to it, and what conditions this might happen under and so on and so forth. I think I did ok on this one, but it was a struggle.

This TMA is probably the low point so far for me, as I didn't do nearly as well as I thought I would, and it sort of leaves you wondering if you understand the basics or maybe you're just not cut out for the subject. However this seems to happen in most of the 60 point courses I've done, so its probably just a psychological hump. I hope so!

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: Book 8 - Separation, purity and Identification

Book 8 - and quite a thin one for a change. However the euphoria of that swiftly departs towards the end. Anyway, the first part is all about practical chemistry, something we don't do any of in this course, other than read about it!
We have some chapters on separation of products, by using suitable dissolving agents and the like goes with like rule. Then there is a chapter on how to find out how pure the substance you made is, and then some stuff about identifying the compound you've made.

Then, just as you think the book is about finished, we move onto IR spectroscopy and NMR. There is nothing written about this in the book, other than directions to work through a whole set of videos and computer aided learning on the accompanying DVD.

So there are a number of exercises to work through to find out what NMR and IR are telling you about things. After working through IR and getting the idea you can find some stuff out, the NMR comes as much more of a revelation as it gives you much more information in general.

Finally the book ends up with a case study on forensic science and what chemists can do to aid the search for truth.

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: Book 7 - Alkenes and aromatics

Book 7 - and its more organic chemistry. This time is starts by looking at addition reactions. That is part 1 of this book, and doesn't have anything fantastically earth shattering as we've been looking at similar sort of mechanisms for a while
Part 2 goes on to look at aromatics, benzene rings and stuff like that. In particular Freidel-Craft reactions which show you ways of sticking stuff onto these rings. Its all a bit complex as there are all sorts of ways of adding stuff in depending on where you want it to add up, but by the end you can sort of see how some of the ideas of synthesis come about.
Then it is part 3, which is solely about synthesis, and ways of getting from a starting compound to where you want to end up. Its one of those topics that I can follow along, but would be completely lost if asked how you go about synthesising something new.
Finally the book ends up with a case study looking at petrochemicals and what sort of separation and other techniques are useful there.

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: TMA-2

The second bit of coursework looms - and its name is TMA-2.
Four questions to tackle, based on books 4 and 5.

Question 1 is all about thermodynamics. You have to calculate a number of entropy, enthalpy and other things about substances. You also have to draw a diagram of a Born-Haber lattice energy diagram and work out lattice energy for GeI₄ a substance.

Question 2 concerns kinetics. You have to come up with an general reaction rate equation and then it starts to drip in information that eventually allows you to solve it bit by bit.
You also need to use the computer program provided (kinetics toolkit) to plot a graph of the reaction rate.

Question 3 is about S_N1 and S_N2 reactions. You are presented with some reactions and told what they might produce, and from this you have to deduce if it is an S_N1 or 2 type reaction. You then have to draw the reaction diagrams with curly arrows showing where the electrons are moving around. Then it goes on to get you to consider the enantiomers produced and which might be dominant.

Question 4 is similar to question 3, but with different molecules, and we are looking at elimination reactions rather than substitutions.

I managed to get completely wrong on the last one and follow it to its logical conclusion but starting from a false premise.

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: Book 6 - Molecular modelling and bonding

This book is a book in itself, in that for once it isn't split into sections and parts, but does basically what it says on the cover.
It looks at the theory of electron clouds and how bonds form between atoms. It goes into all the detail about orbitals and hybridisation. It looks at what happens to bonds between atoms of the same type, and between different types. It also has a quick look at what is happening in semi-conductors, which is a little bit of a detour, although there is a relationship I suppose.

The part I don't really follow is the whole bit about symmetry. I can see some of the symmetries, others are a little harder to spot. I'm not too sure why they are important though, and to what extent the rather complicated rules for classifying the different symmetries are useful.

Finally there is a case study that looks at drug design and how knowledge of the bonding sites can allow enzymes and drugs to be designed.

Chemistry seems increasingly to be a collection of complex categorisation rules and quite a bit of maths. The maths I can cope with, but there seems a lot to remember otherwise. Oh well, judging by the book count, the course is over half way through now!

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: Book 5 - Chemical kinetics and mechanism

Book 5 is all about reactions and how they work. Yet again its a split book.

Part 1 is about rates and involves a lot of graph plotting and analysis. We get to use some graph plotting software which makes finding gradients to curves nice and easy, but you have to plot quite a few graphs of varying stuff.

Part 2 looks at substitution reactions, and we get to look at nucleophhilic reactions and how they work. This is quite interesting as it shows right at the molecular level some of what is going on when two things react, and how electrons move around the molecule. Some of them work in single steps, and some in more complex steps, and often you can work out whats going on by looking at rates and products.

Part 3 then looks at elimination reactions, which have some similarities with the substitution ones.

Finally there is a cased study on zeolites and what they can do for you and makes for interesting reading.

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: TMA-1

Time to tackle the first TMA in this course, of which there are a number.

There are 4 questions in this TMA, each at 25%, so nice and simple.

Question 1 has a-d sub parts and is about identifying a couple of mystery elements. You are given some details about them, such as the electron shell configuration and you have to identify them. Then draw lewis diagrams of their bonding with F and Cl, including some ionised variants.
Following that, you have to use VSEPR theory to say what sort of shape the molecule would appear as in 3 dimensions. Then finally, draw the structure of the 3-d molecule using flying wedges.

Question 2 is about crystals and has parts a-g. You are given a molecular picture of pyrite, and have to measure various properties of the unit cell. This I find rather hard to pin down the unit cell, but eventually I come up with something. You then have to measure angles and interatomic distances, comment on the coordination number of the atoms, count the number of each atom in a unit cell (more tricky than it sounds as most of the atoms are shared between multiple cells). Finally, given the atomic mass of the atoms, the distances and the atom counts you are in a position to work out the density of the substance.

Question 3 - organic nomenclature - oh my!!! Two parts, firstly name 4 molecules they have drawn for you. Tricky - particularly those with rings and chains, which do you start with??
Then part two - the opposite, they give you some names, and ask you to draw them. Some of these are chiral so flying wedges are important.

Question 4 - you are given a two chiral center molecule, and have to label each chiral carbon with the appropriate R/S tag. Then give it a systematic name with thje appropriate chiral bits.
Next you have to draw an entaniomer of this molecule, and then draw a diastereomers of it.
For the last two parts you are asked to consider the optical activity of the system in various mixtures of the various molecules given and drawn.

Well done, and posted now!

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: Book 4 - Metals and Chemical Change

So book 4. This one is all about why reactions happen. Why do some things when you mix them together react, some require heating, and some just never bother.
It has the potential to be a very boring book, as it discussing a lot of stuff about entropy, enthalpy and Gibbs free energy.
There are a number of videos that accompany the book and help bring it to life a little. Some of the chemical equations and calculations I find a little confusing, especially around metal ions. The crown ether stuff is also a little esoteric I found, but in the end with a bit of practice its possible to make some sense of the calculations.
Its quite interesting to see that given all this detail you can make some predictions about what reactions are possible and which aren't.
However all thats said there is a lot of equation manipulation in this bit - all relatively simple but there are enough steps that its really easy to miss off a coefficient here, or a plus sign there.

The book wraps up with a case study on batteries which is quite interesting. Going into the details of dry cells, NiCd and so on giving the design decisions around each.

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: Book 3 - The Third Dimension

Book 3 is a little weird, it is actually two books it seems to me.

Part 1 looks at crystals in some depth.
It goes through the various forms of crystal structures that can be made, and looks at ionic bonding that is prevalent in crystals.
I found this quite hard going, there is a lot of 3-d visualisation to get the ideas, but its not always easy as there is a lot going on in some of the structures. Trying to work out the common patterns is not easy, and I found the 3-d visualisation software though good, didn't really help as it lacks a good perspective. You get to make one or two models too, which sometimes helps, but the complex ones can't be made. There are a number of videos also showing you how they are constructed, so you can't fault them for trying - but really none of it made much sense to me until the tutorial.

Part 2 looks at stereochemistry, and chirality.
First it starts by looking at the effect double bonds can have on structure. Because double bonds stop the free rotation of molecules, you can have two different forms of the same molecule, and then you get into the whole "how do you name them" discussion. Having worked through this and got some rules on exactly how to name things which look different but have the same components, you get into chiral chemistry. This is where typically a carbon has 4 different things attached to its different bonds, and this allows two possible configurations of the molecule. These structures also have interesting optical properties as they rotate polarised light.
However it doesn't end there, as you can have molecules with more than one chiral center, and then things get really complicated with stereo isomer, diastereomers, entaniomers, and meso formations. If crystals gave you a headache, well you haven't felt anything yet!

Finally the book finishes up with a case study on liquid crystals.

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: Book 1 and 2

I have to say the chemistry books are slightly confusing at first.
Book 1 and 2 for this course are actually two sections of a single physical book.
Book 1 - or sub-book1 - is entitled "A prologue to the course" and is more or less what it says. Its presumably designed to suck you into the chemical world as it describes the great successes and progress that has been made in chemistry over the last few hundred years.
It covers diverse applications from forensics to ball lightning and mostly its just an enjoyable read - nothing too heavy anyway.

Then the second half of the book is "An introduction to the molecular world" gets into more details of chemistry. It looks at periodicity, electron configuration, VSEPR, bonding and reactivity. Its not too heavy, but the course has definitely begun in this book. Some of the topics covered, such as the VSEPR theory and the different types of bonding are useful. The idea that a noble gas configuration is not always required is a little disturbing in some ways, but one of the deeper truths that you have to contemplate.

Next S205 Prev S205

S205: Starting - Oh no!!

So with the end in sight for my current courses, and the exams to prepare for, thoughts turn to next years study. For the first time, the S205 chemistry starts in September and runs to June, rather than the more normal Jan to Sept. So I've been thinking about this for a while, my chemistry is weak, and it would be nice to get more familiar with this stuff so I can understand molecular biology better, so after some vacillation, I decide to sign up. I expect the books will arrive some time in Sept, and hopefully the first TMA will be after my exams.

So I sign up on a Thursday, and come the following Monday morning there is a large box on my front door step! Already? - You haven't given me time to hide!!

Unpacking the box is a mixture of excitement and fear. There seems an awful lot in this first package, have I really done the right thing? Lets see - what do you get?

• A DVD called Molecular Science - Physical Methods
• A DVD called Molecular Science - Periodic Table
  
• A DVD called The molecular World - Pack 1
• A set of bookmarks for the first 3 books
• Book 1-2 (both in the same volume), A prologue to the course, and Introducing the Molecular World
  
• Book 3 - The Molecular World - The Third Dimension
  
• Book 4 - Metals and Chemical Groups
  
• A calendar for the course
• A course guide
• A course index
• A course glossary
• A data book full of weights, measures and so on
• A leaflet about transferable skills
• A molecular model kit (looks like fun!)
  
• A document describing how to make molecular models
• A document describing how organic chemicals are named
• A royal society of chemistry guide to Getting the message across
  
• A ring binder (with no pocket for insert!)
• A ring binder insert?
• A set of 4 TMA submission forms
• A guide to the videos
• An online applications CD-ROM

Wow! That does look a little on the scary side! The good news is the first TMA is in November, so I will have time to do my exams first before tackling that, so that's good. Well it will have to stay mostly on ice for now, as I have to finish these current courses (well OK I might have a little peek and really scare myself).

Next S205