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!

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