Cycle D- Practice Set (Mass Structure)

• At least a paragraph reflection that describes the types of problems you really understood and why.  Give at least one example.
• I really understood the Lewis Structures and finding the type of compounds based on the information given. Using the “percent to mass, mass to mole, divide by smallest, multiply to whole” strategy, the problems seemed fairly basic to me. For example, a question would be to find the compound formula for a hydrocarbon given 55% of it being carbon and the rest being hydrogen.
• At least a paragraph reflection that describes the types of problems you struggled with and why. Give at least one example.
• Defining the term asymmetric seemed to be the most difficult task if any. This cycle seemed pretty simple and there weren’t any aspects where I had major or even minor problems.
• At least one picture of something you did in class during the week with a description of the picture.
• This pictures shows a lab we did in class where we had to determine the number of moles of water molecules in epson salt.

Cycle C - Practice Set (Lewis Structure)

• At least a paragraph reflection that describes the types of problems you really understood and why.  Give at least one example.
• I understood bond order and how to solve for them. For example, I could solve for the bond order for the molecule O3 (ozone). The Lewis structure of sulfur trioxide and any other molecule seemed easy to find. Basically, anything having to do with Lewis diagrams seems easy to me for the time being. In addition, the resonance structres and formal charges made sense to me.
• At least a paragraph reflection that describes the types of problems you struggled with and why. Give at least one example.
• The problem about the tetrahedral structure confused me since I didn’t know what it was and how to approach it. Some of the dipole moment and finding the largest/smallest one was difficult. Determining the geometry of each molecule was challenging along with hybridization. (Ex: Describing the hybridization of carbon in a carbonate ion)
• At least one picture of something you did in class during the week with a description of the picture.
• Below is a picture of our Chromatography lab on the Explore day. It shows the different colors on the piece of paper we put into the water. As seen in the picture, the blue dye has a slight edge over the orange and red dye.

Cycle B Quiz - Bonding Structure

• At least one paragraph that reflects on how you prepared for the quiz.
• In order to prepare for the quiz, I once again reviewed the notes I had taken from the Lesson video and rewatched the video.  I also looked at the Practice Quiz again and watched the video where Mr. Musallam went through each problem.
• At least one paragraph that reflects on how you felt during the quiz. What did you understand? What did you struggle with?
• I felt pretty confident during the quiz and felt that I knew what I was doing. Some parts were a bit confusing and stumped me. Having Mr. Musallam not be in class made it impossible to ask him a question if I didn't understand a specific question. the last question for Metallic Bonding was definitely the hardest but I had a general idea of what was happening.
• At least one paragraph that describes a few things you will do differently in preparing for our next quiz. If what you did this time completely worked for you, clearly describe your strategy.
• Next time, I will visit Mr. Musallam before the quiz and ask him any questions I may have. My mistake this time was not finding time in my schedule to do this which made it difficult a bit more difficult on my end. Possibly doing a few more extra practice problems wouldn't hurt.

Cycle B - Practice Set (Bonding)

• At least one paragraph that describes the types of problems you really understood and why. Give at least one example
• I really understood the different types of Alloys (Interstitial, Substitutional, and Interstitial and Substitutional.) I also understood the general idea behind melting points and ionic, polar, and nonpolar bonds. I do understand how Sodium Iodide (NaI) and other similar compounds could fit into the ionic group while other compounds would have other types of bonds. The whole idea of ionic transfer and electronegativity also make sense to me.

• At least one paragraph that describes the types of problems you struggled with and why. Give at least one example
• I had no idea what lattice energy was an was stuck on the question regarding it for some time. I could also use some help with classifying types of metals and where each compound fits into which type of bond. I’m also still a bit confused with the different sizes of each alloy and how they’re affected in terms of malleability when combined.

• At least one picture of something you did in class during the week and a description of the picture.
• These are pictures from our group’s “Spark” on the Practice Day. It shows the electrons moving through water in order to light up the light on the other edge of the dish.

Cycle A Quiz - Electronic Configuration

• At least one paragraph that reflects on how you prepared for the quiz.
• I prepared for the quiz by looking over my notes in my notebook and reviewing them for a bit. I also looked at and completed the practice quiz which gave me a good understanding of what the quiz might look like and what type of questions I could expect. These two methods along with asking Mr. Musallam concepts that I didn’t completely understand helped clarify my questions. In addition, I rewatched the video on Electronic Configuration to hear the process being explained again.

• At least one paragraph that reflects on what how you felt during the quiz. What did you understand? What did you struggle with? etc.
• When I first got the quiz, I was obviously a bit nervous. Doing the Stoich part first, the easiest quiz section in my opinion, helped me calm down a bit and put aside my nervousness. I understood the majority of the questions but a few stumped me. Aside from a reading error and some confusing terms, the main problem I had was trying to remember the difference between finding Ionization Energy and Atomic Radius. I would later solve the problem by remembering examples done previously but the time spent doing that definitely chewed up some clock. 

• At least one paragraph that describes things a few things you will do differently in preparing for our next quiz. If you what you did this time completely worked for you, clearly describe your strategy.
• I think what I did this time worked well. I will continue to review my notes, complete the practice quiz, and ask Mr. Musallam if I have any questions regarding the next quiz cycle. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The method I used worked and repeating it again seems to be a good idea.  In my case, my approach for studying for quizzes is working so I’ll keep doing what I’m doing until it no longer works.

Cycle A - Practice Set (Electronic Configuration)

• At least a paragraph reflection that describes the types of problems you really understood and why.  Give at least one example.
• I really understood electronic structure the configuration of the different elements on the Periodic Table (Ex: Cl being 1s22s22p63s23p5). I also understand how Ionization Energy and Atomic Radius differ. In addition, the periodic trends and the graphs produced.
• At least a paragraph reflection that describes the types of problems you struggled with and why. Give at least one example.
• I am still a bit confused with Coulomb’s law and how to use it to define my answer. I also need to work on determining the values of each peak for the graphic view in the Photoelectron Spectroscopy. I also get confused when multiple elements end up having the same number of electrons in a question (Ex: P, Ar3+, Al2-).
• At least one picture of something you did in class during the week with a description of the picture.
• This is the picture of our group’s Electronic Configuration activity on the “Explore Day.” This activity showed me how energy levels and shielding worked before actually learning them later on in the week. As atomic radius increased, Ionization Energy decreases and vice versa.
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