Overview
Chemistry 1A03 covers basic assumed knowledge from highschool (bonding, gases, atomic theory, etc), electrons in atoms, periodic table trends, acids & bases, equilibrium, aqueous solutions and thermochemistry. This is a rather large first year class, so it's taught by 3 or...

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Great course description! It was probably the second hardest course in first year life sci, harder than 1AA3. The material just keeps going, with new concepts introduced right into the last week. I would suggest not buying the textbook, just study off the slides

i havent had chem in 3 years, its going to be an interesting term..

An easy course I think, the second year chem is much much harder than first year chem A03 and AA3.

Great class and not too hard if you put the time in

Would you people recommend doing the textbook problems or is it best just to do the tutorial questions and if you are struggling then turn to the textbook?

You need to figure out how you learn best, but for me, if I already understand a concept I wouldn't waste time doing extra problems that aren't worth marks, I'd spend my time trying to understand something else that I'm having trouble with.

If you have a good knowledge of chemistry you should have no problem getting double digits in 1a03

Doing the practice problems and going over the notes in a timely fashion makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE. This is the same with most courses, but this one especially!!!

This course was one of my favourite courses in first year. The one thing I like about Chemistry is that if you keep up with your homework, studying for midterms and exams is minimal. The most important thing in Chemistry is to understand your notes first, and then do all the tutorial questions. Doing textbook + tutorial questions is better, but if you find yourself short for time, doing tutorial questions will be effective and save a lot of time. Every week, I'd read the notes, whatever I didn't understand I might've read again in the textbook or watched the podcast to get the hang of it. Then I'd do textbook questions, and finally tutorial questions. I didn't find textbook questions necessary as the tutorial questions were fine preparation, but I did them anyways.

The textbook is not really needed. Even the professors tell us that you only should use the textbook if you don't understand something in the notes. The chemistry professors are AMAZING, so much better than biology. The course is very organized, and 90% of it is high school review.

I found the labs great too. The labs are well organized, easy to do in the required time, and marked very fairly, and they actually relate to the course unlike biology. It's nice to just do the lab and get it done in the same period, and they are very straightforward.

My biggest advice is to do the practice midterms and exams! This is the best way of seeing whether you're ready for the real thing. Don't study to the midterms, but use it was a way of seeing whether you can do it.

The course has an optional I-clicker and Mastering Chemistry component. I highly recommend the Mastering Chemistry part. It is worth 6%, and can reduce the weight of your final exam from 44 to 38%. It's very easy to get over 100 on this, and when it reduces your exam, that's another bonus. The iClickers were good too, except for some reason I got almost every single one wrong lol. If you can get over 80% right though, you get a free 3% to reduce your exam to 35%.

For the labs, it greatly depends on your lab TA, but despite that, if you prepare well, you can get over 90 on them. I had a very good TA who was a little picky, but very good nonetheless. Make sure you understand the labs, watch the videos beforehand and complete the prelabs.

I didn't go to any tutorials for chemistry, I didn't find it necessary and I managed to get a 12.

This course was probably the most annoying course I had to take. Labs were a bother, but they were fun.

The tome of a textbook isn't really necessary at all, as long as you go to class.

This was a fun course, espeically if you get Dr. Brock. He's a great teacher and makes all the concepts really simple. Make sure you study and you should have no problem getting double digits

Listed above is the old course. Welcome to the new Chem 1A03 suckers

I had the absolute honour (note the sarcasm) of being part of the first full semester blended learning style 1A03. And considering past patterns, it is probably going to stick.

This means 2 weekly online modules (which requires anywhere from 2 hours - 8 hours of processing), weekly online quizzes and 2 live lectures a weeek (which were done AFTER the quiz I might add). 1 midterm, as well as labs and tutorials.

Chem is very hard in first year, and is a lot of math. The blended learning is a shock and makes it ten times worse. My suggestion (if you have to take it) work in groups, and review the material after taking notes on the modules (which you should try to watch asap). I don't know what will change before next year, but that was the basic rundown of what I would have wanted to know before first year.

Best of luck, the Professors are AMAZING and make lecture so worth it, though rumour has it that Dr Brock is being let go. That sucks, as he made chem fun

This course is fair. The questions are pretty straight forward on tests, there maybe a few tricky ones. The midterms and exams aren't always the same difficulty; the one thing this course lacks is consistency. Lab TAs won't be specific or give the same marks. Also, make sure you're prepared for labs. Other than that, I enjoyed this course. As long as you do the modules, some practice tests and exams, and attend lectures or at least go through lecture content, you should be fine. I didn't go to any tutorials so I can't say how helpful they are.