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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Chemistry 1A03 covers grade 12 Chemistry 4U, but in greater depth. The course was not particularly challenging, although there were tricks that the professors used in both the midterms and the final.
I had Dr. Landry. He was a good professor, and explained everything very well. His style of teaching was slightly more impromptu than Hatala's (for me, at least), but he explained the concepts well. Lecture was "mandatory", due to iClicker questions in every lecture.

Tutorials were useful in this course, and were "mandatory" due to iClicker. The questions in tutorial were posted on ELM and were usually very good indicators of test questions.

We had quizzes once every two weeks. The questions on them were usually more difficult than test questions, but excellent preparation for midterms and the final.

Evaluations
The midterms were each worth 15% of the total grade, and the final was worth 45%. The first midterm covered quantum theory, bonding, and atomic trends, while the second was cumulative and covered the three mentioned above along with re-dox, equilibrium, and acid-base (in more detail).
I personally found the second midterm to be easier, although both were fair. The midterms are my no means easy, however, and for many people the acid-base unit is one of the toughest parts of the course.
The final was slightly harder than I expected, and focused on thermochemistry (as it was not covered on the midterms), along with having a secondary focus on the material from the 2nd midterm.

Labs were worth 15% of the mark. There were 4 labs (one was dropped due to the strike), and alternated weeks with tutorials. The lowest mark was dropped for labs.

Quizzes were worth 8% of the mark, and the lowest 2 of 6 were dropped. IClicker made up 2% of the mark, and was evaluated in lecture and tutorial.

Overall, chem 1A03 was a good course. The workload was higher than my other science courses, but was easily manageable. It may take a bit of work, but it's not hard to get a decent grade in this course.

Lectures: iClickers
The new thing introduced in lectures this year was the use of the iClicker that accounted for 2% of your overall mark.

It was not based on participation but the right answer, though this may change in future years depending on how the department decides to evaluate the results of their unofficial course-end poll (also conducted with iClickers)

iClicker questions are helpful in that they ensure you stay on track with your work and remain awake throughout lectures.

However, if you're on the ball with your work, you may not find these a useful allotment of your time in which case it's probably better to have a few other homework problems on hand that you could do in the 5 to 6 minutes some questions take later in the course.

Personal iClicker Opinion:
I did not enjoy iClickers that much. I understand and appreciate their usefulness as well as the opportunity to see some questions being worked out, and their use as an attendance tool but they weren't something I preferred.

Lectures: Concepts
In the beginning of the course Chemistry moves pretty fast, and if you don't take the time and the effort, it can surprise you unpleasantly.

There's also a lot of overall confusion at the beginning, as students struggle to remember previous years knowledge and grasp new material that's moving fairly quickly.

The best thing to do here is to go to more than one lecture. Out of the 4 that will likely teach, there will probably be at least one that suits your style of learning and attending several lectures could help you find them if you aren't already in their core.

However, multiple classes and multiple methods of presentation (even if these are not always optimized for your personal style of absorption) are extremely helpful in reinforcing the tiny details that may slip our notice or we just want reinforced.

Lectures: Concepts: Assumed Knowledge
If you're reading this and haven't started Chemistry yet, get the assigned text and go through chapters on or corresponding to:
1. Matter - Its Properties and Measurement
2. Atoms and the Atomic Theory
3. Chemical Compounds
4. Chemical Reactions
5. Gases

Knowing this material before the course starts will allow you to better integrate into the content actually being taught, and prevent that continual cycle of "catching up" which is probably more stressful than the material itself.

Lectures: Professors
I had Gillian Goward but I preferred Paul Hatala.
While Dr. Goward was great, Professor Hatala broke the material down in a way that really helped it click for me personally.
He makes use of a lot of analogies and that really facilitates the way I learn.
This is what I mean by finding a professor who "works" for you. Many people will prefer a prof like Hatala because he's very relatable and simplifies the material without watering it down.
However, this doesn't mean your other professors don't know what they're talking about. It may take a while to get used to them and if you really find you're better off with some other professor - attend their lectures.

Tutorials:
I found my tutorials quite helpful though of course it does depend on the TA.
This year tutorials were also mandatory (attendance was logged through iClicker answers).
My TA (Ebi) prefaced each tutorial with a short review of the main concepts (and wrote things on the board which was great because it helps that high school --> lecture transition) before getting into problem solving.

If you don't enjoy your TA's style, attend for the iClicker marks and do some other questions while they teach. That way you make use of your time and their's as if you work on tutorial relevant content you can always just ask if you get stuck.

Chances are your questions and the proposed answers will benefit more than one person.

Labs:
There were initially 5 labs scheduled this year, but out of those, only 3 were marked. Due to the strike, we lost out some time and did 4 labs, out of which 3 were marked.

I enjoyed the labs and they're not too terrible if you remember to wear all the safety gear, ask as many questions as you need to, and prep appropriately.

Your lab manual advises preparation and to most students that's sleep and prelab questions.
That's not enough, nor is it very practical if you get stressed in lab situations.

Read through the lab and write a mock lab.
What I mean by this is a template where you have all your lab information ready to go and simply have to plug in the actual data.

For example, if you had an experiment where you had to determine a substance's purity, your template would include the reaction, and actual calculations for molar mass and mass and moles, but without lab relevant numbers (which you would substitute in during the lab).

Knowing what you're doing from a mathematical standpoint helps immensely from a lab skills perspective.

Labs: Partners
Make sure your partner is someone you know or can trust to work diligently.
It's important that your work ethics are somewhat similar because you won't spend time wondering who did what wrong.
Even if you do screw up greatly though, TA's are quite generous when marking. Just make sure that the report is done to the letter.

Homework:
Ensure you keep up to date with the homework as it is released on ELM. Do all the textbook problems and then some if you can.
Make sure you also do the Practice Tests that are uploaded.
However, ensure you also understand the concepts behind what you're doing.
50 Problems done mechanically will be of much less use than 30 done well, and with understanding.

This is more relevant for the midterms than the final exam (which I found less brutal than the midterms). Don't lose out on the 3 mark questions needlessly.

My piece of advice; use the resources provided to you; i.e. Tutorials, Office hours, Extra work problems etc.

do you happen to have notes like that for BIO 1AO3 or 1MO3? if so could you please post them, thnx.

Hey y'all.
I have decided to upload notes/tests/etc to Megaupload, pertaining to the Fall 2009 session (Hatala). If the link becomes dead, PM me and I shall re-upload them.

LINK: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=R78EFH45

Hey guys,
so, I took this last Fall as a first year - I had taken grade 11 and 12 both in grade 12 before I came to Mac, got 85% each time.

I got a 4 in this class.

Why?
I didn't know what to expect from a university course since it was term one; I didn't study enough, didn't take advantage of tutorials (literally NEVER went) and barely reviewed my notes -- I got too cocky because it's the exact same material as grade 11 and 12, just move advanced.
Best advice: STUDY and go to all tutorials!!

OOPS!
Wrong link
New link here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5QV6C4HO

pippa lock is an amazing teacher to have for chem 1a03 and 1aa3..she explains real well!

Has anybody had Dumont as a prof before?
Thanks for the great reviews btw

Never had him personally, but he has pretty good reviews on RateMyProfessors.

The Chem department is really good with making sure that the profs for first year courses are good, so I wouldn't worry too much.

Originally Posted by Marlowe

Never had him personally, but he has pretty good reviews on RateMyProfessors.

The Chem department is really good with making sure that the profs for first year courses are good, so I wouldn't worry too much.

They are definitely the most accommodating department I know, expect maybe Health Sci, taking off questions from midterms and things...

Too bad Chem is still one of those nasty courses.... especially 1AA3

for the labs and tutorials, since both of them are every other week, would it be possible to put them together at the same time slot? so that one week ts the tutorial and the next week its the lab...? or do they mean that the tutorial and lab both take place in the same week and then none of them in the next week?