From the syllabus

A discussion session will be held every Friday during the semester with your TA. During this time, material and problems relevant to the course will be discussed. The first Discussion meetings will be on Friday. 1/17. There is a direct participation grade associated with Discussion, and an indirect positive impact on exam performance. Materials will be posted under Resources in the DISCUSSION folder of the Canvas site prior to each meeting.

• On Monday of each week, a problem set will be posted to Canvas in the DISCUSSION section.
• You should complete and submit your completed problem set (PS) through Canvas every Wednesday night before midnight, 11:59pm. While working, you may discuss concepts with others, but you need to be sure that you understand the problems and have solved them yourself. You will be graded for on time submission of a completed problem set, and the TAs and I may look at them, but these will not be graded for correctness.
• During Discussion, you will be called upon to explain your solutions and discuss solution strategies with your peers and TA. This is a positive, friendly learning environment, and any remaining questions or problem-solving strategies will be clarified as a group. You will be graded on participation in discussion, and not on whether answers are perfectly correct.

Additional information

• The maximum number of points that can be earned from Discussion this semester is 50.
  • You will submit your answers to Canvas every Wednesday by 11:59pm. You will be graded for on-time submission of a completed problem set, and the TAs and I may look at them, but these will not be graded for correctness. On-time submissions are worth 2 points, late submissions (up to 24 hours) are worth 1 point, and non-submissions are worth 0, no exceptions. (14 x 2 = 28 points available)
  • Each time a student attends a Discussion meeting with their problem set completed, on time, and participates when called upon by the TA, they will get 2 points. If the student is present but unprepared, or does not participate, or is late, 1 point is earned. Absences earn 0 points. (13 x 2 = 26 points available)
  • There are 14 Discussion Problem Sets and 13 Discussion meetings throughout the semester so more than 50 points are available, but only up to 50 will be used in the grade calculation.
    • There are no make ups, excuses, or exceptionally late submissions for Discussion allowed. However, the maximum number of points available for Discussion is 50 points, so missing one (or two) Discussion meetings or problem set submissions is not a severe penalty.
    • After each exam, there will be an “Exam Recap” discussion meeting. These are optional (automatic 2 points), but highly recommended, meetings with your TA in the normal Discussion format, using the previous exam as the “problem set”. This is a way to get questions about the exam answered.
• Answer keys will not be posted for most discussion problem sets (PS). To confirm your answers, please make sure to attend and actively participate in the Discussion. If you miss Discussion or if the group runs out of time before covering all the problems, student hours are available to provide clarification on these or any other problems.
  • The philosophy here is that you have access to thousands of problems and solutions already (text problems, in-class activities, lecture reviews, sample exams, etc.). We are not trying to hide these answers—we want you to have access to the discussion solutions as well, we just don’t want answer keys floating around or posted to websites. That said, the TAs and Instructor will always be here for you to make sure you understand the problems. Please ask if you need additional help!
• Attending a different Discussion section from the one you’re enrolled in, even if it’s with the same TA, is against University policy.

Missing a Discussion meeting

• In the event that you cannot attend Discussion you do not need to contact your TA or Professor. There is a 6 point buffer (see above) so excuses/makeups are not granted for Discussion. If you want to check your answers after the fact, you can come by Student Hours.

Organic Chemistry I | Chem 201DL Syllabus Spring 2025 | Jim Parise | Duke University