16
How to approach examination questions:
selected problems and answers
No matter how intrinsically interesting students find
the study of organic chemistry, there will usually be
one or more hurdles that need to be overcome, the
examinations. Examination technique is undoubtedly
a skill, and this chapter is aimed at developing such
skills for organic chemistry. Throughout the book, we
have tried to convince the reader that, by applying
principles and deductive reasoning, we can reduce to
a minimal level the amount of material that needs be
committed to memory.
This section contains a selection of typical examination questions, many of them based on real ones
used at Nottingham, together with the answers. However, it is not so much the answers themselves that
are important, but developing the skills to answer
them. We wish to show that, in many questions, the
information given can actually direct us toward the
answer. Thus, emphasis has been placed on what to
look for in the question, how to approach the problem, and how to develop the answer in a logical
manner. We are not looking at questions that ask for
essay-style answers, and thus require a lot of memorized material, but are concerned predominantly with
those questions that start out ‘Propose a mechanism
for . . .’ or ‘Explain the following observations . . .’
Rather than having questions at the end of each
chapter, we have purposely decided to put all these
problems together in a separate chapter to help
emphasize links and the integration of different ideas.
One of the disadvantages of the almost-universal
modular system as a study method is that particular
themes become imprisoned in self-contained packages. For real skill and understanding, it is necessary
to be able to interrelate ideas from different modules.
The problems used here are usually going to require
integration of knowledge from one or more chapters
to provide the answer. The source material required
for each problem is broadly indicated, so that they
can be used as self-test examples after the appropriate chapters have been covered. The questions are
targeted predominantly towards the general material
covered in Chapters 1–11. It may well be that these
questions become more relevant towards the end of a
particular course, when examinations are no longer a
distant consideration but are becoming an imminent
prospect.
16.1 Examination questions: useful
advice
Read the instructions very carefully. Make sure you
are clear how many questions you need to answer.
Do not answer more questions than are required.
You may be penalized, in that only those questions
answered first will be marked; these may not be your
highest scoring answers.
Read the entire paper. Choose the questions that
you are going to answer and decide the order in which
you will tackle them. Start with a question which you
think that you can answer well, to build up your confidence for the less-appealing questions, but do not
spend more than the allocated time on this question.
Essentials of Organic Chemistry Paul M Dewick
2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
How to approach examination questions:
selected problems and answers
No matter how intrinsically interesting students find
the study of organic chemistry, there will usually be
one or more hurdles that need to be overcome, the
examinations. Examination technique is undoubtedly
a skill, and this chapter is aimed at developing such
skills for organic chemistry. Throughout the book, we
have tried to convince the reader that, by applying
principles and deductive reasoning, we can reduce to
a minimal level the amount of material that needs be
committed to memory.
This section contains a selection of typical examination questions, many of them based on real ones
used at Nottingham, together with the answers. However, it is not so much the answers themselves that
are important, but developing the skills to answer
them. We wish to show that, in many questions, the
information given can actually direct us toward the
answer. Thus, emphasis has been placed on what to
look for in the question, how to approach the problem, and how to develop the answer in a logical
manner. We are not looking at questions that ask for
essay-style answers, and thus require a lot of memorized material, but are concerned predominantly with
those questions that start out ‘Propose a mechanism
for . . .’ or ‘Explain the following observations . . .’
Rather than having questions at the end of each
chapter, we have purposely decided to put all these
problems together in a separate chapter to help
emphasize links and the integration of different ideas.
One of the disadvantages of the almost-universal
modular system as a study method is that particular
themes become imprisoned in self-contained packages. For real skill and understanding, it is necessary
to be able to interrelate ideas from different modules.
The problems used here are usually going to require
integration of knowledge from one or more chapters
to provide the answer. The source material required
for each problem is broadly indicated, so that they
can be used as self-test examples after the appropriate chapters have been covered. The questions are
targeted predominantly towards the general material
covered in Chapters 1–11. It may well be that these
questions become more relevant towards the end of a
particular course, when examinations are no longer a
distant consideration but are becoming an imminent
prospect.
16.1 Examination questions: useful
advice
Read the instructions very carefully. Make sure you
are clear how many questions you need to answer.
Do not answer more questions than are required.
You may be penalized, in that only those questions
answered first will be marked; these may not be your
highest scoring answers.
Read the entire paper. Choose the questions that
you are going to answer and decide the order in which
you will tackle them. Start with a question which you
think that you can answer well, to build up your confidence for the less-appealing questions, but do not
spend more than the allocated time on this question.
Essentials of Organic Chemistry Paul M Dewick
2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd