UoM General Chat

[uoiea]

How have / do people study for Chem 2? I used Chemcal and tried out the practice exam on the exam wiki, and the exam questions were significantly more difficult than Chemcal's practices. QM for Chemcal also doesn't go into depth at all, learnt almost nothing from it + lectures aren't recorded, bleh

Also,  do lecturers get the boot if they receive enough criticism? totally not related to the complaints above.. 

[Rishi97]

How have / do people study for Chem 2? I used Chemcal and tried out the practice exam on the exam wiki, and the exam questions were significantly more difficult than Chemcal's practices. QM for Chemcal also doesn't go into depth at all, learnt almost nothing from it + lectures aren't recorded, bleh

Also,  do lecturers get the boot if they receive enough criticism? totally not related to the complaints above.. 

Hey the textbook explains QM pretty well so maybe give that a shot...but yeh I totally agree with you, it wasn't taught the best :/

[Yacoubb]

How have / do people study for Chem 2? I used Chemcal and tried out the practice exam on the exam wiki, and the exam questions were significantly more difficult than Chemcal's practices. QM for Chemcal also doesn't go into depth at all, learnt almost nothing from it + lectures aren't recorded, bleh

Also,  do lecturers get the boot if they receive enough criticism? totally not related to the complaints above.. 

I honestly feel like the one topic I would have loved to revisit lectures for is QM, but the lectures aren't recorded. I'm really just trying to make sure I get as many practice papers done, but also reviewing my mistakes because the questions tend to be generally repetitive..

[LeviLamp]

Trevor has been lecturing quantum for years, and has never been booted. He was as bad in my year as he was in yours, I promise. So he probably isn't going anywhere of his own free will. Use the textbook/s for quantum, Trevor's lecture slides are mostly rehashes of the Zumdahl book anyway, so I'm sure (almost) everything you need to know will be in Chemistry^3/Zumdahl.

To study for Chem, I recommend doing the full set of textbook questions, and understanding how to arrive at the correct answer if you get it wrong. Then go over all your notes, and do the past exams.

[MelonBar]

It would depend on the stage of the paper - that is, it's possible that the paper is a) under review at the time, b) has been sent back from review with comments to be addressed or c) has been accepted but not published yet. But if you're presenting your work at a conference, typically it hasn't been 'peer reviewed' in that sense.  Some dodgy journals aren't even peer review anyway.  And the journal's people don't do the review themselves - the editors send the article out to relevant people that also work in your field, anonymously (people they think have expertise related to your work, and frequently your own 'competitors', read colleagues).  But to get to that stage, the editor has to deem it worthy of even sending out to review, first.

You're allowed to present whatever you want at a conference.  People are usually presenting stuff that isn't published yet at conferences tbh, especially in poster presentations and younger researcher short talks.  Most people haven't gathered enough data yet for a complete story that is required for a paper, or their paper is stuck in the submission process outlined above.  Just because their work hasn't been reviewed for a journal, doesn't mean it's not valid.  People can draw their own conclusions from what is presented at the conference without accepting everything the researchers say - and importantly, when you're presenting, you're at the conference, so if people want to question you then you're both right there and capable of interacting in person.  The point of conferences is for people to present cutting edge research at the very forefront of their field as they are gathering results.  If we waited for everyone to publish their results, we'd be stifling the 'cutting edge' part.  Also, to present at a conference you can't just waltz in - you have to submit an abstract, and a conference board decides whether you will present and what sort of presentation you'll be given.

Lastly, most of the time when you send a paper out for review, people just tell you to do /more stuff/ to clarify the argument you're trying to make (ie extra experiments).  It would be rarer for someone to just shoot another person in their field down entirely and be like 'this is completely wrong', although obviously can happen. Review usually leads to people being forced to fill holes in their research or consider things they may not have considered, rather than being there as like a way to stop bullshit science from being publicised. Although that is obviously a valid part of it too.

Thanks for your insights simpak! Interesting

[Rod]

Hey the textbook explains QM pretty well so maybe give that a shot...but yeh I totally agree with you, it wasn't taught the best :/

Yeah +1 definitely found the textbook MUCH better than the lecture notes and MUCH better than the lectures as well. I feel as if I learnt absolutely nothing in Trevor's lectures, and everything I know now is from either from the textbook and tutes. Maybe that's why he doesn't record them? Like they are useless lectures wouldn't bother watching them again.

[someone011]

Can anyone tell me where I can find hot water at uni? I can only ever find microwaves!

[spectroscopy]

whats the deal with the baillieu library extended hours zone? is the whole ground floor open til 1am?
are there any other places to study on campus that are open until that late (1amish) LOL

[silverpixeli]

Can anyone tell me where I can find hot water at uni? I can only ever find microwaves!

I thiiiiink i saw a hot water box thing near the second floor entrance to the Laby Theatre (Physics South) but I am not 100% certain, there's a sink there with a tap though, opposite the door to the theatre. Also I have no idea if we're allowed to just use it.

[sjayne]

whats the deal with the baillieu library extended hours zone? is the whole ground floor open til 1am?
are there any other places to study on campus that are open until that late (1amish) LOL

'Starting from 19 October until 6 November, ERC Level 1 is open for 24 hours. That's week 12, Swotvac and first week of exams.'

[spectroscopy]

'Starting from 19 October until 6 November, ERC Level 1 is open for 24 hours. That's week 12, Swotvac and first week of exams.'

legend. thank you

[Stick]

Trevor has been lecturing quantum for years, and has never been booted. He was as bad in my year as he was in yours, I promise.

There's a couple of lecturers that come to mind when I hear this. The SES can be so powerful so why is it that this can happen? If the feedback for a particular staff member is consistently poor, that should be a sign, should it not? :S

[Kalopsic]

There's a couple of lecturers that come to mind when I hear this. The SES can be so powerful so why is it that this can happen? If the feedback for a particular staff member is consistently poor, that should be a sign, should it not? :S

I can think of 3 possibilities:
1. He is the most knowledgeable in that area so the uni/chemistry faculty decides to keep him as the lecturer
2. He's the only professor in that department and thus is the only one able to teach the content
3. Only the relevant sections of SES is read by the chemistry faculty thus any of the negative feedback is read by himself and the other lecturers

I wouldn't even mind if Sonia taught all the content but that would be unfair on her

[Rishi97]

I wouldn't even mind if Sonia taught all the content but that would be unfair on her

SONIA IS SOO AMAZZING!!!! I LOVE HER SO MUCH!!! <3 I feel like I've learnt more from her tutes than all the lectures combined lol

[Russ]

I can think of 3 possibilities:
1. He is the most knowledgeable in that area so the uni/chemistry faculty decides to keep him as the lecturer
2. He's the only professor in that department and thus is the only one able to teach the content
3. Only the relevant sections of SES is read by the chemistry faculty thus any of the negative feedback is read by himself and the other lecturers

I wouldn't even mind if Sonia taught all the content but that would be unfair on her

You missed

4. Survey data is within whatever acceptable limits are set

I can't speak to SES specifically, but it's usually typical for people filling out surveys to give good marks. Complaining about lecturers can become a bit of an echo chamber, where the silent majority end up being fairly ambivalent