Chemistry 212 Lecture
Your Final Exam: The ACS Standardized Exam?
What is the ACS Standardized Exam?
As described in the syllabus, the final exam for this course is the American
Chemical Society (ACS) standardized exam in organic chemistry. The exam covers
the entire year of introductory organic chemistry, and allows your instructor to
gauge your performance in the course relative to students across the nation.
What is the format of the ACS Standardized Exam?
The test consists of 70 multiple-choice questions. You will have exactly two
hours to complete the exam. Since this is a standardized exam, the conditions of
the exam are quite specific. For example:
- The serial number of your test booklet will be recorded.
- All answers must be marked with a No. 2 pencil and the marks should be
very dark. Any erasures must be complete - leaving no smudges.
- You will be provided with scratch paper, but no other reference materials
are allowed. You must turn in all scratch paper at the end of the exam along
with your test booklet and answer sheet.
- The exam proctor may not provide any additional information or clarifying
statements beyond what in stated in the test booklet.
What should my strategy be?
Your score is based on the number of questions you answer correctly. There
is no penalty for incorrect answers. Therefore it is to your advantage to answer
every question - even if you have no idea which answer is correct.
How should I study for this exam?
Use your exams and quizzes from Chemistry 211 and 212. Study the chapter
summaries from the lecture textbook and your instructor's old sample exams -
especially if the multiple-choice questions. Review your notes. Work as many of
the end-of-chapter problems as you can. The topics listed below are generally
covered in the one-year organic chemistry lecture series. My recommendation is
that you use the topic list in conjunction with the textbook and your old exams
and notes.
Also keep in mind that you will perform better if you do not leave all the
reviewing to the end of the semester. I suggest that you pick one or two topics
to review each week throughout the semester
A list of topics and and link to purchase a study guide for
the final from the American Chemical Society can be found at: http://www3.uwm.edu/dept/chemexams/guides/details_guides.cfm?ID=163
How will the standardized exam be figured into my course
grade?
Your score will be based on national percentile ranking. A score at the 50th
percentile is, by definition, average. Therefore the percentile score must be
scaled to reflect grading on a 100-point scale and be consistent with the grade
cutoffs listed in the course syllabus.
The class average in organic chemistry is usually 75/100. Therefore, a student
scoring at the 50th percentile on the ACS exam should receive a grade of
approximately 75%. This scaling will be accomplished by the use of the follwoing
formula:
Scaled Score = ACS percentile + [ (100-ACS percentile) (ACS percentile/100)
]
Using the example given above of a student at the 50th percentile on the
final, we get:
50 + [ (100 - 50) (50/100) ] = 75
Let's consider some other examples so you can see how this works. The
following ACS percentile conversions were calculated using the formula given
above:
90 percentile => 99 points, 80 percentile => 96 points, 70 percentile
=> 91 points,
60 percentile => 84 points, 50 percentile => 75 points, 40 percentile
=> 64 points,
30 percentile => 51 points, 20 percentile => 36 points, 10 percentile
=> 19 points.
Worksheets