To encourage formation of study groups (4-5 persons), extra credit will be available for a group assignment. A take-home, open-book, Pre-Test will be given out on the Wednesday of the week before each hour test. The test is to be done by the group and turned in on Monday of the test week. It will be graded and returned by Wednesday. Persons not willing to participate in a group, or unable to take part in one of the exams, will have their Hour Test grade substituted for the Pre-Test grade. The Hour Test grade will also substitute if it is higher than the Pre-Test grade.

In exceptional circumstances, it might be possible to arrange to take the hour test a day early. In the case of excused absences where this is not possible, the final exam grade will substitute for the missed exam.

Following are the minimum percentage cut-off's for a given letter grade, obtained by dividing the total raw score by 6. Depending on test difficulty and class performance, these cut-off's might be lowered slightly, but they won't be raised.

To provide an additional means of communication between instructor and student and among students, students may obtain a computer account and register it for the class. You are encouraged to use this means of asking questions, commenting on lectures, making appointments for help, etc. A class bulletin board (newsgroup) will be set up for posting information and questions and for class members to ask each other questions. A separate handout describes procedures related to obtaining and using the computer account.

A class web page will be available by the end of the first week of class. It will have copies of this syllabus and other course information, copies of tests after they have been administered, and pointers to internet sites that are relevant to the topics you are studying this term. You will also be able to access last years BCH 4054 web page and the old tests from that term. These pages can be accessed through my class index page at the URL:

http://www.chem.fsu.edu/editors/rlight/course-pages.html

Students with disabilities needing academic accommodations should: 1) register with and provide documentation to the Student Disability Resource Center (SDRC); 2) bring a letter to the instructor from SDRC indicating you need academic accommodations. This should be done within the first week of class.

Students are reminded of the Academic Honor System of the Florida State University. Collaboration is permitted and encouraged on the group pre-tests, but signing one's name to the group effort without having participated in it would be considered a violation of the honor code. Receiving or giving unauthorized help on the hour tests is a violation.