Peter T. Palmer

Don't be fooled - despite the fact that this class was so instrumental in my development as a chemist and the fact that this class is getting an awesome review, THIS CLASS IS A LOT OF WORK! There are 10 journal-style lab reports (6 abridged versions containing an abstract and a results/discussion section; 4 full reports with the abstract, intro, methods, results/discussion) along with 3 (possibly 4? I forget) extremely thorough exams and a final.

The upside to the massive workload is that he guides you through the entire class, balancing out the two so you're not sitting there completely stuck. His lab manual is detailed and the first few experiments have specific questions that you should include in your lab reports. Eventually, the directions/guidelines disappear as you progress through the semester. It feels like riding your bike with training wheels on; eventually they have to come off!

Do not give up if you get less than stellar grades on the first four lab reports! These are the beginner abridged reports and sometimes it takes awhile before you get into the swing of things. My advice is to try an thumb through some of the anal. chem. or JOC journals located in TH808. Even if you don't know what they're talking about, it might help to see how things are worded/layout. When in Rome..

Also, another upside to the extremely detailed exams that he gives is the fact that uhm, HELLO HE DROPS OBVIOUS HINTS DURING LECTURE AS TO WHAT ARE SOME OF THE TOPICS THAT WILL DEFINITELY BE ON THE UPCOMING TEST!!! He also assigns homework problems that are well worth doing, as they will serve you well come exam time. Homework questions have been known to show up on exams. He ALSO gives out a study sheet to remind you the potential topics that will covered in the exam. Between his lecture, the book (which should reinforce the topics covered in lecture - do not read more than you have to), the homework problems, and the study guide, there should be no qualms or issues as to what is going to be on the exam.

And the one piece of advice that Paul Young gave me was to try and organize the material when studying in TABLES. There is so so so much information that proper organization is key, and creating charts and tables for some of the topics not only helped me study, it saved me time when I took the test. While everyone else is wasting precious moments trying to write an essay, you can sit smug and satisfied that you just saved a few extra minutes by organizing the answers using titled columns.

Try to keep up, as the final covers EVERYTHING.

This class is also curved, but Dr. P has set the highest grade on the curve to a B if it's too low. There have been high exam scores of 99, and some smart cookie in my class got a 180/200 on the final (not me), so it is possible. And he really cares about his students, and feels personably responsible if his students don't do well.

If you're planning on getting the B.S. in chemistry, TAKE THIS CLASS SERIOUSLY. The two labs following instrumental (p-chem and inorganic) are still being developed and aren't quite as spelled out compared to this class; there are no "training wheels," so to speak. You will be expected to be comfortable reading the literature, searching for and obtaining articles, and writing an excellent journal-style lab report.

Did I mention he does a mean Yoda impression?

In conclusion: yeah, there is a lot of work and a lot of stuff to cover in this class. The dude goes above and beyond to make sure you come out with a few instrumental tricks up your sleeve and one damn fine writer. If you're working, you might want to seriously talk to him and think about the time committment 422 involves.

-christle g.

More questions? Shoot me an email - missnexa [at] gmail [dot] com

Dr. Palmer is by far the nicest teacher I have met in the chemistry department. He is a busy guy but he will take the time to answer your questions. The best time to reach him is during his office hours. His exams are challenging and at times a bit unfair. However, the ironic thing is he is such a fair teacher. On the back of his lab manual there are old exams and answers but you should not just study those questions because he will give you questions that are completely different. There are a lot of stuff covered in that class. That class should meet three days out of the week not just two. He goes too fast and sometimes you wish he would spend a little more time on some of the stuff. The lab is very time consuming not just doing the experiments but the lab reports themselves are quite extesnsive. It usually took me a an hour to two hours to get them finished. And I was not the only one . If you take the lab with xinghua know that he is also a cool dude with a strong accent but he is very nice and helpful. Don't just not enroll in the class because you can't get into Dr. Palmers lab. Xinghua gets an A.

Dr. Palmer is by far the nicest teacher I have met in the chemistry department. He is a busy guy but he will take the time to answer your questions. The best time to reach him is during his office hours. His exams are challenging and at times a bit unfair. However, the ironic thing is he is such a fair teacher. On the back of his lab manual there are old exams and answers but you should not just study those questions because he will give you questions that are completely different. There are a lot of stuff covered in that class. That class should meet three days out of the week not just two. He goes too fast and sometimes you wish he would spend a little more time on some of the stuff. The lab is very time consuming not just doing the experiments but the lab reports themselves are quite extesnsive. It usually took me a an hour to two hours to get them finished. And I was not the only one . If you take the lab with xinghua know that he is also a cool dude with a strong accent but he is very nice and helpful. Don't just not enroll in the class because you can't get into Dr. Palmers lab. Xinghua get an A.

This is one very cool guy. He is very understanding and helpful, and he is a wonderful teacher. He explains things clearly in lecutre (if not a little too quickly) and doesn't give too many surprises on his tests, except when he has time to write it. I have to agree with the earlier reviews, however, and state that his point system on his exams needs a little work. Many of the questions are weighted too heavily on one thing, and he sets them up so that if you miss the first part of one question, you're screwed for the rest of that page. You really have to know your stuff going into the exam. If you study, you'll go through the class fine. Our of class, he's the nicest guy on the entire campus, and he cares about the students and knows that we have other things to do that take classes and write lab reports. See him often in his office hours and just talk to him every once and a while and you'll be fine.

Dr. Palmer is a cool guy. He is a fair teacher, but his exams are sometimes not fair. Make sure you attend all of his lectures even then it is important for you to read the book and do all the assigned problems, because sometimes he will pick out a question right out of the text. If you don't know how to answer one problem on the exam you will end up getting a very low score, why you might ask? Well, because he assigns like 30 points to one question alone so if you don't know how to answer that one questions you can basically tell yourself I am going to get a C or worse. It is true. I wished he would break down the points on his exams a little bit more through out the test. Overall I would say he is a good teacher. He rarely asks questions while he is lecturing and that is because he needs to cover so much material in so little time. He knows his subject matter very well. If you go to talk to him during his office hours about any problems you may be having with either lecture or the lab he will take the time to help you. Don't fall behind, and by the time you are done with that class you will be traumatized by the word "error"

Dr. Palmer is a knowledgable man. Most of the time he communicates his knowledge of the subject well, other times he leaves you in the dark. The lectures are mainly theoretical, but the tests are mostly computational. That's the biggest problem with the class. He goes over a chapter a day so don't miss any days. He's really good in the lab section of the class.