[Violagirl]

So my school has it where you take O Chem lecture seperately from lab and then lab combines the material for one class. It's been really difficult for me this semester. I have a TA that can be hard on the students. He got on me today for loss of product for the nitration of methyl benzoate and just made me feel like s#*$ over it. Anyone else that has or currently is taking it and having a hard time too?

[CrimpJiggler]

I did O chem lab last year. Whats a TA? Thats stupid that they are giving you s#*$ over low yields. You're there to learn, not produce chemicals. I'm real good at organic chemistry, I can help you out if you have any questions. Its physical chemistry that kills me. I thank god I don't have any physical chemistry labs this year. This year its analytical, pharmaceutical and organic.

[Violagirl]

TA stands for teaching assist. They actually teach the lab and my class has it where the students are broken into sections of 10 and a TA leads the experiment whereas the professor does a lecture each week for the overall experiment so I mainly have to deal wit him. And it is really stupid that he acts that way. That is very true, and in making mistakes that's how I'm going to learn so I hate how he freaks out over it. And thanks so much! I will definitely keep that in mind! I might have to redo the nitration tomorrow so am hoping it'll go better. I had a hard time getting recrystallization to take place. Physical chemistry does not sound lik fun either ugh....I've heard analytical is interesting though! 

[CrimpJiggler]

I'm terrible at maths which is why I'm not good with physical chem. If you're good at maths then I'd say you'll like physical chem lab cuz its all about using mathematical equations to derive things from your results. Yeah analytical is good fun. We've mainly been learning to do various chromatography methods but we did some atomic absorption spectrophotometry which is pretty cool. Your TA obviously can't do the job hes been assigned. Students should be encouraged to learn from their mistakes, not to blindly follow a lab manual without knowing what they're actually doing. All real chemists have made the mistakes and learned from them. Last year in organic chem lab I completely lost my product at least twice. Once I forgot to check to see that the sep funnel was closed. Another time I added way too much drying agent and it absorbed everything, including my product. The lab techs didn't care because they know that students are there to learn, not produce compounds.

EDIT: Actually now that I think of it, the lab tech did give me a bit of s#*$ for that drying agent incident. I told him what I told you "I'm here to learn" and he couldn't help but agree with me lol. Don't wanna be arrogant but I'd say I'm the most skilled chemist in my class because I'm not afraid to make mistakes and learn from them. They did a kinda surprise test at the end of my org chem lab last year where they got everyone to work by themselves and recrystallise an unknown compound. I was finished 2 hours into the lab. The rest of the class were there for most of the day, the majority of them couldn't even get their compound to recrystallise. I gained that experience through trial and error, not blindly following instructions from a lab manual. Moral of the story: you might as well make the mistakes now while your a student, that way when you're actually in the industry you'll already have the skills.

[Violagirl]

I'm not the best at math either actually lol. I'll have to be aware of that if I end up having to take P Chem to obtain a minor in it. I definitely agree with everything that you've said, that a TA should encourage students to learn from their mistakes and not make them feel like s#*$ about it. I'm planning to meet with my head professor about it to let her know. I'm hoping she will listen and be understanding about it.

Lol that's good your lab tech backed off after you told them about you being there to learn. That's definitely what lab should be all about, making mistakes and getting better from learning from them. You sound like you've become really great at lab and at chemistry in general! And also very true in making mistakes as a student then when you are in an industry lol.

[amorale]

I have had some amazing experiences in my general chem labs so far, both my instructors where awesome. For chem one lab my teacher was one of this industry guys that spent like 30 years working in labs everywhere and he was always encouraging us to make mistakes, and he was always telling us to not just do what the manual says but try to understand what we were actually doing. Lol he actually got mad not because we made mistakes but because we didn't ask questions about what we were doing. He also took his time to explain everything about the lab before the experiment, and during the experiment if you had a question he made sure you understood it before moving on.

My second lab teacher is not as helpful or enthusiastic but she helps us, and she is always saying that if we don't like the numbers at the end of our experiment we are more than welcome to redo it until we get the desire results.

Hopefully this streak of good lab teachers continues as I move on to organic chem next semester.