Student and tutor module reviews

This is a fantastic course! It was my last course and at times it was hard to fit everything in. But persevere and you will be rewarded with great satisfaction.

The course title says it all: "Further" - that means it is not a first course in Chemistry. I did S215 before it, and although I had forgotten quite a bit as there was a year gap between the two courses, it soon came back. This was very good preparation.

"Concepts" - in other words, lots of material. The course covers physical chemistry (for me the easiest), organic chemistry (for me the hardest, partly as it is in the last two months), and inorganic chemistry (the most fascinating).

"Applications" - the course revolved around applications - in physical chemistry, the atmosphere and pollution, in organic chemistry metals and their vital functions for our well-being, and in organic chemistry the synthesis of drugs. By the end of the course I realised how central chemistry is as a subject.

This is a 60 credit course at third level, and there is a lot of it. Hardly has one TMA been marked before the next one must be embarked on. It is important to keep up, although the odd break at Christmas and Easter are useful if you have missed a week or two. There is a tutor group project, which at first I was hesitant about, but in the end it was really good to do your own experiment, set and test a hypothesis within the group. This also counts towards the exam, and can give a boost to your mark.

I would recommend making full use of the forums - even if you don't want to post queries there, do read all the messages as they often answer your own questions. There were some students designated as buddies, and at times of near despair their encouragement was always welcome.

The course team are fantastic - seemingly watching the forums 24/7. There are tutorials about once every 2/3 weeks, and these also were excellent. I especially liked those where the material was presented slightly differently from the text (although in complete agreement on notation etc.), since if something seems hard then a worked example or a different perspective can sometimes break the log-jam. All tutorials can be watched separately, but if you can, try to attend them as the chat box is a marvellous way to get immediate responses to your questions.

Yes, there were minor quibbles, but nothing that detracts from enjoying the course. So go for it!

Course starting: October 2017

Review posted: September 2018