Jane Heebner

Understand the material, memorizing means you'll fail The open ended questions need to be complete thoughts

The CERs in class are very difficult to do well on, she looks for something specific. It is very useful to ask her for clarification on most assignments,

You need to know how to use your words to describe different things happening, and you also need to figure out exactly what she's asking for in any particular question, or you won't do well.

I had her for honors chem, and her class ended up being one of my favorites (so maybe I'm a bit biased). I had fun, learned a lot, and was also one of the few people to get an A (91%). It wasn't a breeze, but it doesn't have to be a struggle either. Here's my advice. 1. ) Do not rely on memorization. I repeat, do not rely on memorization. The class has a pretty heavy emphasis on reasoning/critical thinking/conceptual knowledge and is pretty light on memorization. If you try to just memorize stuff, you'd be lucky to get a low C (and you won't learn much either). There's not much math in this class, and the concepts you learn are relatively basic next to AP chem. You'll be given a periodic table, solubility rules, etc on tests, and you won't be expected to memorize a ton of equations. However, you REALLY need to know your stuff to do well. The tests (roughly half your grade) are a mix of free-response and multiple choice questions, but the quizzes and lab reports (about 40% of your grade) are entirely open-ended. The questions will assess everything you learn in class, and you need to be prepared to explain what you know (expect lots of "justify your answer"/"explain why" type questions). You should also be prepared to link different concepts together; for example, you may need to use periodic trends to explain chemical bonding. If you're asked on a test to explain something and you don't give evidence/solid reasoning to support what you write, you'll get almost no points. If you write a formula/textbook definition with no further analysis or thinking, you may even get negative points. You do actually need to use your brain for assignments and tests. 2. ) Everything counts. If you don't take class seriously and consistently miss homework, your participation grade (around one-tenth of your overall average I believe) will take a hit. There aren't that many grades per semester, so each one is weighted fairly heavily. Lab reports are NOT free grades. Put the same effort into a homework assignment as you would the final exam. 3. ) Unless something's changed, at the beginning of the year, she'll set up a google doc for everyone called a "reflection journal". For the most part, journal entries are completely optional and not graded aside from a handful of mandatory ones. I know I just said they're usually optional, but do them anyway on a semi-regular basis. Here's a little-known tip: she does check everyone's journal occasionally. If you have non-mandatory entries in there, she will comment to point out mistakes or flaws in your thinking. This is exactly the type of feedback you'd get on a test. It's literally personalized review. If you add journal entries regularly and check them for comments, you'll become immune from making the same mistakes again - and you'll get better at reasoning through problems and explaining your thoughts in a clear/concise way.