SSP Chemistry (1 Viewer)

[MaggieMac]

I am about to start second year of medical science and I chose CHEM2401 and CHEM2402 as my electives. However, due to my results in CHEM 1A and CHEM 1B, I got offered a place in SSP Chem. Has anyone ever done SSP Chemistry? Was it worth it? Was it a lot harder than the normal units?

I received distinctions for both CHEM1101 and CHEM1102, do you think I'll be able to cope?
I know that you need at least 75% in every assignment and finish with the mark of 75+ to be credited with the SSP unit. How difficult is that to achieve?

Thanks

 

[Caviar]

I just finished this year doing both CHEM2915 and CHEM2916.

Basically, the actual content of the course and the exam/quizzes is exactly the same as CHEM2401/2402, the only difference in terms of standard content is that you'll do the advanced labs which are the same labs as CHEM2401/2402 but you just have harder questions to answer in the reports you write.

In terms of the SSP content, in first semester I did the Quantum Chemistry course and there were only about 7-8 of us out of the 20-30 SSP students who did it, and we all got basically above 95 in both assignments BUT if you aren't interested in quantum chem/very good at mathematics I'd steer away from the Quantum Chem and just do the other option in first semester. If you're interested in the quantum chem work just give me a PM and i'll send you some stuff.

In second semester, there's only one stream that all the SSP students do. It consisted of I think a course on materials (carbon nanotubes, MOF's etc), a course on drug discovery and molecular simulation. Each one consisted of a fairly straightforward assignment involving either writing a report on a topic related to that area, answering questions based on scientific papers, etc. All in all, it was quite easy and if you manage your time, not a whole lot of extra work.

Another thing, most of the SSP students will get basically guaranteed entry into the Summer Research Scholarships that USYD offer at the end of second year chemistry. They basically give you a scholarship and you'll spend 6 weeks full time work under a research supervisor (I'm just finishing mine up this week ).

So I'd strongly advise taking the offer that you got, I too was apprehensive at first but it's well worth it.

 

[Obvious]

I'm planning on doing the quantum chemistry stream, can you elaborate a bit on the assignments and maths involved? The extra material would also be greatly appreciated.

 

[MaggieMac]

@Caviar, thank you so much for your reply! Highly appreciated!

@Obvious, I'm going to choose the Quantum Chemistry stream too! It's so interesting! I really hope the maths isn't too difficult as it isn't one of my strongest points, but I am willing to put in extra time and effort in maths study simply because it's for quantum chem. haha

 

[Caviar]

Basically you will have to develop proofs of some of the fundamental results of quantum mechanics like deriving harmonic oscillator selection rules, deriving eigenvalues of a 2D/3D harmonic oscillator, calculating a variety of expectation values for a hydrogenic atom and other average values. It'll probably be your first exposure to operators that aren't differential (if you haven't done physics) like the annihilation operator and creation operator. It's very interesting, if you send me a PM with your email I can give you some more details