Award-Winning Science Tutors serving Chesterfield

Today the student had a quiz over redox reactions to work through, consisting of multiple choice, fill in the blank, and short answer questions. She did much better with the material today, getting the answer right on the first try more often than not. She scored a 90 on the multiple choice section and a 100 on the fill in the blank section. The short answer is graded by hand, not by computer so she has to wait for her score on that part, but she was very happy with her results.

The student reviewed the topics for her first quarterly exam including rules for significant figures, lab safety and equipment, states of matter and atoms. She also reviewed her geometry notes and practiced finding angles.

In this session, we went over hybridized orbitals, how to represent hybridized orbitals in orbital diagrams, and orbital diagrams of molecules. The student did not have a good grasp on hybridized orbitals at the beginning of the session. After explaining the theory behind hybridized orbitals and showing him how to represent them in orbital diagrams, he seemed much more comfortable with the concept. We worked on several homework problems as well as some from his notes. He was easily handling the problems by the time we finished. He also wanted to review some concepts for an upcoming algebra test. We reviewed how to interpret the graphs of polynomial functions as well as what the equation of a polynomial function could reveal about the graph. He felt reassured after we reviewed these topics and seems ready for his test.

We finished up doing some chemistry math problems involving molecular masses, and converting from grams to moles. Then we started a new chapter on molecules, compounds, and the different bonding that occurs between them.

Chemistry: electron configurations, electron dot diagrams, Lewis structures, further expanded on the s, p, d, and f shells and orbitals, atomic number, atomic mass, nucleus. Examined the periodic table further, including a very slight introduction of trends using the different shells as the basis. Defined shells and orbitals. Clearly represented atomic number and atomic mass mathematically. Practiced electron configurations. Algebra: further expanded upon the equation of a line, slope, slope equation, point-slope form, x- and y- axes, y-intercept, and linearity. Further broke down what it mathematically means to be a line. Further conceptualized the coordinate plane, and what the x and y values will always be on y- and x- axes respectively. Practiced finding the equation of a line using two points, a slope, and one point. Explained the difference between the equation of a line and point-slope form.

We covered several dimensional analysis problems- the student needed help setting up the problems, but we made progress. We will work again tomorrow on that. We also covered half-life problems- the student said she understood the concepts much better after reviewing. We covered percentages dealing with population problems- the student needed a bit of help identifying how to set up the problem, but we will work on that again tomorrow as well. We covered population dynamics- the student immediately identified what equation she needed to use. She was positive throughout the whole session and made a great improvement; I think she is gaining more confidence in herself when working through the problems. I'm emailing her a worksheet that has metric conversions on it (I noticed her use of conversions could use a bit of improvement). We will work on dimensional analysis again tomorrow; while we made progress today, I think she would really benefit from more work with that (especially after reviewing the worksheet). We discussed some tips for the AP test in general, and tomorrow I will provide her with some math tips that we will work through. Overall, she did great and seemed to understand the concepts we went over.