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Materials Science Test Exchange 2018
Past Threads: 2011 (Trial), 2013, 2014, 2017
Past Question Marathons: 2017

To continue with last year's discussion, MatSci seems to be centered around polymers, with new topics in organic chemistry.

I plan on using David Klein's Organic Chemistry as a Second Language to start out, and will let you know how that text fits with this year's topics. I've also heard good things about Klein's Organic Chemistry and Levy's Arrow-Pushing in Organic Chemistry, but it seems like the rules don't require that much depth of material. Does anyone else have experiences/recommendations with organic chem textbooks and how they would relate to the new rules?

Tesel wrote:To continue with last year's discussion, MatSci seems to be centered around polymers, with new topics in organic chemistry.

I plan on using David Klein's Organic Chemistry as a Second Language to start out, and will let you know how that text fits with this year's topics. I've also heard good things about Klein's Organic Chemistry and Levy's Arrow-Pushing in Organic Chemistry, but it seems like the rules don't require that much depth of material. Does anyone else have experiences/recommendations with organic chem textbooks and how they would relate to the new rules?

I personally doubt there'll be much of that depth, it'll likely just be basics. My AP Chem teacher covered organic chemistry anyway (everything on the rules besides aromatics), so hopefully I won't have to spend as much time on that.

Where do I find the event descriptions? I cannot find them on the website .

d4dd7y00n wrote:Where do I find the event descriptions? I cannot find them on the website .

The rules manual can be found here.

I consulted one of my organic texts, and the chapter on polymers isn't a bad starting point for 3.c. (plus, of course, the relevant sections on the nomenclature of the various functional groups). I'm much less sure about 3.d...fortunately, a friend of mine is a polymer chemist, so I'll see if she has any insights.

I'd be especially leery of the IR on S/N tests...interpreting IR spectra is hard unless you've had semesters' worth of training or a lot of exposure in the laboratory.

Skink wrote:I consulted one of my organic texts, and the chapter on polymers isn't a bad starting point for 3.c. (plus, of course, the relevant sections on the nomenclature of the various functional groups). I'm much less sure about 3.d...fortunately, a friend of mine is a polymer chemist, so I'll see if she has any insights.

I'd be especially leery of the IR on S/N tests...interpreting IR spectra is hard unless you've had semesters' worth of training or a lot of exposure in the laboratory.

I agree IR can be extremely difficult..... but I could see a question where they provide a table of IR functional group values. Then give IR values and like 5 molecules and ask which one is most likely.

I am happy they made the mat sci rules more focused though. Makes it slightly easier to prepare for now... welp change comes after I graduated

I'm just wondering (and I will be submitting a clarification request)- are they going to be nitpicky and only allow IUPAC naming conventions? Because who doesn't say acetic acid or isopropanol e.e

Raleway wrote:I'm just wondering (and I will be submitting a clarification request)- are they going to be nitpicky and only allow IUPAC naming conventions? Because who doesn't say acetic acid or isopropanol e.e

Any halfway competent ES will recognize possible correct names, as there are cases where there are at least three conceivable ones that participants could generate. Furthermore, there are legitimate cases where the common names are the ones you'd find on the bottle in the stock room or a paper you're reading. If you're looking for ethanoic acid or phenyl methanal, you might be wandering around for awhile! Now, in a competitive setting, what I'd worry about is if the ES asks for a particular one. Suppose I gave a structure and asked for the IUPAC name (not unusual) or gave another structure and asked for the name on the bottle on the shelf. Maybe, that'd be a common name. I'd ensure you're familiar with what's out there. Anyway, you've probably seen some other non-IUPAC names like when you studied the Krebs Cycle in biology. Alpha-ketoglutarate?

As for your last example, you'll usually see isopropyl alcohol on the bottle (which I suspect is what you meant to say). It's so wrong, but, typically, if you ask for just "isopropyl", people know what you mean.

Skink wrote:

Raleway wrote:I'm just wondering (and I will be submitting a clarification request)- are they going to be nitpicky and only allow IUPAC naming conventions? Because who doesn't say acetic acid or isopropanol e.e

Any halfway competent ES will recognize possible correct names, as there are cases where there are at least three conceivable ones that participants could generate. Furthermore, there are legitimate cases where the common names are the ones you'd find on the bottle in the stock room or a paper you're reading. If you're looking for ethanoic acid or phenyl methanal, you might be wandering around for awhile! Now, in a competitive setting, what I'd worry about is if the ES asks for a particular one. Suppose I gave a structure and asked for the IUPAC name (not unusual) or gave another structure and asked for the name on the bottle on the shelf. Maybe, that'd be a common name. I'd ensure you're familiar with what's out there. Anyway, you've probably seen some other non-IUPAC names like when you studied the Krebs Cycle in biology. Alpha-ketoglutarate?

As for your last example, you'll usually see isopropyl alcohol on the bottle (which I suspect is what you meant to say). It's so wrong, but, typically, if you ask for just "isopropyl", people know what you mean.

Oh no- I use isopropyl sometimes in naming (who uses the other IUPAC name?). Usually when you use an esterification reaction, you would say Acetic acid- not ethanoic acid. Just wondering how strict they are with these things or if they want both.

PS: Sometimes, the luck of the draw frowns upon you and you get less than a halfway competent ES who is only there to be there and scores straight from a sheet (with only IUPAC maybe).

Thanks!