Staff Contacts | Diary Dates | Induction Day
Course Structures | Module Codes | Choosing Modules
Projects (CHEM480) | Assessment | Careers or further study? | FAQs
What to do if you have to miss classes or an exam | ... you are having difficulties
It may be useful to be aware of the members of staff with specific responsibilities for Year 4 MChem students. There is a more complete list of Staff on the Departmental Website (http://www.liv.ac.uk/Chemistry/).
Dr David L. Cooper (extn. 43532, dlc@liverpool.ac.uk, Room M06 Donnan Labs) is Coordinator for all Year 3 and Year 4 students on BSc and MChem programmes. He is responsible for checking on work and progress, and is available for day to day advice if you are having any problems with the course.
Dr Neil Berry (extn. 43877, Ngberry@liverpool.ac.uk, 4th floor Robert Robinson Labs) is in charge of the Year 4 projects (CHEM480) for MChem students.
Dr Ian O'Neil (extn. 43485, chemexam@liverpool.ac.uk, Room 240 Robert Robinson Labs) deals with Examinations. You should consult him if you want further information about the examination procedures.
Dr Nick Greeves (extn. 43506, ngreeves@liverpool.ac.uk, Room 402 Robert Robinson Labs) is the Director of Teaching.
Phil Harrison (extn. 44656, phil.harrison@liv.ac.uk, Careers Resource Centre) is the Careers Adviser in the Careers Service with responsibility for Chemistry students.
Term & Semester dates are listed here.
Friday, 20 September 2013: Induction Day.
Monday, 23 September 2013: Start of First Semester.
Vacation (14 December 2013 – 5 January 2014): Revision for First Semester examinations.
Revision Week (6 January 2014 – 10 January 2014)
13 January 2014: First Semester examinations begin.
24 January 2014: First Semester examinations end.
24 January 2014: End of First Semester.
27 January 2014: Start of Second Semester.
Vacation (5 April 2014 – 27 April 2014): Revision for second Semester examinations.
28 April 2014: Courses continue.
Revision Week (12 May 2014 – 16 May 2014)
19 May 2014: Second Semester examinations begin.
30 May 2014: Second Semester examinations end.
30 May 2014: End of Second Semester.
17 June 2014: Module Review Board.
24 June 2014: Final Board of Examiners (& Progression Board).
Graduation ceremonies July 2014.
You will be carrying out your project in an established research group, which is of course a very different experience from working in an undergraduate teaching laboratory. Those of you who have taken CHEM366 will already have some idea of the type of environment. Your Supervisor will give you detailed guidance about the work you are to carry out and will talk to you regularly about your results. You will also be assigned a co-assessor, who will be involved in some of the assessment of your project, and with whom you can discuss your work during the course of the year.
The module will be assessed by continual assessment: an assessment of your laboratory performance, a literature search and essay, an interim progress report, a dissertation, a talk, an oral exam and computer modelling exercises. The External Examiners may visit the Department to listen to the CHEM480 talks, and possibly to meet some of you at that time.
Further details about CHEM480 are provided in separate documents in VITAL. Questions about CHEM480 should be directed to the module coordinator, Dr Neil Berry (extn. 43877, Ngberry@liverpool.ac.uk).
[See separate documents in VITAL for full details of Assessment Criteria, including important information on Plagiarism and Collusion and on the Departmental Policy on Feedback to Students.]
Written examinations are held at the end of each Semester. Past exam papers are available. Lecturers may also be able to supply practice questions for you to attempt.
After all the written papers have been marked, the external examiners will come to the Department in June and, together with the staff, assess the scripts from the examinations in both Semesters. Further information about various aspects of the assessment will be given during the year; you can also consult Dr Ian O'Neil (extn. 43485, chemexam@liverpool.ac.uk).
The pass mark for M level modules is 50% (for other modules it is 40%). There is no "35% rule".
THERE ARE NO AUGUST/SEPTEMBER RESIT EXAMINATIONS FOR YEAR 3 AND YEAR 4 STUDENTS
Many MChem graduates decide that they want to continue their studies either by taught postgraduate programmes or PhD research programmes. Information about postgraduate Chemistry programmes at Liverpool is available here.
If you are considering employment after you graduate, you could do well to seek additional advice now from the Careers Service, even if you do not intend to start looking for employment until after you have graduated.
You are expected to attend all lectures in the modules for which you are registered, to do all of the relevant set work on time, to attend tutorials and oral presentations, and to attend regularly in the laboratory. If you are unable to do any of these because of illness or for other reasons you must follow official Absence Guidelines. Make sure you obtain a medical certificate from your GP or the hospital, as appropriate. The University's procedures on "Mitigating Circumstances in Relation to Performance in Assessments and Examinations" (and the corresponding Application Form) are available elsewhere. In particular, there should be copies of the forms outside the Undergraduate Office. If, for just cause, you miss a deadline for submitting some of your work then you should talk to the relevant module leader about the possibility of late submission.
Any student who misses an examination or part of an examination due to illness or other exceptional circumstances, or whose performance was impaired by illness or other exceptional circumstances, should make relevant information available immediately to Dr Ian O'Neil (extn. 43485, chemexam@liverpool.ac.uk). The University's procedures on "Mitigating Circumstances in Relation to Performance in Assessments and Examinations" (and the corresponding Application Form) are available elsewhere. Students must report any such circumstances no later than one week before the meeting of the Board of Examiners at which the results of the assessments concerned will be considered.
If you feel that you are not coping with any part of the year's work, you should discuss the matter as soon as possible first with your CHEM480 Supervisor and/or the Module Leader and/or with the Year 4 Coordinator.