Department of Chemistry and Physics
Coastal Carolina University
Chemistry Program
Goal 1
Link To Key Strategies:
1 Meeting the Educational Needs of Students and Community
Students should develop strong competencies in chemistry and its applications in a technology-rich, interactive
environment.
Student Learning Outcome: 1
Students who graduate with a B.S. in chemistry are expected to demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental
principles underlying chemical processes.
Both raw and percentile scores are recorded. We aim to have an average chemistry major score in the middle quintile (40-60%)
for each of the ACS exams. In courses made up of predominantly non-chemistry majors, such as General Chemistry and Organic
Chemistry, we further want the average score of chemistry majors to equal or exceed that of the class.
Goal 1, Learning Outcome 1, Results and Analysis
ACS Exam Data reported as national exam percentile:
Course
Min
Chemistry
Majors
Average
Max
Class Average
CHEM 112
CHEM 321
CHEM 332
CHEM 351
CHEM 411
CHEM 422
CHEM 441
CHEM 442
18
6
1
NA
0
10
36
18.5
18.1
NA
2
21.3
64
33
53
NA
13
40
36
35
11.4
65.5
2
21.3
NA
NA
CHEM 351 was the only courses to meet goal of having national percentile score average for
chemistry and biochemistry majors above 40% on the ACS exams. This was the average for the
class; the averages for chemistry and biochemistry majors were not separated and the
maximum and minimum scores were not available. CHEM 332 met the second goal of having
the average chemistry majors’ score above the average, but did not meet the first goal. CHEM
411 and 422 had only majors in the courses and therefore the class average and majors’
average were identical. Scores were unavailable for CHEM 441 and 442. It should be noted
that these scores are based upon normalized percentiles across the nation and are not to be
considered based upon a 100% grading scale.
The scores are much lower than desired. In looking at the results, the faculty in the chemistry
program feel that the exams in several of the courses are not properly assessing what the
students are actually learning in the courses. Additionally, the faculty feel that the style of tests
the students are given in the courses, which are short answer and short calculation, are not
sufficiently preparing the students to take the standardized multiple-choice exams effectively.
Goal 1, Learning Outcome 1, Improvements
The faculty feel that the content covered in the courses is sufficient but the tests do not reflect
this. The initial thought is to switch to different exams that test the students properly.
However, the faculty would still like to have a comparison against national norms for our
students so we are considering changes to exams in some courses while maintaining the exams
in other courses. The faculty have decided to keep the ACS exams for the following year to
collect another set of data to consider so that we have at least 3 data points. We will also
consider alternative options for national standardized exams. Additionally, we will consider
ways in which to incorporate more multiple-choice questions into exams to better prepare
students.