The Chemistry Review Manual (current as of September 12, 2011) has been developed for students entering the courses Chemistry 1A03 and 1E03. It is intended to provide review of some fundamental and often used concepts from the high school chemistry curriculum. It is organized into five sections. Each of the first four sections provide some review of chemistry content, with worked examples, and are followed with a short set of practice problems and full solutions to those problems. The fifth section provides a quick review on some essential math skills that are used often in chemistry problem solving.

The instructors of Chem 1A03 and 1E03 strongly recommend that you work through the Manual as early as possible. Depending on your background you may find one section that looks very familiar – in this case we suggest that you try the practice problems in that section. If you complete them successfully you may not need to read that section, and can move on to the next one.

This manual has been newly developed and published for the first time in August 2011. It has been developed in response to the observation that our students coming into Chemistry 1A03 and 1E03 often have diverse backgrounds in chemistry, and very differing levels of preparation. Often, a review of basic skills is needed in order to move ahead and succeed in Chem 1A03 and 1E03. Sometimes this is simply because of the amount of time that has passed between when high school chemistry courses were completed and when the university Year 1 chemistry course starts.

We anticipate adding to the Manual in subsequent versions. If you have any feedback on the Manual, including suggestions for material to add or change, please direct your comments to Pippa Lock at lockpe@mcmaster.ca