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Subject and general rules:
The objective of the laboratory work is to introduce first-year students of different background to laboratory work, the use of basic laboratory equipment, simple laboratory operations and measurements. In addition, students are expected to prepare certain simple chemicals and run various basic experiments to familiarize themselves with chemical laboratory work.
The lab manual is available to the students at the beginning of the semester as an English translation of the Hungarian original. The preparatory material to be studied before laboratory work is overviewed before each experiment description in this manual.
The weekly syllabus lists the particular topics covered and gives a full description of the experiments. The word ‘demonstration’ in the syllabus refers to experiments that the instructors carry out for the students. Students should come to lab sessions fully prepared. Students should learn the core theoretical background of the experiments (reading the material once is insufficient) and solve the pre-lab exercises in the lab manual every week before the lab session. At the beginning of each laboratory practice the instructors check the “Pre-lab exercises” part in the students’ lab manuals. If it is not completed the student must leave the laboratory and it is taken as an absence. The sections ‘Laboratory notes’ and ‘Review exercise and problems’ should be completed during the laboratory session. After each session the instructors overview the lab notes and make corrections if necessary. Students can ask questions regarding the laboratory preparation material during the seminar each week before the lab session.
Each week the laboratory session begins with a short test (not more than 20 minutes) based exclusively on the preparatory material of that week and the previous week and the results of the experiments carried out the previous week. With each short test a student can collect 25 points. Altogether there are eight short tests during the semester. Students are also required to write two general tests (week 5 and week 11) which are based on the course material for weeks 1-5 and 6-11, respectively. Each general test is worth 50 points. Students have to score at least 40 % individually in both Test I and Test II. Grading is based on a five-level scale: 1 (fail), 2 (pass), 3 (average), 4 (good), 5 (excellent). The final course grade is given based on the results of these tests, the quality of the laboratory notes and the quality of laboratory work. The average score from both the short tests and the general tests must be above 40 % to avoid a ‘fail’ final course grade. In order to pass the laboratory practice, a student should collect minimum 80 points from the short tests and minimum 40 points from the general tests. Students with ‘fail’ final course grade due to inadequate laboratory work have to retake the course the next year. Students with ‘fail’ final course grade due to low test results can re-take a comprehensive test exam in the examination period. Please note: those students, whose results are lower than 25% either from the short test or from the general test, cannot write a final exam, they will receive a ‘fail’ final course grade.