Assessment of Student Performance on Core Concepts in Organic Chemistry

Assessments can provide instructors and students with valuable information regarding student’s level of knowledge and understanding, in order to improve both teaching and learning. In this study, we analyzed departmental assessment quizzes given to students at the start of Organic Chemistry 2, over an eight year period. This assessment quiz was designed to test students on core concepts from Organic Chemistry 1 that require the use of symbolic representations, such as drawing Lewis structures and using curved arrows. Using statistical analysis, it was found that students performed significantly lower than expected on the assessment quiz, and there was no significant difference in scores on the quiz over the eight years analyzed. Analysis of each individual question revealed that approximately one-third of the students made mistakes when converting a condensed formula or a chemical name to a chemical structure. For questions that involved more detailed answers such as drawing structures and showing simple mechanisms, approximately 95% of the students made errors.