C.A.P.A (for students)

CAPA  (Computer Assisted Personalized Approach) – General Information

These internet-loaded chemistry problem sets were developed by faculty at Simon Fraser University (SFU). However, Brandon University has edited them to correspond with the content of our two General Chemistry courses, 18:160 and 18:170.

If you wish to access these problem sets while on campus, you should contact Information Technology services, log on to a campus network computer, and activate your personal ID for Brandon University.

• Internet address: http://capa.brandonu.ca/capa-bin/class.html
• Class: “18:160g” or “18:170g”
• Student Number: 9 digits, three zeros followed by your 6 digit BU student number (i.e. 000040263)
• ID Number: 4 digits, randomly generated for each CAPA set and provided to you at the beginning of the term.

Recommended CAPA problem-solving method:

• log-on to the CAPA system with your BU student number and an ID code from your list;
• print out the CAPA problem set for the coming week;
• calculations on paper should be done regularly, using your textbook and notes, concurrent with covering the relevant material in the lecture part of the course. However, don’t rush things: sometimes it takes a few days after the material is covered in class for an understanding of it to become clear.
• check the “Hints” Access link on the Chemistry home page. If your initial attempts are unsuccessful, these notes and comments may serve to put a particular problem in the context which will make is easier to determine an answer.
• students are expected to answer these CAPA questions by working on them in private or in collaboration with other students registered in the course. Get together with other General Chemistry students. Form study groups.
• in order to facilitate meeting other General Chemistry students that you can work with, a CAPA tutorial may be scheduled. Students who experience difficulties should attend this session to seek help from their fellow General Chemistry students. A senior student may be hired to drop by the tutorial room, however, other Department of Chemistry faculty members and/or senior students may also drop in to offer assistance.
• input the calculated answers periodically, to reflect the progress of your work and to confirm your understanding of the lecture material.
• complete ALL your answer inputs before you leave for home on Friday afternoon

NOTE: Although the deadline for the assignments is officially listed as 11:59pm on a Sunday, there is no servicing of the Computer Centre ( or the CAPA system) on weekends, and technical difficulties with the CAPA server may prevent you from inputting answers on Friday evening, Saturday, or Sunday.

• save the calculations and the worksheets for your CAPA problems to use in studying for the chemistry mid-term and final exams.
• Past practice has determined that students who wish to become successful in the General Chemistry course should complete a majority of the assigned CAPA problems in each problem set.
• There seems to be limited value for the additional time spent in doing much more than 80-90% of the assigned problems.
• Additional problems are provided (i.e. [0 pts] allocated) for those students who decide to more intensively work on a certain portion of the course curriculum.