Prep pays off for first-years who went to ChemCram during HoCo

More than 500 first-year students hung out with assistant professor Jim Ghoshdastidar during homecoming.

They spent their entire Saturday afternoon at ChemCram, a free four-hour online review of the CHEM 1A03 mid-term run by Ghoshdastidar and teaching assistant Daniel Calero Osorio. “I made sure we wrapped up in time for students who had tickets for the Lil Yachty concert,” says Ghoshdastidar.

A recording of the review rang up another 1,800 plays on Echo 360 post-HoCo.

The prep paid off, with students achieving an overall 78 per cent average on their chemistry mid-term. For many, it was their first university exam.

“I’m so incredibly proud of the students,” says Ghoshdastidar. “They worked really hard and put in a lot of effort.” Midway through ChemCram, students started asking for harder practice questions. “I had to tell them that’s all I had.”

Ghoshdastidar created ChemCram 10 years ago while working as the head TA in the Chemistry department at McGill University. During office hours, he met with a first-year student who was in a panic heading into mid-term exams because they couldn’t afford to pay for prep courses run by private companies. That didn’t sit right with Ghoshdastidar who figured there had to be other stressed and cash-strapped students looking for help. So Ghoshdastidar offered up ChemCram free of charge to every student – he was even prepared to pay out-of-pocket to rent McGill’s largest lecture hall before his department stepped in and covered the cost.

Unlike the private companies, Ghoshdastidar actually knew what would be asked in the mid-term and final exams “because I’d written them.” While he wouldn’t give away any answers, he’d drop hints on what students should focus on studying.

ChemCram was a hit right from the start – more than 700 students showed up. It had a carnival vibe, says Ghoshdastidar, who also served as the ChemClub DJ spinning a curated playlist of the latest hits plus classic cuts from the 1990s. Other science departments followed his lead added their own weekend crams minus the alliteration.

Ghoshdastidar brought ChemCram with him to Toronto Metropolitan University and then to McMaster in 2023. ChemCram moved online at Mac to make it accessible to as many students as possible. Ghoshdastidar didn’t want students who commute to campus from across the GTHA to make an extra trip on the weekend.

While ChemCram builds confidence, Ghoshdastidar wants first-year students to be uncomfortable and get comfortable with the feeling. He makes a point of mixing in review questions that haven’t been asked in class. “First-years really don’t like being wrong, in front of their peers, and not having all the answers. But the whole point of going to university is to learn new things and to learn how to learn.”

He also encourages students to think like faculty. Ghoshdastidar leads off ChemCram by having students guess what questions will be on the exam. “I always ask students ‘what do you think we’re going to ask you?’ The students are usually spot-on.” It’s yet another confidence booster for students as they prepare for exams in their other courses.

The chatroom is open for the entire four hours of ChemClub and the flood of questions, comments, quips and song requests never stop. “Daniel somehow manages to stay on top of everything that’s happening in the chat.” Students give real-time feedback that Ghoshdastidar uses to adjust ChemClub on the fly.

Early on, students start learning from each other, answering each other’s questions in the chatroom. “Most important of all, students see that other students are also struggling.” This goes a long way to damping down imposter syndrome, says Ghoshdastidar. “No one’s muddling through alone.”

ChemCram closes with an aspirational history lesson. “I’m sure the students are all groaning at home but I ask them to bear with me.” Ghoshdastidar loves history as much as chemistry – this explains his hobby of collecting the signatures and photos of trailblazing scientists that are framed and displayed in his office.

Ghoshdastidar walks students through an academic family tree, starting with the pioneering chemists they’ve studied in class. He then maps out the students they’ve supervised who built on their ideas and went on to do their own groundbreaking research, win Nobel Prizes and supervise the next generations of scientists. Ghoshdastidar points out that two of those scientists supervised him as a graduate student and now it’s his turn to teach the next generation of scientists whose shoulders the Class of 2050 will be standing on.

“It’s the first time students see themselves connected to the people they’ve studied in class. The students suddenly realize they’re part of this amazing lineage and can add to it with their own legacy.”

Ghoshdastidar will run another ChemCram ahead of CHEM 1A03’s final exam and then hand things over to his colleagues Lydia Chen, Anthony Chibba and Sharonna Greenberg for the winter term.

He’ll continue running ChemClub – a weekly social club for first-year students that runs next to his office in the Arthur Bourns Building. “My job is to bring students together and then get out of the way.” Students play board games, compete in trivia nights and go on group tours of places on campus like the McMaster Nuclear Reactor and W.J. McCallion Planetarium. Like ChemCram, it’s building community and connecting students with people who will support them along the way.

Everything Ghoshdastidar does for first-year students draws on his own experience at Queen’s University 21 years ago. “I got good grades and made lots of friends but my transition to university was really rough. It felt like something was off for a long time. I was feeling sad but didn’t know why.” But that sadness lifted as suddenly and inexplicably as it had arrived.

While he did well in his first year, everything went off the rails the following year. “I failed three courses in the fall semester and was having trouble making it to class. But it wasn’t the end of the world, and I managed to turn things around with some help, reassurance and votes of confidence.”

Those are the stories Ghoshdastidar shares with students in his lectures and during ChemCram and ChemClub. He wants students who are feeling adrift or not getting the marks they were hoping for to know they’re not alone.

“ChemCram and ChemClub are expressions of care for our students.”

Ghoshdastidar says teaching students – especially first-years who are just starting their journeys at university and beginning to unlock their potential – will be the most important thing he ever does in his career. “McMaster is going to have to pry the chalk and iClicker out of my hands when it’s time for me to retire.”