The Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois

Tired of trying to figure things out all by yourself?

Supplemental Instruction (SI) can help!

What is SI?
Supplemental Instruction (SI) is a series of weekly review sessions for students taking historically difficult courses. SI is provided for all students who want to improve their understanding of organic chemistry and improve their grades.

Attendance at sessions is voluntary. For you the student, it's a chance to get together with people in your class to compare notes, to discuss important concepts, to develop strategies for studying organic chemistry, and to test yourselves before your professor does, so that when s/he does, you'll be ready. At each session, you will be guided through this material by your SI leader, a competent student who has previously taken the course. The main portion of the SI sessions is spent working and collaborating on worksheets and guiding students in the development of problem solving skills.

Students who regularly attend SI sessions in the past have achieved up to a letter grade higher in the course compared to their non-SI counterparts.

What's an SI Leader?

SI leaders are students themselves and are prepared to share with you what they have learned over the years about how to study. They know the course content and are anxious to help guide you through it. They will be in class with you every day, hearing what you hear and reading what you read. What they won’t do is lecture; their job is to help you think about the lectures you hear and the books you read, and then put it all together into some kind of perspective during SI sessions so you can learn it more efficiently.

Click here to see the current Chemistry 232 SI Leaders.

Click here to see the current Chemistry 332 SI Leaders.

When Do SI Sessions Start?

All sessions are available starting on Monday, August 31st, 2009. We have sessions available both during the day and evening, Monday through Friday, to try and accommodate students' schedules. Please let us know if you have a serious conflict with any of these sessions.  SI sessions are informal.  Bring your notes; bring your textbook; bring your questions.

If you discover that you absolutely cannot attend any of these SI sessions throughout the semester, the worksheets will be posted on the Chemistry 232 and 332 web sites each week.

For current SI Session Schedules:

• Click here for Chemistry 232 SI Sessions
• Click here for Chemistry 332 SI Sessions

Click here for more information on the history and purpose of the SI Program!