The Effects of Physical Chemistry Curriculum Reform on the American Chemical Society DivCHED Physical Chemistry Examinations

The physical chemistry curriculum reform efforts of the last two decades have succeeded in encouraging some revisions in the material in the lecture and in new or modernized exercises for use in the laboratory. More slowly, the mainstream standardized multiple choice examination has also kept pace with the curricular revisions. The content areas represented on the examination have changed with each successive revision of the examination, as have the types of questions asked. The content areas on the examination have become more representative of modem physical chemistry practice, while the items themselves have become more conceptually based.