CH0FC1: Foundation Chemistry 1

Module code: CH0FC1

Module provider: Chemistry; School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy

Credits: 20

Level: F

When you’ll be taught: Semester 1

Module convenor: Dr Silvia Baldanza, email: s.baldanza@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2026/7

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 23 April 2026

Overview

Module aims and purpose

This module aims to equip the students with a comprehension of the chemical principles that provide the foundations for any scientific discipline and that will be built on in other parts of their Programme.

Students will learn how to predict the properties of molecules from their structures and will
gain an understanding of how and why organic reactions proceed following one mechanism or another. The material covered in the lectures will be consolidated through workshops and practical classes, also developing students’ collaborative and practical skills.

By the end of the year, students taking this module will become familiar with the language and terminology of chemistry and develop an awareness of the importance of chemistry for their future studies.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Describe the fundamentals of periodical properties, chemical bonding, and intermolecular forces and apply this knowledge to predict chemical and physical properties of substances.
2. Identify functional groups and name organic compounds, using this knowledge to predict through which mechanism different substances are more likely to react and what are going to be the most probable products formed.
3. Perform simple calculations to calculate masses of solids, pH of strong acids and bases, concentrations of solutions and volumes of gases using moles and molar masses.
4. Work safely and effectively in the laboratory, recording results accurately and drawing logical conclusions from them.

Module content

Topics include: atomic structure; bonding and intermolecular forces; the periodic table and its elements; chemical calculations; organic molecules; organic reaction mechanisms.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

The course is taught through a mixture of face-to-face lectures, interactive workshops and practical classes. The workshop sessions will offer a range of exam-style questions and provide practical examples relevant to the students’ intended pathways. Videos of experimental techniques will be used to support practical skills and recordings of the lectures will be made available for revision purposes whenever possible. Students are expected to spend at least one hour of independent study for every hour spent in class.

Study hours

At least 60 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each calendar day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three calendar days;
• where the piece of work is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in you Individual Learning Plan), the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three calendar days of the deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

Where a piece of work is submitted late after a deadline which has been revised owing to an extension granted through the Assessment Adjustments policy and process (self-certified or otherwise), it will be subject to the maximum penalty (i.e., considered to be more than three calendar days late). This will also apply when such an extension is used in conjunction with a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: /cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Throughout this module there will be opportunities to obtain feedback from formative assessments. These include: 

• Formative online quizzes on Blackboard 
• Formative informal feedback on workshop problems
• Formative informal feedback on practical experiments
• Formative general feedback on mock exam

Reassessment

Additional costs