Hi, everybody, I hope you’re doing well! In this newsletter, I’ve included the following important updates about ChemQuiz.net:
- *NEW* dimensional analysis problems added to SI Conversions Quiz!
- *NEW* ease-of-use features for the Dashboard!
- More new features, bug fixes and other improvements
- Site licenses for the 2024-2025 school year
- Request for donations to Asheville and Western North Carolina
*NEW* Dimensional analysis problems!
I’ve had a number of teachers ask me to add dimensional analysis and unit conversion problems to ChemQuiz.net, so that’s what I did! The rebranded SI Conversions & Dimensional Analysis Quiz has the following new problem types:
I know a lot of teachers have already covered dimensional analysis at this point of the year in their Chemistry classes, but I figured the new problem types could be used for review before an exam, and temperature and pressure conversions are necessary throughout the school year. Let me know if there are any additional conversions you’d like to see added to this quiz, and I’ll see what I can do!
New ease-of-use features!
Over the past month, I’ve tried to focus mainly on making ease-of-use improvements for the ChemQuiz.net as well as adding features to several quizzes so that they work better for teachers and their students. I wanted to highlight some new features that I hope you’ll like!
New option to auto-archive student results
Last month, I added a “Dashboard Settings” page that lets teachers set their own preferences for how to change how assignments are sorted for their students. This month, I added an “auto-archive” feature to help teachers keep their student results better organized! To activate it in the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard, go to Settings > Dashboard Settings, then check the box next to “Automatically archive student results two weeks after submission”:
If you select this option, every day at 5am Eastern Time, any student results that are at least 2 weeks old will be archived (but not deleted). This should help keep your Results page from getting out of control!
New filter menus on the Grades page
I also added filter menus to the Grades page that work just like the menus on the Results page:
Assignment link after creation or updating
One last new feature that I added should make it a little easier to share your assignments with your students. Immediately after you create or update an assignment, the share link appears at the top of the page:
I hope these new features make the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard easier to use and save you some time!
More new features, bug fixes & other improvements
As always, thanks to everyone who has submitted a suggestion or bug report for the site! Here are all of the updates I’ve made since the last newsletter:
Dashboard – these features and bug fixes also apply to PhysQuiz.net!
- new feature: option to auto-archive old results after two weeks
- new feature: link to share an assignment appears at top of page immediately after creating or updating that assignment
- enhancement: option to export all students, even if they don’t have any results (thanks, Zack!)
- enhancement: option to sort exported results by class and then by student name (thanks, Jason and Anna!)
- enhancement: add filter menus and page number links to the Grades page
- enhancement: added yellow highlight on Grades page for results that were submitted late (thanks, Elizabeth!)
- bug fix: couldn’t delete exam sections (thanks, Kenneth!)
- bug fix: couldn’t modify a student account if the same username was already in the users table, even if it was inactive or deleted (thanks, Lance!)
- bug fix: student Dashboard was trying to show resources for each exam section even if a section had no resources
- bug fix: an extra “Add another section” button was showing up when editing an exam
- bug fix: sort assignment tags alphabetically on Assignments page
All Quizzes
- new feature: can now show instructions above every question in Continuous mode (thanks, Maggie!)
- bug fix: quiz completion time would sometimes save without taking the student’s time zone into account, which would cause the time to be off by several hours (thanks, Racquel and Susan!)
- bug fix: time zone diagnostic information was showing at the bottom of quizzes for students completing assignments
- bug fix: un-initialized array was crashing the quiz when multiple choice options were generated (thanks, Lance!)
- bug fix: number of neutrons in U-236 was incorrect (thanks, Susan!)
- bug fix: quiz would lose track of selected problem type(s) at the beginning when choosing Continuous mode (thanks, Pamela!)
- new feature: advanced option* to restrict wavelengths to meters only (thanks, Helen!)
Molecular Geometry & VSEPR Quiz
- enhancement: added “(has dipole moment)” and “(no dipole moment)” to multiple choice options for polarity (thanks, Susan!)
Naming Compounds & Calculating Molar Masses Quiz
- new feature: advanced option* to exclude beryllium and carbide ions (thanks, Katharine!)
Percent Error & Percent Yield Quiz
- new feature: advanced option* to pick wanted quantities for problems (thanks, Rhonda and Caytee!)
- new feature: option to generate grayscale diagrams for printing
- bug fix: problem types were being overwritten in Continuous mode
- new feature: advanced option* to generate problems with only positive or negative exponents
- new feature: add dimensional analysis and other conversion problems to the SI Conversions Quiz & renamed it to the SI Conversions & Dimensional Analysis Quiz (thanks, Shauna, Andrew, Matt, Patrisha, and Zack!)
- new feature: add moles and candelas to SI Conversions Quiz (thanks, Joel!)
- bug fix: options for features that weren’t published yet were being used for assignments (thanks, Zack, Scott and Lauren!)
- bug fix: quiz was showing the wrong answer for SI conversions if previous answer was dimensional analysis (thanks, Lenora!)
- bug fix: inch-centimeter conversion was flipped (thanks again, Lenora!)
- bug fix: answers in scientific notation weren’t being graded correctly (thanks, Rhonda!)
- bug fix: numbers in scientific notation were not being rounded with the correct number of sig figs (thanks, Avyukth and Rhonda!)
- bug fix: guesses for some division problems weren’t being graded correctly (thanks, Zack!)
Stoichiometry & Limiting Reagents Quiz
- enhancement: exclude reactions with Fe3O4 (thanks, Mary Ann!)
* advanced options are only available to teachers with an active site license for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard
Thanks again to everyone who has sent in a suggestion or bug report! I try to fix bugs as quickly as possible, and I want to make the site as useful and easy to use as possible, so please let me know if you have a suggestion or bug report!
Site licenses for the 2024-2025 school year
Thank you to everyone who has purchased or renewed their school’s site license for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard for the 2024-2025 school year! Site licenses help me pay for the web hosting and software I use to write the quizzes, and it keeps the website ad-free. In the month of September, ChemQuiz.net had over 2 million visits and exceeded 100,000 unique visitors in a single day several times, so your support has helped the site keep running while its popularity continues to grow!
If you would like to purchase a site license for the 2024-2025 school year for just US$70, you can do so right now in one of the following ways:
- credit card through Square (the most popular option)
- school purchase order (contact me for a sales quote – I’m also happy to fill out any paperwork required by your institution or state)
- personal check
- CashApp, PayPal, Venmo or Zelle at chris@chemquiz.net
Additional schools in the same district can purchase an add-on license for 50% off at just US$35 per school. If your school offers physics, you can bundle a site license for the PhysQuiz.net Dashboard for just US$35 more! Please contact me if you have any questions about how to purchase a site license.
Site licenses also help me offer the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard for free to 170 public schools in the United States where the majority of students are economically disadvantaged. If you teach in a high poverty public school (at least 50% of your students on free/reduced lunch or designated “economically disadvantaged”), please send me a link to the supporting documentation and you’ll get a free site license for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard forever (PhysQuiz.net, too!).
Help me share ChemQuiz.net with the world!
If you like using ChemQuiz.net, there are three quick and easy things that you can do to help me promote the site!
- Add your school to the list of supporters on the About page! Simply go to the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard, click on “Your Info” in the top menu bar, activate the box next to “Display School on ChemQuiz.net“, and click the “Update Your Info” button.
- Tell another Chemistry teacher about ChemQuiz.net and encourage them to try out the Dashboard!
- Follow @ChemQuizDotNet on Facebook and Threads and share my updates with your fellow Chemistry teachers!
Hurricane Helene caused tremendous devastation to communities across the southeastern US, including Western North Carolina. My sister lives just outside Asheville, NC, and my niece and nephew both live in town, and fortunately, they’re all alive and uninjured. The pictures they’ve been sending to our family group chat of the damage caused by the historical flooding have been absolutely heartbreaking, and residents of the city probably won’t have running water for another 2-3 months.
Two local charities that my sister asked me to share are BeLoved Asheville and MANNA FoodBank, and 100% of donations go to help the people of Asheville and Western North Carolina. I’ve donated to both, so if you’re in a financial situation where you feel you’re able to donate, I’m sure these non-profit organizations and the people they serve would very much appreciate it.
I hope your school year is going well so far! Thanks again to everyone for all of your support, suggestions and feedback – I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. Please use the Contact form or email me at chris@chemquiz.net if you have any questions, comments, or concerns. Take care!
-Chris