Hello again, and welcome to December! For my fellow Americans, I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope everyone is well-rested and ready to finish out this last month of the year. In this newsletter, I’ve included the following updates about ChemQuiz.net:
- Webinar about Exams & more on Wednesday, December 3rd at 7pm ET/4pm PT
- *NEW* features for four quizzes
- Bug fixes and other improvements
- Site licenses for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard
Webinar Wednesday, Dec. 3rd @ 7pm ET/4pm PT
I’ve scheduled another live webinar for Wednesday, December 3rd at 7pm Eastern Time/4pm Pacific Time on Zoom, so I hope you can join me! This time, I’m going to focus on how to use the Exams feature to combine multiple assignments from different quizzes into one assessment. There will also be time for a Q&A session at the end, just like before.
Please use this link to register for the webinar in advance:
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/q_TgpyY2QnuLyzZ2pUfD3w
After registering, you should receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. If you have any topics you’d like me to add or any questions you’d like to submit in advance, please submit them using the Contact form or you can email me at chris@chemquiz.net.
I’ll also be sending out a Certificate of Attendance for one contact hour for everyone who attends so that you can use them for your teaching license renewal (or however your state does it). I’m looking forward to seeing you there!
*NEW* features for four quizzes
I haven’t as much time as I would have liked to work on ChemQuiz.net over the past month and a half, but I was able to add some new features to the following four quizzes:
Calorimetry Quiz
Based on a suggestion from Matthew, I added a “Solve for” advanced option* for wanted quantities so you can better control the types of problems that are generated:
Elements & Isotopes Quiz
Based on a suggestion from Nick, I added an advanced option* to exclude multivalent ions (e.g., iron(II), copper(I), etc.) from question types about ions.
Kinetics & Rate Laws Quiz
Based on a suggestion from Susan, I added a new “Calculate initial reaction rates” problem type. While I was working on that quiz, I also added reaction rate graphs so that I could force myself to learn how to make paths in SVGs for use in a planned future quiz:
Molecular Geometry & VSEPR Quiz
Based on a suggestion from Jess, I added an option to exclude molecules with 1-4 domains on the central atom that have expanded octets (e.g., sulfur trioxide (SO3), which has three double bonds on the central sulfur atom).
Thanks again to Matthew, Nick, Susan and Jess for these great suggestions!
* advanced options are only available to teachers with an active site license for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard
Bug fixes & other improvements
Since the last newsletter, I’ve fixed the following bugs and errors on ChemQuiz.net:
Dashboard – these bug fixes also apply to PhysQuiz.net!
- bug fix: topics were being displayed to students even if they weren’t in that class (thanks, Pamela, Maggie & Jim!)
- bug fix: score overrides on student results wouldn’t update the last item of a student’s results and also weren’t being saved consistently (thanks, Bobby!)
- new feature: added “Solve for” advanced option for wanted quantities (thanks, Matthew!)
- new feature: added an advanced option* to exclude multivalent ions (e.g., iron(II), copper(I), etc.) (thanks, Nick!)
- bug fix: American spelling of “cesium” was not accepted as correct for isotope questions (thanks, Katie!)
- enhancement: improved correct answer formatting when sig figs are not required (thanks, Brian!)
- new feature: added “Calculate initial reaction rates” problem type (thanks, Susan!)
- new feature: added graphs to reaction rate problems
- bug fix: quiz would crash if the number of questions was exactly equal to the number of pieces of equipment generated by the exclusion settings (thanks, Abraham!)
- bug fix: multiple choice answers with capital letters were not being alphabetically sorted properly
- bug fix: directions at the top of the quiz told students to round to three sig figs even if correct sig figs were required (thanks, Elisa!)
- bug fix: answers with correct sig figs were being scored as incorrect due to the trailing zero being dropped from very large given values (thanks again, Elisa!)
Mass Ratios, Percent Composition & Empirical Formulas Quiz
- correction: empirical formula ratio for Mn(MnO4)3 (which simplifies to Mn4O12) was missing from the database (thanks, Julie!)
- bug fix: correct answers were not being displayed on the key for printable quizzes
Molecular Geometry & VSEPR Quiz
- new feature: added an option to exclude molecules with 1-4 domains on the central atom that have expanded octets (e.g., sulfur trioxide (SO3)) (thanks, Jess!)
Naming Compounds & Calculating Molar Masses Quiz
- bug fix: correct multiple choice option was scored as incorrect because it wasn’t rounded to the correct precision (e.g., 78 instead of 78.00) (thanks, Bobby!)
- enhancement: organic compound names with prime marks (‘) were not being accepted as correct (thanks, Heidi!)
- bug fix: quiz was counting student answers as incorrect when the correct answer was “none” but they entered “None” (thanks, Michael!)
Redox Reactions & Net Ionic Equations Quiz
- correction: net ionic reactions involving HF and H3PO4 were incorrect because those weak acids don’t fully ionize (thanks, Leslie!)
Thanks again to everyone who has sent in a suggestion or reported a bug! Your feedback helps me track down and fix problems, so if you come across any issues or errors while using ChemQuiz.net, please fill out this short Contact form and I’ll do my best to fix it as quickly as I can.
Site licenses for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard
Thank you to everyone who has renewed or purchased a new site license for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard for the 2025-2026 school year! Site licenses are how I pay for web hosting and security software, and for the software I use to write the quizzes. It also keeps the website ad-free.
If you’re interested in purchasing a site license for the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard, now’s a great time to do it! With an active site license, you can:
- create assignments for your students using the quizzes on the site
- select the options you want that best match your students’ needs, including advanced options such as requiring correct sig figs in answers
- allow your students to save their progress as they’re working on an assignment
- build exams from multiple assignments
- create custom question banks with your own questions and images or use questions shared by the ChemQuiz.net educator community
- use the “tab switch detection” anti-cheating feature
- review results with your students so they can correct misconceptions and grasp concepts more quickly
- track your students’ progress and download results for data analysis
- create custom rubrics to score assignments
If you’d like to purchase a 12-month site license for just US$70, you can do so in any of the following ways:
- credit card through Square (the most popular option)
- school purchase order (contact me for a sales quote!)
- CashApp, PayPal, or Venmo at chris@chemquiz.net or @ChemQuizDotNet
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 also bundle a site license for the PhysQuiz.net Dashboard for just US$35 more!
Site licenses also make it possible for me to make the ChemQuiz.net Dashboard free for the 217 U.S. public schools whose students are economically disadvantaged. If you teach in a high poverty public school in the United States (at least 50% of your students on free/reduced lunch or designated “economically disadvantaged”), just 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!
ElectronJump game for learning electron configurations
Back in October, I heard from Cale Hover, a science teacher from Ohio (like me!) who has made an awesome new web-based game called ElectronJump. The game is designed to teach students to fill electron orbitals and write electron configurations by playing as an electron that they can move from one orbital to another by jumping around using the arrow keys (or WASD). Here are some screenshots:
Cale also created a free classroom guide for integrating ElectronJump into your lessons as well as some additional materials that can be purchased, so check it out and see if it’s useful for you and your students!
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 growing 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 BlueSky 🦋 and share my updates with your fellow Chemistry teachers!
Thanks again to everyone for another great semester at ChemQuiz.net! I really appreciate your continued support, and as always, please feel free to use the Contact form or email me at chris@chemquiz.net if you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns.
I wish you all the best of luck as you keep your classes focused through the holidays, and if I don’t see you at the webinar on Wednesday, I’ll see you in 2026!
-Chris