Start with the syllabus and your current position
Inorganic chemistry spans several connected topics, but the right balance depends on your course. Before planning, list the examinable topics from your syllabus or course outline. Check whether it includes coordination chemistry, periodic trends, bonding, organometallic chemistry, solid-state structures, or descriptive chemistry; do not spend study hours on a topic simply because it appears in a general textbook.
Next, make a quick diagnostic. Choose one representative problem or prompt from each listed topic and try it without notes. Mark each topic as secure, uncertain or unfamiliar. Record specific gaps: “mixes up oxidation state and coordination number” is useful; “bad at coordination chemistry” is not. This first pass helps you allocate time according to need rather than giving every chapter an equal share.
The plan below uses six weeks, with four sessions per week. Each session is 60–90 minutes. If you have fewer weeks, keep the order and combine sessions; if you have longer, repeat the review and problem-solving sessions rather than adding more passive reading. Leave at least one day between sessions where possible so that some review happens from memory, not immediately after studying.
A weekly routine you can start this week
Use the same session pattern throughout: begin with 5–10 minutes of closed-book recall, spend the main block learning or solving, then use the final 10 minutes to check errors and decide what to revisit. Take a short break during sessions longer than an hour. Work from your own lecture notes, assigned text and problem sets; where sources use different conventions, follow the convention required by your course.
Week 1: Map the content and build foundations
- Session 1 — 75 minutes: Do the diagnostic across your syllabus topics. Set up a board for one topic you need to learn first, and divide your notes into sections such as definitions, methods, examples and common errors.
- Session 2 — 60 minutes: Review atomic structure, electron configurations and the periodic trends required by your course. Practise explaining trends with a cause, such as effective nuclear charge or shielding, rather than memorising a direction alone.
- Session 3 — 75 minutes: Study oxidation states, formula charges and electron counts. Work through examples from your course and check each charge balance explicitly.
- Session 4 — 60 minutes: Revisit the diagnostic questions without notes. Correct errors in a separate list and turn individual facts or procedures into short retrieval prompts.
Week 2: Coordination chemistry
- Session 1 — 75 minutes: Learn ligand names, denticity, coordination number and oxidation-state assignment. Practise moving between a complex’s formula and its description.
- Session 2 — 90 minutes: Study geometry and isomerism. Draw examples of the geometries and isomers included in your course; label what makes each pair different.
- Session 3 — 75 minutes: Work through crystal-field or ligand-field splitting, high-spin and low-spin cases, and magnetic behaviour at the level your syllabus expects. For each example, state the metal oxidation state and d-electron count before filling the orbitals.
- Session 4 — 60 minutes: Complete a mixed set of coordination problems under a time limit. Review every incorrect or guessed answer and write the missing reasoning step.
Week 3: Bonding and reactivity
- Session 1 — 75 minutes: Review the bonding models used in your course, such as molecular orbital descriptions or ligand-field explanations. Make a comparison table that says what each model explains and what it does not.
- Session 2 — 75 minutes: Study the mechanisms and reaction patterns actually listed in your syllabus. For each reaction, identify the starting complex, change, and evidence or condition used to distinguish the pathway.
- Session 3 — 60 minutes: Practise interpreting relevant spectra or magnetic data if these are examinable. Work from the data to a conclusion and show the link between them.
- Session 4 — 75 minutes: Answer a mixed written set, then mark it against your notes or course solutions. Add missed steps to your error list.
Week 4: Solid state and other syllabus topics
- Session 1 — 75 minutes: Draw and label the structures, unit cells or packing arrangements required by your course. Practise counting particles per unit cell and identifying coordination relationships where relevant.
- Session 2 — 75 minutes: Work on defects, electrical or magnetic properties, or other solid-state material only if it is in your syllabus. Link each property to the structure or defect that accounts for it.
- Session 3 — 75 minutes: Use this session for a topic you have not yet covered, such as organometallic chemistry or descriptive chemistry. Extract the definitions and reactions your course emphasises.
- Session 4 — 60 minutes: Do a short closed-book quiz covering Weeks 1–4. Sort mistakes into knowledge gaps, calculation or method errors, and misread questions.
Week 5: Connect topics and repair weaknesses
- Session 1 — 75 minutes: Rework the two topics with the most errors. Start with a blank page and reconstruct the key ideas before checking your notes.
- Session 2 — 90 minutes: Do mixed problems that require more than one topic, such as assigning oxidation state, determining d count and then predicting geometry or magnetic behaviour.
- Session 3 — 60 minutes: Explain selected concepts aloud in a precise sequence. For example: identify the ion, state its electron count, describe the relevant splitting, then give the predicted result. Check each statement against your course material.
- Session 4 — 75 minutes: Complete a timed practice set. Mark it carefully and make a short list of the errors most likely to recur.
Week 6: Rehearse, review and consolidate
- Session 1 — 90 minutes: Sit a mixed practice paper or an equivalent set of questions under the time limits used in your course materials. Follow your institution’s guidance for the actual assessment format.
- Session 2 — 75 minutes: Mark the work and classify each lost mark. Repair the highest-impact two gaps using worked examples, then solve a fresh problem without looking at the solution.
- Session 3 — 60 minutes: Review due flashcards and your error list. Retest cards you previously found difficult rather than rereading the whole course.
- Session 4 — 45–60 minutes: Do a final recall sweep: definitions, equations, structures and procedures you need to retrieve quickly. Stop adding new material unless a clear syllabus gap remains.
Make review follow your errors
A simple due queue helps you see whether review is accumulating across topics. A MySummaries due queue for an inorganic chemistry course might look like this:
Use the queue to decide what to review at the start of a session, not as a reason to abandon the week’s main task. If a board has no cards due, move on. If one topic repeatedly accumulates due cards, shorten new-note time and spend a session rebuilding the underlying idea before drilling more facts.
Keep source material organised by topic and by the questions it helps answer. A MySummaries board for coordination chemistry could group definitions, electron counting, splitting and examples in one place:
- In [Co(NH3)5Cl]2+, NH3 is neutral and coordinated Cl is −1; Co is +3.
- Co(III) is d6; determine the metal oxidation state before assigning d count.
| Complex ion | Metal state | d count |
|---|---|---|
| [Fe(CN)6]4− | Fe(II) | d6 |
| [FeF6]3− | Fe(III) | d5 |
- [Co(NH3)5Cl]2+ has six donor atoms and an octahedral coordination environment.
- Coordination number counts donor atoms bound to the metal, not the complex's overall charge.
- Low-spin octahedral d6 has no unpaired electrons.
- High-spin octahedral d5 has five unpaired electrons.
In an octahedral field, the d orbitals split into lower-energy t2g and higher-energy eg sets. Whether a d-electron configuration is high spin or low spin depends on the balance between splitting and pairing energy.
Write board sections so that each one supports a task: assign an oxidation state, draw an arrangement, explain a trend or predict a property. Keep exceptions beside the rule they complicate. For example, do not memorise a magnetic conclusion without recording the oxidation state, d count and spin assumption that lead to it.
Choose the next session by evidence
At the end of each week, compare your performance across topics. A picker that responds to your missed cards and practice marks can make that choice visible. A MySummaries topic picker could point you towards the weakest section rather than simply suggesting the next chapter:
Spin state and magnetism · Struggling — 4 of 9 cards are incorrect and the latest practice score was 44%
Use a hot section for the next focused repair session. First identify the exact uncertainty: is it choosing the oxidation state, deciding whether a ligand gives a large or small splitting, or counting unpaired electrons? Review one worked example, explain the steps, then attempt a new example. A wrong answer is more useful when it tells you which step failed.
Your review notes should make progress measurable. A MySummaries weak-topic summary could rank sections using the results of your practice:
Do not treat a percentage as a diagnosis by itself. Check how many questions contributed, whether you guessed, and whether the same reasoning error appeared more than once. A section that scores well on recall but poorly on unfamiliar problems needs more transfer practice, not another round of definition cards. A low score from one attempt may need another check before it changes your plan.
How MySummaries helps
MySummaries lets you build topic boards from your own course materials, create flashcards for spaced review, and generate written practice marked against your notes. For this plan, use a board to organise a difficult topic, cards to retrieve its key facts, and practice feedback to choose the next repair session.