A well-established literature base identifies a portion of students enrolled in post-secondary General Chemistry as at-risk of failing the course based on incoming metrics. Learning about the experiences and factors that lead to this higher failure rate is essential toward improving retention in this course. This study examines the relationship between study habits and academic performance for at-risk students in General Chemistry. Students who were in the bottom quartile of SAT math scores were identified as at-risk students. The study habits of General Chemistry students, both those identified as at-risk and those not identified were measured by text message inquiries. The text message asked ‘‘Have you studied for General Chemistry I in the past 48 hours? If so, how did you study?” twice a week throughout a semester. Student responses to the messages were used to calculate the frequency of studying throughout the term. The results from a multiple regression analysis showed that high frequency of studying could mitigate the difference between at-risk and non-at-risk students on final exam scores. Additionally, the quality of studying for six at-risk students was analyzed by student interviews in concert with their text message responses. The results indicated that the quality of studying is not necessarily linked to frequency of studying and both quality and frequency can play a role in at-risk students' academic performance. The results presented offer a path for at-risk students to succeed in General Chemistry and the methodology presented offers a potential avenue for evaluating future efforts to improve student success.

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The research-based pedagogical strategy of flipped classes has been shown to be effective for increasing student achievement and retention in postsecondary chemistry classes. The purpose of flipped classes is to move content delivery (e.g., lecture) outside of the classroom, freeing more face-to-face time for active learning strategies. The opportunity to engage in active learning with students can be a challenge for instructors of large classes (more than 100 students). Furthermore, there has been little discussion in the chemical education literature to provide instructors with detailed descriptions of successful implementations of flipped classes combined with active learning in large classes. To this end, this report provides a comprehensive description and evaluation of a coordinated implementation of flipped classes with peer-led team learning (PLTL) for second-semester general chemistry with class sizes greater than 200 students. This approach is described as "Flipped PLTL". This report includes details about creation of videos for flipped instruction, class structure, and the recruiting and training of peer leaders. The purpose of this paper is to provide an example of flipped classes with PLTL that can guide other instructors who wish to implement these pedagogies in large classes.