Post Test: Non-Bonding Electron Problems

Several students only drew nonbonding electrons on one structure. For some reason they did not realize that the they needed to add nonbonding electrons to both structures. I don't see how the directions could be made much clearer.

This seemed to be a simple mistake that did not reflect a lack of understanding. The OH group in gamma-aminobutyric acid was drawn correctly. Perhaps the problem here related to test-taking skills and/or accuracy problems.

In this case, the student was able to protonate and deprotonate the correct groups and indicate the correct charges. The only problem was a missing nonbonding electron pair on the neagitvely charged oxygen.