The goal of this paper is to illustrate college students' levels of sophistication of their spectroscopic representations (SRs). For example, a photon is drawn as a wavy line, which might be used to enhance their atomic models (AMs). Study 1 was a quantitative study in which 70 students, enrolled in first semester general chemistry, drew or described their own model of the atom. Despite the fact that they had just completed a unit on atomic structure, only 30.6% of these students were classified as having a good understanding of the Bohr AM. Most of these students, 93.8%, incorporated SRs into their models. Conversely, only 41.2% of those who had a moderate AM understanding and only 5% of those with a poor AM understanding used SR in their AMs. Study 2 was a qualitative study in which 10 volunteers, enrolled in the same course but during a different semester, interacted with a multimedia instructional package and with a tutor. Interviews with two students were selected for in‐depth analyses. Each one enhanced their own AM by adding dynamic SR to their original AMs.