What do university chemistry practicals really test?
In Nitheeshan Gunanantham’s experience, stamina can become a stand-in for skill
The moment it clicked for me wasn’t dramatic. It was the fourth hour of a second-year undergraduate practical, and I was staring at a titration curve I understood perfectly well, in theory. But my hands were shaking slightly from too many energy drinks and too little lunch, and the clock on the wall seemed louder than the fume cupboard.