What is the best way to study for the lab final?
The final is not meant to test whether or not you’ve learned some arbitrary fact. Instead it is meant to assess whether you’re able to solve an authentic chemistry problem utilizing the information and skills you’ve learned throughout the course of the semester. It gives you one last opportunity to show your instructors and yourself the ways in which you’ve begun to think like a scientist. If you’ve been working toward this goal all along, rather than memorizing information, then you’re already prepared. Simply look over the lab experiments and your Research Reports. Understand the basic concepts explored as well as how you investigated those concepts, i.e. what “tools” did you use? Attempt solving the problems on past finals, first without looking at the solution and then compare the solution to your answer. Attend the review session and ask questions. You’re set!
