Not Your Personal Slave.
Argh! Students! Will someone please explain to me why they'll ring me up the night before a practical exam, having not told me previously that they have one? Was this just sprung on them TODAY? (Rhetorical question - I happen to know that all of the UK's exam boards expect students to be given at least a week's notice of an internal practical exam that will count for external marks. Some demand two weeks' notice.)
And after I've gone through the details of recrystallisation and melting point determination - and even hauled out the Rubber Handbook to look up the exact melting point of N-phenyl ethanamide (and dealt with the fact the Rubber Handbook calls it Acetamide, N-benzyl, and you have to look it up under A, not P, E or B as you might think), they ADMIT to not having looked in the textbook for help yet! Hello, I have a cold, I've been in bed all day, my brain isn't working terribly well, and I can't remember the exact details for the preparation of amides starting with an aromatic amine, I just remember that it's different from usual amine preparation! Check the conditions in the textbook, which is matched to your exam syllabus. Thank you!
I am here for amplification and clarification, and helping you with exam technique and preparation. I do not exist for the purpose of doing your thinking for you - especially not at 6.45pm the night before your practical exam. You should have booked a session with me to go through this when you found out about it - or at least rung me for help sometime before now. Bah.
And after I've gone through the details of recrystallisation and melting point determination - and even hauled out the Rubber Handbook to look up the exact melting point of N-phenyl ethanamide (and dealt with the fact the Rubber Handbook calls it Acetamide, N-benzyl, and you have to look it up under A, not P, E or B as you might think), they ADMIT to not having looked in the textbook for help yet! Hello, I have a cold, I've been in bed all day, my brain isn't working terribly well, and I can't remember the exact details for the preparation of amides starting with an aromatic amine, I just remember that it's different from usual amine preparation! Check the conditions in the textbook, which is matched to your exam syllabus. Thank you!
I am here for amplification and clarification, and helping you with exam technique and preparation. I do not exist for the purpose of doing your thinking for you - especially not at 6.45pm the night before your practical exam. You should have booked a session with me to go through this when you found out about it - or at least rung me for help sometime before now. Bah.