TOEFL / Reading practice / Section FG7X
Read in Daily Life

Read a message sent by a laboratory demonstrator to a course group.

Posted by: Tomas Reinholt, demonstrator
Group: Analytical Chemistry 2 - practicals
Several of you have asked why your titration results came back with a note rather than a mark, so here is the answer. The number you report is not the only thing being assessed. I also read the raw readings, and in about a quarter of the reports this week the final answer was closer to the expected value than the readings could possibly support. That usually means the arithmetic was done backward from a value someone remembered from the lecture. It is worth saying clearly: a result that disagrees with the textbook costs you nothing if your readings and your arithmetic agree with each other. A result that agrees with the textbook and not with your own readings costs you the whole report. Reports with a note can be resubmitted once, by Friday. Bring the original sheet with you; I will not accept a table typed out again.
23. What made the demonstrator suspicious of some reports?