I just finished my last practical exam for my Bio 241 lab and I will try to describe how I feel like a true Utahan would describe it"oh, my heck! it kicked my freakin trash!!!" I don't know how I did, but it is not going to be pretty. The best thing I can do now is tighten up the hatches, board up the windows, gather the valuables, kid the gets in the cellar and prepare for the worst. I am praying that by worst I mean B or B+, so I quess it isn't that bad.

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I just got done taking a practical exam for my molecular biology lab. Let me explain it to you. There are 21 stations and you have 3 minutes per station. They ask different questions that test you on the different procedures we have been doing in class. One of the station required you to mix some enzymes with substrates and then you had to measure the product produced in a special machine called a spectrophotometer. However, the solution you have made must be diluted to the correct amount so that the machine can read it. (this is the hard step) So I have got 3 minutes to mix, react, and dilute this solution. The bell went off and I started to pipette my substrate into the cuvette(test tube), but I quickly realized my hands were shaking out of control (so intense). I have to use my other hand to stop the shaking. Somehow I manage to get the substrate and enzyme all into the the tube. I then grab another pipette to dilute the solution. the TA calls out"30 seconds" it is at this moment that I realize that I don't know to what factor I am suppose to dilute. Total panic sets in and I started diluting like there was no tomorrow. As I am doing this I am hoping for a miracle that maybe what I am doing is correct. The buzzer beeps and I go on to the next station to measure my product in the machine. I put the cuvette into the proper slot and ,y number comes out on the screen. I look at the number and........... Not even close to being right. I screwed up somewhere in my diluting process. Luckily this was just one part of the test. I think I did good on the rest. Very intense.