We all loved our practical sessions more than our theory classes, didn’t we? The excitement of performing new experiments, the happiness that comes with getting the correct results, or the panic when they didn’t - all of this made our practical sessions more memorable. And there were always some experiments we loved doing and some that always kept us on our toes.
Let me share mine,
As a Pharmacy graduate, I loved preparing tablets. From basic mixing to tablet compression, the entire procedure was fun and interesting and also helped me to understand the purpose of each ingredient more clearly.
Now, coming to the experiment that I dreaded the most - it was always ampoule sealing. Preparing the ampoules was very easy but the sealing part always kept me on my edge. No matter how many times I tried, I could never get it right.
So, what about you? What was the experiment that you loved doing and which one always gave you a hard time?
Putting the cotton plug in test tube was very Hard of me in the beginning because when the plug is removed there should be a sound kinda so it was too hard
Capsule filling:- There is something oddly satisfying about packing each capsule just right and seeing neat rows of finished products. It felt like combining precision with creativity.
As a dental student, my favorite practicals were always the ones in the pre-clinical labs especially tooth carving. There was something so satisfying about turning a plain wax block into an anatomically perfect tooth (after many not so perfect attempts ).
On the other hand, the one that always made me sweat was mixing dental materials to the perfect consistency, especially alginate for impressions. Too fast, and it would set in the bowl -too slow, and… well, let’s just say the impression wouldn’t make it to the patient’s mouth in one piece!
I think titration is somehow very tricky. And in my college journey I struggled a lot with tooth carvings which required a lot of art which wasn’t my cup of tea.
Yes, I can totally relate! For me, as a Microbiologist, I absolutely loved working on microbial culture techniques—especially watching colonies grow after incubation. It felt like bringing something invisible to life! But the one that always gave me a hard time was gel electrophoresis in molecular biology—between preparing the gel, loading samples without spilling, and interpreting the bands.
Yeah it’s reality all medical students does like the practical classes, I remember until now where I first did titration for current it looks easy but that time using pipette was new experience
Being pharma student making tablet and checking it’s stability comes close to my heart then the pharmacognosy experiments hit me hard because I found them very difficult while adjusting microscopes and what not.
True, practical classes and experiments are very interesting part of our college. Labelling the products within size and writing all components on the product gave me a hard time. Excited to prepare the product but, to write all the components with their quantity and mentioning how to use, storage conditions and expiry date is very important.
I have always loved doing “plant tissue culture”, like taking an explant (stems, seeds, roots etc), placing them on MS growth medium, and watching it grow into a whole new plant and sometimes with in vitro flowering, that feeling was so surreal and nurturing that green little miracle was a wonderful feeling. And the one that always gave me a hard time was cancer cell culture. These cells always demand constant attention for their growth and all the procedures are generally needed to be done on time with a specific temperature, and the entire work has to be carefully performed with maintenance of sterile conditions. If one step is not performed well, then with a single contamination, several weeks of work is lost and that’s why a lot of tediousness I used to feel around this work.
As a fellow Pharm D student, I can totally relate!
I also struggled a lot with ampoule sealing. No matter how many times I practiced, it just never came out perfect Luckily, my classmates were always there to help me with the sealing part, and in return, I would take care of preparing the solutions for filling the ampoules. It became our little teamwork ritual, and honestly, those moments made practical sessions even more fun and memorable.
Another one was definitely titration in pharmaceutical analysis. No matter how carefully I worked, that perfect color change always seemed to happen either too early or too late and the tension of “just one more drop” was real!
Ok as a B.A.M.S graduate ,
Ayurveda is known for its lengthy history taking
Coz we don’t ask about what happened yesterday but much older things like - diet habits, medications , sleep timings, eatables that suit them and all
So in my clinical postings (the recent practical for me)
I always loved it ,
History taking is actually very interesting for me as deepening on it the treatment plan is devised,
During my posting days, the residents used to it and it always fascinated me that how one simple habit of a person with same symptoms as other have whole different medications
But what dreaded me is also that,
Coz 1 simple mistake and the medicine could be harming the person rather doing any good.
As a dental student, I’ve loved doing wax carvings the most. It felt creative and calming especially on days when theory got overwhelming. On the flip side, endo access cavities in pre-clinical labs were my nightmare. No matter how carefully I tried, the bur would slip or I’d end up making the opening either too small or too wide. It was frustrating, but it also taught me patience and precision.
As a dentist, I remember us pricking each others fingers to collect blood, and then measuring clotting time and bleeding time, as well as checking hemoglobin levels in our physiology labs. That was interesting for me.
As a Pharmacy graduate pharmacology lab was always a mix of challenge and curiosity for me. I found it difficult at first, especially understanding how each drug works on different systems. But once I got the hang of it, it became really interesting. Doing experiments like dose-response curves helped me learn a lot. Sometimes the results were confusing, but that made me want to dig deeper. It wasn’t easy, but it was definitely rewarding. I think it taught me to be more patient and focused.
).