At college, its expected you do prep and reading before the lab. If your first time reading the procedure is when you are in the lab, you are going to lose time

At college, its expected you do prep and reading before the lab. If your first time reading the procedure is when you are in the lab, you are going to lose time. Usually the prep work beforehand takes less time than bumblefucking it in the lab on the day of, results in cleaner work, and better grade outcomes. Also, with chemistry lab work in a lot of cases you can't just abandon your work because its time for chow, that creates a safety hazard (grade loss being incidental). Same as you are meant to do reading before lectures or seminars, or assignments. In professional labs in industry, things are different. You are a cog in a machine, usually doing the same standard operating procedure daily, and you do tend to go home on time and get that balance.