As all of my STEM friends can attest, lab partners make or break the lab. If you wind up with a leach of a partner, the few hours can seemingly drag on forever. While time might not seem to fly even with a fantastic lab partner, a great lab partner makes those few hours a lot more bearable. Here are just some of the lessons I have learned from or with my lab partners over the years:

16. Caffeine goes a long way to helping you focus, and when one or both don't have the routine morning coffee fix, another brown substance hits the fan.

15. Always wear safety glasses, not because you fear getting something in your eye but because you fear getting chewed out by that professor. Again.

14. Don't worry about the grade because 50% yield is a fantastic yield in Organic Chemistry.

13. Yet, that moment you actually get the product you've been seeking for four hours is truly a moment to savor because it does not happen very often.

12. The best lab partners have strengths that are your weaknesses, and vice versa. Choose wisely.

11. The best lab partners don't need to use words to express what chemical, flask, or container they need; they partners use hand gestures and vague, nondescript, incomplete phrases, and yet the correct communication still gets across.

10. Trust is a must. Need I say more?

9. Stay on task and divide the work so as to finish faster and more efficiently because no one wants to spend an extra hour in lab.

8. But don't worry about how staying extra hours in lab might roll over into your social time and keep you from making friends; lab time becomes your social time and your lab-mates become your friends!

7. Be nice to your lab partners - they don't want to be there either, and who knows, one might show up to be your lab partner in another lab some day!

6. Don't take your lab work too seriously. Fill the hours of waiting with entertainment (youtube videos, science jokes/puns, fun stories, goofing off of some sort).

5. Carry a roll of tape and scissors in your backpack - they WILL come in handy when you need to tape graphs and charts into your lab notebook.

4. Brain food helps; seek Dunkin' Doughnuts often.

3. Lab time = three hour sing-along: Disney, Frank Sinatra, Broadway musicals, or freshman year throwback.

2. Remember that everyone is in the same boat as you. Even the smartest among you don't always know what they're doing.

1. Never forget that you are not alone; that's why your lab partner is there!