I have an interesting perspective on this class when I sit in lectures, because I'm not actually taking the course for credit. This allows me to focus on thinking about issues and questions I believe will be raised during the labs.
Because of this unique perspective I have, it has enabled me to notice some interesting trends during the Monday lectures that cover the theory of the labs. What I have to offer all of you is an admonishment which will perhaps aid in avoiding some of the ambiguity and open-ended nature of the scenario letters. What everyone SHOULD optimally be doing during Monday lecture is to follow along in your scenario letter as Professor Oldham or Professor Thouless are going through the slides. What you will notice (if you have your tasks underlined beforehand), is that specific slides will pop up that present a solution to a given task in that letter (or perhaps a combination of a couple slides). I think with this bit of additional attention to detail, you will all come to lab with a bit better hold on exactly what you are supposed to be doing with all this data you have to collect.