How A Practical Runs
REAL APPARATUS
Pick up the burette, the pipette, the lens, the spring balance or the test tube from the bench. Pour, heat, measure, time and record, in 3D, the way you will at the exam bench.
YOUR OWN READINGS
Each run seeds different values. You take the readings, fill the table, plot the graph and work out the answer — nobody can copy, and neither can you.
AGAIN AND AGAIN
Reset the bench and run the practical a second, fifth or twentieth time. Every run gives you different values to measure, so you cannot memorise a result — you learn the method.
MARKED LIKE PAPER 3
The lab records each step and the server marks the run: the readings you took, the table you filled, the graph you drew and the conclusion you reached. You see where the marks went.
ON THE PHONE YOU HAVE
The labs run in the browser on a phone, a laptop or the school's interactive board. No app to install, no lab fee.
Chemistry: 22 Practicals
Titrations, qualitative analysis, gas preparation, energy changes and rates of reaction.
- Titration: hydrochloric acid with sodium hydroxide
- Titration: finding the concentration of sulfuric acid
- Titration: sodium carbonate with hydrochloric acid (methyl orange)
- Titration: diluting an acid, then finding its concentration
- Redox titration: potassium manganate(VII) with iron(II) sulfate
- Acids, bases and indicators
- Preparing oxygen from hydrogen peroxide
- Preparing hydrogen from zinc and dilute acid
- Reactions of lithium, sodium and potassium with water
- Preparing carbon(IV) oxide from marble chips
- The effect of heat on carbonates, hydrated salts and nitrates
- Flame tests for metal ions
- Testing for the ammonium ion
- Tests for alkenes, alkanols and alkanoic acids
- Identifying cations with sodium hydroxide and ammonia
- Precipitation reactions and anion tests
- Heat of neutralisation
- Heat of neutralisation from a temperature–time graph
- Endothermic and exothermic dissolving
- Rate of reaction: marble chips and acid
- Rate of reaction: sodium thiosulfate and acid
- Rate of reaction: concentration (the disappearing cross)
Physics: 5 Practicals
The Paper 3 staples, each with a table, a graph and a gradient to find.
- The focal length of a convex lens
- The refractive index of a glass block
- Oscillations of a loaded spring: the spring constant (Hooke's law)
- Density by displacement: what are the spheres made of?
- Upthrust: the relative density of a liquid (Archimedes' principle)
Biology: 11 Practicals
Food tests, enzymes, cells, osmosis, transport, photosynthesis and respiration.
- Estimating the size of onion cells under the microscope
- Food tests: what is in samples A, B and C?
- Catalase in living tissue
- pH and the rate of an enzyme reaction
- Temperature and the rate of an enzyme reaction
- Osmosis in potato tissue
- Moving air and the rate of transpiration
- Water uptake: which tissue carries the dye?
- Conditions needed for photosynthesis: the starch test
- Aerobic and anaerobic respiration: carbon(IV) oxide
- Breathing rate after exercise
For Teachers
Set any practical as an assignment for a class or one student and see who has done it, how many times, and where the marks went. Schools without a lab run the full Paper 3 syllabus; schools with one use the bench for rehearsal before the real apparatus comes out.
Questions
Do the labs mark the practical like KNEC does?
The server marks the skills Paper 3 rewards: correct procedure, accurate readings, a complete table, a well-drawn graph and a sound conclusion. It is a rehearsal marker, not KNEC's marking scheme, and it tells you exactly where you lost marks so the next run is better.
What happens if I make a mistake?
The lab lets you make it. Overshoot the end-point, forget to zero the balance, read the wrong scale — the run is marked accordingly and the mistake is named, then you reset and try again.
Will my phone run a 3D lab?
The labs are built for ordinary Android phones on mobile data. A newer phone or a laptop is smoother, but a phone is enough.
Is this free?
You can try a KCSE Practice Buddy as a guest with no sign-up. A free account unlocks the labs and lets you upload your own past papers. Premium adds unlimited tutor time; see the pricing page for the current price in Kenyan shillings.
Which KCSE subjects are covered?
The 3D labs cover the three sciences — Chemistry, Physics and Biology Paper 3. The Practice Buddy and the AI tutors cover the whole KCSE syllabus, Form 1 to Form 4, and will revise any past paper you upload.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. Everything runs in the browser on an ordinary smartphone over mobile data. The labs are 3D but built to run on low-end phones.