1. Use the following words: behind, tight, parts, enigmatic, tended. (10 min)
Jake clenched his teeth and tried to ignore his apprentice's muttering.
"Tight, tight, fifteen, three, seven-point-eight, tight ..."
The kid always checked the parts in the exact same order, with a little muttered spiel which he claimed helped him remember what everything should be. Jake shook his head. If he ever had to check only one dial, he'd have to run through the entire procedure; he didn't know what was supposed to be what.
They were running behind, because of that. Jake considered the dials in front of him. He had to make sure he tended to his own duties, even though he needed to check on the kid.
"What do you think?" Jake asked.
"It's an enigmatic issue," the kid said, and Jake sighed.
2. Write about a character who's hazy on the details. (10 min)
He knew what that meant, but kept silent.
"The conductance is deviating from nominal, but the symptoms don't correspond with that kind of variation. The symptoms suggest a temperature variance, but the sensor indicates that it is within acceptable limits."
In other words, Jake thought, the kid had no idea and was falling back into school-learning mode.
3. Use the phrase "five minutes later". (10 min)
The kid chewed on his knuckle for a moment, and Jake considered reminding him that he was wearing lab gloves for a reason. Before he could say anything, the kid grimaced and looked at his hand.
"What about the pressure?"
The kid frowned, and looked at one of the pressure gauges.
"Looks like it's within - "
"Look again." Jake pointed at the smaller pressure gauge. It took a while, but five minutes later and without Jake's help, the kid made an adjustment and the dials started going back to normal.
Jake continued watching them, and waved the kid forward before he could get comfortable. "Long delay time, remember? It'll be an hour before it stabilizes, and we have to make sure you didn't overshoot."
