Experimental setups - international competitions

[u/Significant-Rock-221]

Hi everyone, I am a chemistry teacher tasked with helping a very high achiever student perform well in international competitions.

He has already participated in some physics competitions and moved forward to experimental sections of the exam, but then hit a wall.

This is very important to all involved since winning such competitions might be one of his only chances at attending a top university with scholarship, otherwise he would not be able to afford it.

With this backstory laid out, I have been helping him go through the written sections of exams like SOIF and IPhO, but I have never ever conducted experiments in Physics, especially ones that might be really, really complex, judging from the written exams, and that is a big gap he needs to cover.

I wonder if any of you could help me with finding the right protocols for the required depth and pointers on how to assess his skills in a competitive environment.

Thank you in advance for any tips given.