Assess undergraduate students' ability to analyze mechanistic pathways and identify rate-determining steps in transition‑metal‑catalyzed cross‑coupling by interpreting kinetic experiments (rate laws, reaction orders, concentration/time profiles, kinetic isotope effects, temperature dependence) and comparing these data with DFT-computed potential energy surfaces (intermediate and transition‑state energies, activation barriers, ligand/solvent effects); tasks include assigning a catalytic cycle, proposing the RDS with quantitative justification, reconciling experiment and theory, and critiquing methodological limitations.