A traditional laboratory course with the primary learning outcome of improving students' theoretical knowledge has received much criticism over the years due to the lack of evidence that these goals have achieved. We report our efforts to redesign a traditional first-year organic and inorganic (also known as synthetic) laboratory course from having a focus on teaching theory to the development of practical skills. With better alignment between the core learning outcomes of the course and the type of experiments embedded into the curriculum, we report that the redesigned course improved students' practical skills from a number of measures, including students' grades pre- and postcourse and from students' self-assessment of core skills in synthetic chemistry.