Again, this thread is not about getting low exp per synth - i know how to get 500-ish exp and I'm using it.

This thread is about not getting enough boost from using anything except standard. The bump from using careful is too low to warrant the synth taking twice as long. Standard synth gets you 20% progress on perfect attempt, careful gets you only 10%, while not giving you 2x exp on success.

This not a "no pain - no gain" situation, it's a "pain and no gain" situation.