The practice that will not help you make an accurate volume reading on a buret at the beginning of a titration is: Making sure that the meniscus starts exactly at 0.00 mL.

What actually matters for accuracy is that you:

  • Read the volume at the bottom of the meniscus.
  • Read it at eye level to avoid parallax error.
  • Make sure the meniscus is within the marked range of the buret.

The initial volume does not need to be 0.00 mL; you just subtract the initial reading from the final reading to get the correct volume delivered.