Are present reaction theories for studying rare isotopes good enough?

Rare isotopes are most often studied through nuclear reactions. Nuclear reactions can be used to obtain detailed structure information but also in connection to astrophysics to determine specific capture rates. In order to extract the desired information it is crucial to have a reliable framework that describes the reaction process accurately. A few recent developments for transfer and breakup reactions will be presented. These include recent studies on the reliability of existing theories as well as effort to reduce the ambiguities in the predicted observables.