So, tomorrow it comes to a head: it’s the comprehensive exam.
Lord help me, I’m nervous. My biggest fear is sitting down with the exam paper and not recognizing any of the questions - I mean, just blanking out on what I’ve spent two years learning. This has my gut churning, even though I know that with 3/5 essays to answer, the chances of not remembering anything about any one of them is small.
I still have a choice to make too: I can take them on computer or handwritten. This is a decision I haven’t managed to make yet, for several reasons:
Clickety-clackety. There are over 30 people taking the exam this semester, and I have a feeling that most will do it on computer. These are noisy keyboards, and while I have earplugs, I’m concerned that it will be distracting.
I sometimes think I don’t compose as well on the computer as I do on paper. With paper, I tend to outline, while with a computer I tend to leap right in and start typing. I do know that if I take it on computer tomorrow, I still have to outline and such - otherwise I will end up missing something.
I have terrible penmanship. If I think about it, I can keep it legible, but with up to 4 hours of writing tomorrow, my hand will get tired and penmanship will suffer.
Snacks: you can have them in the handwriting room, not in the computer room. Also in the computer room, water only, no sodas.
Ultimately, I think the decision will be made tomorrow morning - and I’m sure either way will be fine.
But I’m still nervous. Incredibly nervous. I’ve been having dreams about it lately, and this morning when I got up the first thing I did was make sure that it was really Thursday, just out of fear that somehow I’d slept for over 24 hours (yeah, right…that wouldn’t happen to me, but still…)
I’ve done well in my classes for two years, I’ve reviewed my class notes…now I just need to manage to calm down. Any tips?
Before you read any of the questions, turn your paper over and write down key ideas and themes. I tend to lock up several seconds after I read the assignment, as my brain recovers from the shock. That minute of not knowing my own name can result in some serious panic. So after I receive the test and before I read it, I’ll do a quick outline of 5 or 6 key ideas. Then I’ll read the test, and do the essay question that can most easily be answered by my rough outline.
After that, it’s a piece of cake.
Good luck, you’ll do fine. (And I recommend doing it on the computer.)
Pre-comp freakout is completely normal. Have you had any comp dreams yet? When I was in grad school, my roommate dreamed she lost a letter of the alphabet, so couldn’t write anything.
I dreamt that the four-hour exam on the history and discipline of the sociology of religion consisted of a two-page layout of small pix of various sociologists, who I had to name and explain the siginificance of. In my dream, I’m thinking “Okay, I know what Durkheim looks like, I know what Weber looks like, I know Peter Berger is bald…”
Sounds like you’re leaning towards writing by hand – whatever decision you make, don’t go back and worry about it after you’ve made the decision.
I suggest going the computer route. It’s a lot easier on the person grading the paper, and you want as much of their good will as possible. You eliminate the possibility of hand cramps and it’s easier to edit your work for grammatical and organizational issues. If you feel you compose better on paper, I don’t suppose there’s anything stopping you from jotting down a rough draft first.
As for the pre-exam jitters, the best advice is probably to get a good night’s sleep beforehand and go in with a positive attitude. “This should be fun” as opposed to [Rincewind] “Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, I’m going to die.” [/Rincewind].
During my qualifying exam in computer theory, I sat and stared at the test for about an hour without doing a damn thing. Each question looked harder than any of the others. Then, I took the proverbial deep breath and started chipping away at it, and each question fell in succession.
3 weeks ago, before I was really nervous, but as I was starting to review, there was the one where I showed up and was told that I said I was writing a thesis and so I couldn’t take the exam.
2 nights ago there was the one where I was giving birth but the baby wouldn’t come out. I’ve never had kids but I do have dreams of giving birth when I’m stressed, so I know it’s related.
Last night it was about some random guy - VERY creepy looking who kept tapping me on the arm while I was taking the exam. I thought he was going to kidnap me but instead he just kept telling me how lovely my hair was and how nice the computer was and could he use it for just a minute?
Today I’m actually leaning towards the computer…but tomorrow could be different. So we’ll see which one I’d rather deal with tomorrow morning. And in 24 hours I’ll be almost 3/4 of the way through it.
Lsura what is your subject? How many chances do you get? When I did mine in Computer Science, a long, long time ago, we had to do them in five subjects, but got three chances. We had to take them very early, and one was in a subject I never took as an undergrad. Didn’t do too well on that one until after I took the class.
Mostly comps are to sort out the real mistakes - where I went the faculty really wanted everyone to pass. I knew only one person who failed them, and that was well deserved.
My technology improvement was switching from using a slide rule to a very early calculator for one of my exams. Taking them on a computer - what a concept!
It’s library & information science. Normally comps are taken once, during your final semester in the program. If, for some reason, you do not pass comps the first time you can take them one more time. The fail rate is low, AFAIK. They don’t want us to fail - and I don’t think they expect anyone to. From what I’ve heard, the biggest reason for people failing is the failure to actually answer the question (like getting off topic and rambling in the essay) or neglecting to completely answer the question - there are often multiple parts to be answered in the essay and all need to be answered.
Knowing that, I know I can do this. I’m going to do some brief reviewing of the ALA code of ethics today along with their resolution on the Patriot act - just a feeling that those will come up and I’ll feel better if I do it. But nothing stress inducing and no cramming. That just makes me nervous.
Lsura - I’m giving comps to my seniors this week as well. I’ll tell you one thing from the profs perspective on grading.
I do not care what method you choose to take the exam, computer or hand written. Show a good handle on the subject, one where you convince me you know the information. Use the facts and use them to your advantage to tell me a story or vignette showing you know what you are talking about. Convince me of that in type or terrible hand writing and I will give you’ll land in the high 80’s. The more facts and aptitude that show through your writing the higher you will score.
Take breaks. Short minute long breaks where you think about something completely different than what you are doing: A good one is to think about what you are doing following the exam.