So, after God knows how long I really and for true WILL be taking my major qualifying exams this Thursday (written) and the following Friday (oral-- inquisitional Jedi-mind-trick style). One of my committee is one of the full historiography and methodology with dates and citations types, another is a “big-picture” too-clever-synthetic-analysis type, and the third is a total wild card. Long grueling essays followed by pointed questions. Wish me luck. My best wishes to other out there in similar situations. . .
goodluck capybara
Wow - best of luck. I know I’m already dreading mine and they’re still about 18 months away.
You can do it. I doubt they want you to fail, really.
Good luck!
(Eight days apart? Damn, that’s got to be hard – I’m in the middle of four weeks of no-man’s-land between the writtens and the orals. Oh well, at least you get to get it over quickly, before you start forgetting things.)
I’m still undergrad, and I am terrified of the comprehensive that I know i’ll have to take as a grad student! Especially the orals - I just can’t think well on my feet - I need to write things out and work through stuff.
Oh well, thats a few years from now. Assuming I survive this semester!
Good luck!
I’m in my first semester of graduate school and exams make me nervous already…
Good luck to alls y’all!
Good luck, capybara. For unknown reasons my department makes us start taking our comps (there are 4 separate exams: translation and history of literature in Latin and Greek) while we’re still taking classes, which makes studying a disaster. Theoretically it’s supposed to get us all through faster, but I doubt it actually has that effect. I have to take my first two at the end of this coming semester and I’m already a nervous wreck. TA, take three classes and study for two exams: where am I supposed to find the time?
Good luck! I’m currently in the application process for grad school - I can’t wait to get back to school!
(I’m sooo glad the MA program I’m most interested in doesn’t have a qualifying exam - just a thesis. I’m a terrible test-taker.)
Been there and done that. Mine was only a Master’s Oral and it was still nerve wracking. Best of luck from a fellow Santa Barbarian.
Haj