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Author Topic: Threads/experiences on preparing for comps/generals/prelims  (Read 3332 times)
unspoiled
Non-Native English Speaker Quoting Ideagirl: "You don't have to buy into a given doctrine in order to join a particular profession."
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« on: June 06, 2008, 04:08:47 AM »

I am compiling a thread on old and new experiences on preparing for comps/generals/prelims.

This could be a starter link:

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,35373.0.html
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Quote from: relocated_southerner
A true teacher would mentor the student instead of trashing them to others.  

Quote from: john_proctor
Be a scholar.  Just be something else as well.

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Communism is DEAD.
imawakenow
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« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2008, 08:42:12 AM »

Here's another one titled "Comps: Study hints?":

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,44109.0.html

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histgradstudent
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« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2008, 11:42:21 AM »

Talk to more advanced students who have taken comps in similar areas. Don't pay attention too much to what everyone else is doing. Comps becomes an echo chamber of worried people and its sometimes not helpful. Find methods of working that make sense for you and don't get caught in the trap of thinking that because everyone else pretends to spend 15 hours in the library a day you need to too.


Here's another one titled "Comps: Study hints?":

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,44109.0.html


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hythloday
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« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2008, 11:05:36 PM »

See elsewhere...
« Last Edit: June 10, 2008, 11:06:30 PM by hythloday » Logged

"Knowledge is hassle." --Kierkegaard
unspoiled
Non-Native English Speaker Quoting Ideagirl: "You don't have to buy into a given doctrine in order to join a particular profession."
Senior member
****
Posts: 446


« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2008, 02:16:54 AM »

Here's another one:

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,32557.0.html

I really wish the search function would function better....
« Last Edit: June 11, 2008, 02:18:58 AM by unspoiled » Logged

Quote from: relocated_southerner
A true teacher would mentor the student instead of trashing them to others.  

Quote from: john_proctor
Be a scholar.  Just be something else as well.

Quote from: prytania3
Communism is DEAD.
larryc
Hu hatin'
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Eschew the hu.


WWW
« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2008, 01:24:19 PM »

Here was my tactic, and I hope that none of my old profs are reading this.

We did a week of written exams followed by a 2 hour oral exam from a four person committee. The oral exam was where the professors would pick out statements from your written exams and call you on them.

Somewhere in the first few pages of each of my written exams, I made one controversial historiographic claim--and offered no support for it at all. "The Puritans were X," I confidently wrote, even though there is a huge debate going on whether the Puritans were X or Y or even a bit Z. I purposely appeared uninformed in an area where I was actually very strong.

It worked like a charm. Each professor used most of her or his question time to grill me on these statements, and I was so very ready. In fact they had no time left to ask me about the thousand and one things I was supposed to know but did not. I breezed through.

About halfway through my advisor acquired a sly grin. He had figured out my little game and was vastly amused.
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sugaree
shakin' it since 2007 and only a
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« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2008, 01:58:31 PM »

Larry this is deliciously evil! (and totally would not have worked in my program where the bulk of our oral exam was devoted to defending the dissertation proposal).
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where's the bourbon?
unspoiled
Non-Native English Speaker Quoting Ideagirl: "You don't have to buy into a given doctrine in order to join a particular profession."
Senior member
****
Posts: 446


« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2008, 10:48:08 PM »

And here's the link to Larryc's formula on how to read a book in an hour:

http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,28552.msg387055.html#msg387055
« Last Edit: June 11, 2008, 10:48:50 PM by unspoiled » Logged

Quote from: relocated_southerner
A true teacher would mentor the student instead of trashing them to others.  

Quote from: john_proctor
Be a scholar.  Just be something else as well.

Quote from: prytania3
Communism is DEAD.
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