Qualifying exam prep

[tenuredstudent]

I'm not sure if this is the spot for this, but it's worth a shot. I hope it can also serve as a view of 'what's to come' as younger academics start looking into graduate programs and careers.

I've scheduled my qualifying exams for this fall, and I'm starting to study. I'm a little lost as to where to start and how to stay organized. I've talked with my committee and have about 15 texts to 'be familiar with' in addition to my dissertation. What I'm looking for is advise on how to tackle this? i.e. start with the Campbell & Reece then work into the higher texts, or vice versa? what's a realistic amount of material to get through a week? that sort of thing. So far, I've used clove-oil to flush out the other grad-students in the same boat to form a study group and I have a list of expectations. I'm thinking of 3 binders for notes - General Bio, Ecology, and Statistics (I'm a quantitative ecologist modeling benthic communities). help! <polychaete smilie>

THANK YOU!!!

For those who are looking at academic careers, here is what I'm talking about (others can correct or adjust if needed):

In a Ph.D. program, there are generally a handful of requirements: course work, dissertation, qualifying exams. The exams are in two parts, written and oral, they can cover whatever your committee deems reasonable. It centers around your Dissertation and the courses you have taken (in theory you should have completed all your course work first). So, my work is in community ecology and modeling... The majority of my comps should be ecology questions and statistics. Master programs generally have only the oral exams and is focused more on their thesis.
-Take home message, keep your upper-level course notes well organized!!!

[Izzy]

Good luck!! Where I am in a PhD program, we have a 1st year "departmental" exam on our coursework (for me it was 90 minutes and oral, but for others its written and oral, some its just written, etc.), then a qualifying exam in our 2nd-4th year (depending on you and your research, etc) that is based on your thesis proposal and your ability to do good science. Then finally your thesis defense. So it sounds like your qualifier is my departmental and qualifier rolled into one.

I'm flying high because I just passed my departmental!! My best tool was that I made flash cards of any potential questions stemming from every one of my classes. Thus, I ended up with a bunch of piles of flash cards. Then I could hand them off to people and have them ask me things. And I could just quiz myself, as well. That was really helpful for me, anyway.

Good luck!