No Rest For the Weary
Despite a nagging sense of guilt about not doing a post-comp post, the amount of work I'm currently faced with and having to deal with some things that don't go on blogs has prevented this post. My apologies!
So, the comp: two questions and one text analysis in 4 hours.
I wrote 21 pages (one-sided, double-spaced): 2 hours on the history of a document that no one has ever seen, 1 hour on the editing of the G-bombs, and 1 hour on the text analysis. My hand really hurt!
I was a bit worried about this comp because I ran out of time and wasn't able to complete the text analysis. After talking with a few profs, however, I think that I'll still pass this comp and simply be required to complete the analysis at the oral.
Which brings me to the oral: Over the past year and a half, I've filled an entire bookcase with books and articles and notes on my four areas of specialty. And in a single hour, I will be required to synthesize it all to demonstrate to my supervising committee that I'm competent to teach in these areas.
While I have actually learned all of this stuff at some point, some of it is pretty unfamiliar to me now. So, I'm digging up all of my comp stuff and currently reacquainting myself with (read: relearning!) the material.
Have I mentionned that my brain hurts?
4 comments:
I'm having a great deal of trouble deciding whether to do my oral in May or in Sept. I'm not looking forward to it. For my dept, I heard that once you pass the prelim oral and become ABD, it's all downhill from there.
Can't really help you there.
On the one hand, you might want a summer that doesn't have the oral hanging over your head. On the other hand, you might want the time to prepare thoroughly.
And what do you mean "all downhill from there"?! I thought that things got better once you had earned the privilege of working on your own research.
You mean it isn't true? *sob*
Downhill as in "no longer an uphill climb."
Ahhh...now I understand.
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