I just survived the comprehensive exams for my masters degree, and was inspired by Kate's post about her doctoral exams to write about study strategies that worked for me. Of course, every department does their exams differently, so some of these tips may be more applicable to your exams than others.
How my comprehensive exams worked:
My comprehensive exams were based on a 10 page reading list that was the same for every archaeology student who took comps. It represented the bare minimum of what we were expected to know, and we were encouraged to read additional books and articles tailored to our own geographic and research specialties. The archaeology faculty wrote our questions based on this list, our individual geographic focus, and a "topical" focus that we each had to choose (the options were theory, hunters & gatherers, intermediate societies, and complex societies). We did not get to see our questions ahead of time, so we had to be prepared for anything!
The exam itself took place over 2 days and was held in the department. Each day we were given 5 questions. We had 4 hours to answer 4 of those questions, and we were not allowed to have any outside resources- so it was largely a memorization game! Two days of writing were then followed by an hour long oral defense.
I started studying over the summer, and took the exam in November. I track the time I spend working on toggl.com and, all things said and done, I spent about 280 hours total studying for the exam. This sounds like a lot, but it was spread out over about 7 months. I may have overstudied a bit, but I erred on the side of doing too much preparation rather than too little. I ended up passing with distinction, so I must have done something right =)
How my comprehensive exams worked:
My comprehensive exams were based on a 10 page reading list that was the same for every archaeology student who took comps. It represented the bare minimum of what we were expected to know, and we were encouraged to read additional books and articles tailored to our own geographic and research specialties. The archaeology faculty wrote our questions based on this list, our individual geographic focus, and a "topical" focus that we each had to choose (the options were theory, hunters & gatherers, intermediate societies, and complex societies). We did not get to see our questions ahead of time, so we had to be prepared for anything!
The exam itself took place over 2 days and was held in the department. Each day we were given 5 questions. We had 4 hours to answer 4 of those questions, and we were not allowed to have any outside resources- so it was largely a memorization game! Two days of writing were then followed by an hour long oral defense.
I started studying over the summer, and took the exam in November. I track the time I spend working on toggl.com and, all things said and done, I spent about 280 hours total studying for the exam. This sounds like a lot, but it was spread out over about 7 months. I may have overstudied a bit, but I erred on the side of doing too much preparation rather than too little. I ended up passing with distinction, so I must have done something right =)
A typical evening of comps preparation...Ice cream, beer, and flash cards.
Tip #1: Self care trumps everything else.
It is easy to fall into the trap of devoting all your energies to reading and memorizing, and, when you're not doing either of those things, stressing about reading and memorizing. However, no matter how much you study for your exams, you won't do well if you're sick, sleep deprived, or depressed. Sometimes you just have to take a night off to eat ice cream and binge watch Netflix. Make time for friends, do things you love, and don't let yourself become a hermit. I think it's also important to do something fun right before the exam. I went to a concert the weekend before my comps and it was a great chance to blow off some steam. Did I lose study time to do so? Sure, but I figured that a dose of fun would probably do me more good than a few additional hours of studying would have!
Tip #2: Study with other people.
This one is largely dependent on how your departments exams work, but I was able to study with two other archaeologists who were taking their exams the same semester as me. We planned biweekly study sessions, usually around a theme (Theory Friday! Intermediate Societies Monday!) and tackled practice questions related to the readings together. We gradually built a elaborate Google Drive folder filled with articles, outlines, and notes. Perhaps the most valuable part was our document with answers to practice questions that we all contributed bits and pieces to. It was incredibly helpful to see someone else's take on a question. Additionally, the emotional support of being around people who are going through the same stress is invaluable. There was also a certain 'peer pressure' factor that kept us all motivated- nobody wanted to be the person who shows up to meetings without having done the readings, so that pressure kept us all accountable.
Tip #3: Be organized.
Find a system that you think will work for you and then stick with it. For each article, I wrote a summary and pasted it on a note card with the citation on the opposite side. For each book, I wrote an outline. I kept track of everything through color coded checkmarks on my reading list (purple when I read it, orange when I finished the summary/outline, and pink when the outline/notecard was printed and ready to go). I also used the app "Flashcard Hero" on my Macbook to help with memorizing citations, general concepts/definitions, and the one sentence summaries of each book or article (more on this in Tip #4). My degree of organization (Color coded pens and laminated flash cards? Yikes.) is probably overkill for a lot of people, but I'm an organizer by nature and it helped me feel in control.
It is easy to fall into the trap of devoting all your energies to reading and memorizing, and, when you're not doing either of those things, stressing about reading and memorizing. However, no matter how much you study for your exams, you won't do well if you're sick, sleep deprived, or depressed. Sometimes you just have to take a night off to eat ice cream and binge watch Netflix. Make time for friends, do things you love, and don't let yourself become a hermit. I think it's also important to do something fun right before the exam. I went to a concert the weekend before my comps and it was a great chance to blow off some steam. Did I lose study time to do so? Sure, but I figured that a dose of fun would probably do me more good than a few additional hours of studying would have!
Tip #2: Study with other people.
This one is largely dependent on how your departments exams work, but I was able to study with two other archaeologists who were taking their exams the same semester as me. We planned biweekly study sessions, usually around a theme (Theory Friday! Intermediate Societies Monday!) and tackled practice questions related to the readings together. We gradually built a elaborate Google Drive folder filled with articles, outlines, and notes. Perhaps the most valuable part was our document with answers to practice questions that we all contributed bits and pieces to. It was incredibly helpful to see someone else's take on a question. Additionally, the emotional support of being around people who are going through the same stress is invaluable. There was also a certain 'peer pressure' factor that kept us all motivated- nobody wanted to be the person who shows up to meetings without having done the readings, so that pressure kept us all accountable.
Tip #3: Be organized.
Find a system that you think will work for you and then stick with it. For each article, I wrote a summary and pasted it on a note card with the citation on the opposite side. For each book, I wrote an outline. I kept track of everything through color coded checkmarks on my reading list (purple when I read it, orange when I finished the summary/outline, and pink when the outline/notecard was printed and ready to go). I also used the app "Flashcard Hero" on my Macbook to help with memorizing citations, general concepts/definitions, and the one sentence summaries of each book or article (more on this in Tip #4). My degree of organization (Color coded pens and laminated flash cards? Yikes.) is probably overkill for a lot of people, but I'm an organizer by nature and it helped me feel in control.
My organization system- reading list, flash cards, and outlines galore.
Tip #4: Don't forget the big picture.
It is very easy to get bogged down in the details and forget to focus on what the point of each reading is. In order to make the huge quantity of information seem a little more manageable, I forced myself to distill each reading into a single sentence. Then, I put those sentences on flashcards with the author and year. This helped me memorize both the citations themselves as well as the major takeaway from each author. Then, when I was writing the exam, it was fairly easy to remember the citation, write down the single sentence 'Big Idea' (which helped to jog my memory about further details of the article), and then expand on it from there. Breaking each article down into its most simple components also helped me think about how I could actually use each article in my essays. I went into the exam with a fairly good sense of "if asked about topic X, I can use articles A, B, and C to pull examples from."
Tip #5: Show your committee that you want to do well.
One great piece of advice that I received was to show your committee that you're working hard and want to do well. This means going to talk to them, asking questions, and even showing them your practice essays if they're willing to give you some feedback. This will obviously help you study, but it will also show them that you're committed to passing your exams. Technically, their impression of the effort you're putting in shouldn't matter, but much of the time it does. Put in face time so that they know you're taking your exams seriously and want to succeed.
Tip #6: Don't forget about physical comfort.
When the time comes for the exam itself, don't forget about your own comfort. Think about the environment you'll be in and plan ahead. You won't be concentrating at full capacity if you're too hot, too cold, hungry, etc. If you're allowed to, bring snacks, water, and coffee. You might be too nervous to consume anything, but its good to have them as an option. I came prepared with coffee, water, and a granola bar. I also brought lots of layers- I tend to get cold when I'm nervous, and I knew that shivering through the exam wouldn't help me much. There are a few schools of thought on clothing. On one hand, cozy is king. If your oldest sweats and t-shirt make you feel safe and comfortable, then by all means, go for it. On the other hand, there is the tried and true "dress for success" approach. If waking up, doing your makeup, and putting on a nice, professional outfit makes you feel confident and capable, then that might be a good approach. One other tip a fellow graduate student gave me was to make sure you don't sit with your back to a window because the glare on your screen might distract you. There are a lot of comfort factors to think about, and everything you anticipate and prepare for ahead of time can only help you!
Tip #7: Prepare yourself mentally for circumstances outside your control.
With something as high stakes as comprehensive exams, its easy for one little thing to throw you off your game. With a little luck everything will go smoothly, but prepare yourself mentally for a few bumps in the road. For example, on the first day of the exams, they set us up at our computers and, minutes before we were set to begin, I booted mine up only to see a blue screen and the message "Now Installing Update 1 of 67." This let to a hurried computer swap right at the start of my exam. The second day, someones car alarm went of outside the building. For two hours. I shouldn't have let it throw me off my game, but it absolutely did. Neither the computer issue nor the car alarm were disastrous, but they did each throw off the calm, composed attitude I was trying to maintain. If you prepare yourself for the possibility of little issues like these ahead of time, you will be better able to keep your focus and move past it.
Tip #8: Keep it together.
It's easy to let the stress take over and go into breakdown mode. Fight that temptation. Panicking doesn't accomplish anything. Also realize that- for better or for worse- at some point, the writing is on the wall and you probably won't be able to do much to change things. What I mean is that the early months of studying are what really matters. One week before the exam, your last minute cramming is probably not going to dramatically change the outcome. I thought for sure that I would be incredibly nervous the weekend before my exams, but I was calm. Almost too calm, actually- I wound up stressing about the fact that I was so calm rather than stressing about the exam itself! At that point, I simply realized that there was no point in working myself up. I had been studying for months, and I knew that any last minute studying I did the Sunday night before my Monday morning exam was almost certainly not going to be the make or break factor that decided whether or not I passed. Keep calm, take care of your mental health, and recognize that excessive stress or anxiety is counter productive.
Tip #9: Practice makes perfect.
For my exams, I knew I'd have four hours each day to write. So, a few weeks before the exam, I picked some practice questions, sat down at my desk, and set a timer for four hours. This helped me familiarize myself with what that four hours would feel like- how quickly it'd go by, how I'd have to balance my time between getting my thoughts together, writing, and editing, and how I'd have to be sure to strategically distribute my time between the questions. Anything you can do to familiarize yourself with the exam procedure will make the day-of feel a lot less scary.
Tip #10: Remember why you're doing this.
In a lot of ways, comps are just another hoop to jump through to get your degree. I've also heard them described as "academic hazing." While it's tempting to dismiss them as just another motion that you've got to go through in the grad school process, don't forget that this is an opportunity to get to know your disciplines literature really well. Sure, comps are tough. I complained and vented a lot throughout the process, but, at the end of the day, I am really excited about everything that I learned. I feel so much more knowledgable about archaeology than I did before, and I had a lot of really amazing epiphany moments where things that I had only sort of understood before finally clicked.
Hope these tips helped, and GOOD LUCK if you're preparing to take an important exam! I'd also love to add tips from other folks to this post, so if you have a good one tweet it to me @archaeoanna!
It is very easy to get bogged down in the details and forget to focus on what the point of each reading is. In order to make the huge quantity of information seem a little more manageable, I forced myself to distill each reading into a single sentence. Then, I put those sentences on flashcards with the author and year. This helped me memorize both the citations themselves as well as the major takeaway from each author. Then, when I was writing the exam, it was fairly easy to remember the citation, write down the single sentence 'Big Idea' (which helped to jog my memory about further details of the article), and then expand on it from there. Breaking each article down into its most simple components also helped me think about how I could actually use each article in my essays. I went into the exam with a fairly good sense of "if asked about topic X, I can use articles A, B, and C to pull examples from."
Tip #5: Show your committee that you want to do well.
One great piece of advice that I received was to show your committee that you're working hard and want to do well. This means going to talk to them, asking questions, and even showing them your practice essays if they're willing to give you some feedback. This will obviously help you study, but it will also show them that you're committed to passing your exams. Technically, their impression of the effort you're putting in shouldn't matter, but much of the time it does. Put in face time so that they know you're taking your exams seriously and want to succeed.
Tip #6: Don't forget about physical comfort.
When the time comes for the exam itself, don't forget about your own comfort. Think about the environment you'll be in and plan ahead. You won't be concentrating at full capacity if you're too hot, too cold, hungry, etc. If you're allowed to, bring snacks, water, and coffee. You might be too nervous to consume anything, but its good to have them as an option. I came prepared with coffee, water, and a granola bar. I also brought lots of layers- I tend to get cold when I'm nervous, and I knew that shivering through the exam wouldn't help me much. There are a few schools of thought on clothing. On one hand, cozy is king. If your oldest sweats and t-shirt make you feel safe and comfortable, then by all means, go for it. On the other hand, there is the tried and true "dress for success" approach. If waking up, doing your makeup, and putting on a nice, professional outfit makes you feel confident and capable, then that might be a good approach. One other tip a fellow graduate student gave me was to make sure you don't sit with your back to a window because the glare on your screen might distract you. There are a lot of comfort factors to think about, and everything you anticipate and prepare for ahead of time can only help you!
Tip #7: Prepare yourself mentally for circumstances outside your control.
With something as high stakes as comprehensive exams, its easy for one little thing to throw you off your game. With a little luck everything will go smoothly, but prepare yourself mentally for a few bumps in the road. For example, on the first day of the exams, they set us up at our computers and, minutes before we were set to begin, I booted mine up only to see a blue screen and the message "Now Installing Update 1 of 67." This let to a hurried computer swap right at the start of my exam. The second day, someones car alarm went of outside the building. For two hours. I shouldn't have let it throw me off my game, but it absolutely did. Neither the computer issue nor the car alarm were disastrous, but they did each throw off the calm, composed attitude I was trying to maintain. If you prepare yourself for the possibility of little issues like these ahead of time, you will be better able to keep your focus and move past it.
Tip #8: Keep it together.
It's easy to let the stress take over and go into breakdown mode. Fight that temptation. Panicking doesn't accomplish anything. Also realize that- for better or for worse- at some point, the writing is on the wall and you probably won't be able to do much to change things. What I mean is that the early months of studying are what really matters. One week before the exam, your last minute cramming is probably not going to dramatically change the outcome. I thought for sure that I would be incredibly nervous the weekend before my exams, but I was calm. Almost too calm, actually- I wound up stressing about the fact that I was so calm rather than stressing about the exam itself! At that point, I simply realized that there was no point in working myself up. I had been studying for months, and I knew that any last minute studying I did the Sunday night before my Monday morning exam was almost certainly not going to be the make or break factor that decided whether or not I passed. Keep calm, take care of your mental health, and recognize that excessive stress or anxiety is counter productive.
Tip #9: Practice makes perfect.
For my exams, I knew I'd have four hours each day to write. So, a few weeks before the exam, I picked some practice questions, sat down at my desk, and set a timer for four hours. This helped me familiarize myself with what that four hours would feel like- how quickly it'd go by, how I'd have to balance my time between getting my thoughts together, writing, and editing, and how I'd have to be sure to strategically distribute my time between the questions. Anything you can do to familiarize yourself with the exam procedure will make the day-of feel a lot less scary.
Tip #10: Remember why you're doing this.
In a lot of ways, comps are just another hoop to jump through to get your degree. I've also heard them described as "academic hazing." While it's tempting to dismiss them as just another motion that you've got to go through in the grad school process, don't forget that this is an opportunity to get to know your disciplines literature really well. Sure, comps are tough. I complained and vented a lot throughout the process, but, at the end of the day, I am really excited about everything that I learned. I feel so much more knowledgable about archaeology than I did before, and I had a lot of really amazing epiphany moments where things that I had only sort of understood before finally clicked.
Hope these tips helped, and GOOD LUCK if you're preparing to take an important exam! I'd also love to add tips from other folks to this post, so if you have a good one tweet it to me @archaeoanna!
