lessons of a comprehensive exam
There are a few realizations that surfaced related to the hectic and stringent review schedule for the comps.
First of all, I have two (yay!) loyal readers which I found out when they suddenly clamored for blog updates as an effect of so-so postings during stolen times. I am honored!!!!! (If I had emoticons here you will see a smiley going loco).
Second, do not fear if you did not understand anything during regular lectures. You will be forced to understand them at the right time...in this case, the comps. I never thought I would understand the different statistical analysis for every data...nominal, ordinal and continuous data requires different statistical analysis, then you have to determine if the test is for relationships or associations, is it within a group, between two groups, or 3 or more groups. Oh no it doesn't end there......What if your sample is less than 30? What if there are "0" values? And what about multivariate analysis? All these for ten points on a 100 point grading criteria. Whew! Don't let me tell you about the rest. A crying, whining, hysterical smiley here please.
Third, starbucks and library are now synonymous terms as far as I'm concerned. I probably spent 6 hours a day, 3-4 times a week, for 6 whole weeks amidst the wonderful, wonderful smell of coffee and the noisy process of creating my precious caramel machiato and tofee nut latte. That's approximately 144 hours! My body is now composed of 10% water, 40% blood and 50% coffee. I started with a grande caramel machiato and progressed to a grande caramel machiato and a venti toffee nut latte, most especially in the past 3 days. Let's not even go to economics! *new favorite - espresso brownie* and I dare ask why I'm still awake at 6 in the morning!
Fourth, when you go to China Sea (or any chinese buffet for that matter), you can leave stuffed and fully satisfied.....the shrimp, oh the shrimp! But if you order a to go, you can stuff the styrofoam box with all the talent you can muster and you can ensure a daily meal for at least 3 days. the last time we went there, I made sure to carefully segregate each dish so that I can have a daily variety. $8.99 for 3 days, not bad eh? Now, this is a result of all the additional coffee expenses, you have to need to implement budget cuts!!!!!!
Fifth, even if I don't do my laundry for 3 weeks, I'll still have something to wear. And if I don't fold my laundry for 6 weeks, there's going to be piles of clothes at every imaginable area of my room. That meant sleeping in the couch for the past 2 nights.
Sixth, a life cycle of sleep, starbucks, takeout and butt glued to the chair will add pounds.......pounds! Because even an hour spent in the gym feels like stolen time, and all you can do while studying whether at starbucks or at home is sit.
So, what now? here's the deal. For the first 2 weeks, I can concentrate on the other tasks at hand such as folding my laundry, putting away my review materials (for forever I hope), sort out all the things that I did not have time to deal with during the 6 weeks (read:clean my room, do the laundry, wash the dishes, clean the kitchen, rearrange the storage room, etc), and of course....my favorite most exciting anticipated activity of all.....Hang christmas decor! (I miss my Christmas tree, I miss going to Landmark day after day after day trying to decide on my new motif, whether to replicate their decor or compose my own......I'm gonna cry.....sob....).
What happens after two weeks will have to depend upon a letter.........the letter that will congratulate me for passing the comps....or ask me to come in for an oral defense. Now, of course I can say that I can deal with the orals because I won't have the time constraint as with the comps. But I really don't want to do orals anymore. My stress level is still very high and there's no fun in having to deal with that again. But we'll see.
For now, I'm just glad it's over. It's time to relax.
First of all, I have two (yay!) loyal readers which I found out when they suddenly clamored for blog updates as an effect of so-so postings during stolen times. I am honored!!!!! (If I had emoticons here you will see a smiley going loco).
Second, do not fear if you did not understand anything during regular lectures. You will be forced to understand them at the right time...in this case, the comps. I never thought I would understand the different statistical analysis for every data...nominal, ordinal and continuous data requires different statistical analysis, then you have to determine if the test is for relationships or associations, is it within a group, between two groups, or 3 or more groups. Oh no it doesn't end there......What if your sample is less than 30? What if there are "0" values? And what about multivariate analysis? All these for ten points on a 100 point grading criteria. Whew! Don't let me tell you about the rest. A crying, whining, hysterical smiley here please.
Third, starbucks and library are now synonymous terms as far as I'm concerned. I probably spent 6 hours a day, 3-4 times a week, for 6 whole weeks amidst the wonderful, wonderful smell of coffee and the noisy process of creating my precious caramel machiato and tofee nut latte. That's approximately 144 hours! My body is now composed of 10% water, 40% blood and 50% coffee. I started with a grande caramel machiato and progressed to a grande caramel machiato and a venti toffee nut latte, most especially in the past 3 days. Let's not even go to economics! *new favorite - espresso brownie* and I dare ask why I'm still awake at 6 in the morning!
Fourth, when you go to China Sea (or any chinese buffet for that matter), you can leave stuffed and fully satisfied.....the shrimp, oh the shrimp! But if you order a to go, you can stuff the styrofoam box with all the talent you can muster and you can ensure a daily meal for at least 3 days. the last time we went there, I made sure to carefully segregate each dish so that I can have a daily variety. $8.99 for 3 days, not bad eh? Now, this is a result of all the additional coffee expenses, you have to need to implement budget cuts!!!!!!
Fifth, even if I don't do my laundry for 3 weeks, I'll still have something to wear. And if I don't fold my laundry for 6 weeks, there's going to be piles of clothes at every imaginable area of my room. That meant sleeping in the couch for the past 2 nights.
Sixth, a life cycle of sleep, starbucks, takeout and butt glued to the chair will add pounds.......pounds! Because even an hour spent in the gym feels like stolen time, and all you can do while studying whether at starbucks or at home is sit.
So, what now? here's the deal. For the first 2 weeks, I can concentrate on the other tasks at hand such as folding my laundry, putting away my review materials (for forever I hope), sort out all the things that I did not have time to deal with during the 6 weeks (read:clean my room, do the laundry, wash the dishes, clean the kitchen, rearrange the storage room, etc), and of course....my favorite most exciting anticipated activity of all.....Hang christmas decor! (I miss my Christmas tree, I miss going to Landmark day after day after day trying to decide on my new motif, whether to replicate their decor or compose my own......I'm gonna cry.....sob....).
What happens after two weeks will have to depend upon a letter.........the letter that will congratulate me for passing the comps....or ask me to come in for an oral defense. Now, of course I can say that I can deal with the orals because I won't have the time constraint as with the comps. But I really don't want to do orals anymore. My stress level is still very high and there's no fun in having to deal with that again. But we'll see.
For now, I'm just glad it's over. It's time to relax.
posted by cutiewitch at 12:39 PM
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