A number of graduate students who took the qual Feb 1 2013 agreed to share their experience and tips for preparing for the exams.
Some key pointsA high-level summary:
- Plan ahead.
- Know thyself! Identify your strength and weakness, and develop a strategy.
- Balance group study time with individual study time.
- Take advantage of the senior grad students (esp. the ones in your group!) and ask questions.
...
1. How long did you study for? For instance, how early did you start, and how intense was the studying. Would you recommend more studying, less studying?
Lulu
Very light study over the summer, weekly meeting with group + listened to 101 and 312 for refresh during fall, then actual studying during January (see Mareena's response).
Pun
0-1 month before quals around 8-12 hours a day; 1-6 month before quals around 10 hours a week average
...