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A high-level summary:
- Plan ahead. e.g., make a schedule, and keep track of your progress.
- Know thyself! Identify your strength and weakness, and develop a strategy.
- Balance group study time with individual study time.
- Take practise exams seriously (see John's and Mareena's responses).
- Take advantage of the senior grad students (esp. the ones in your group!) and ask questions.
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Mareena
I did study with people and I know it was one of the main reasons I passed. Personally, I like smaller groups (at most 4) where the people have a mutual respect and are equally committed to the goal of passing. It takes these things to not go off on each other while in this high stress situation. Also, every one in the group needs to bring their A game. Its not productive if everyone waits until the day of the study session to review and identify holes. Everyone needs to come to the study session with their questions already identified and an outline of the session needs to be nailed down. There's a lot of temptation to stop early or clown around, but no one really has time for that. An outline helps everyone stick to the script and come prepared.
Lulu
During fall semester Fall: a big group meets every week to go through concepts. A schedule was made to cover all the major topics, and each person took one topic to prepare notes and lead the discussion on that day. We didn't have much in-depth discussion happening in the fall as everyone was busy, though it was a good refresher on the materialsmaterial.
During IAP weekday mornings I studied with : a small group to go over concepts and answer each other's questions on practise problems (again we had an agenda for what we cover each day).
Weekend IAP weekend mornings we had : a big group study where we checked answers for past quals & exams. All
IAP afternoons and nights were reserved for : going through notes & practising myself.
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Another thing I don't think I expected was how emotionally draining studying for the qual is. Know yourself and make sure you work in a scheduled time to recharge. It has to be worked into the schedule or else it wont happen. Whether its working out, going on a date with your hunny, or reading a chapter in a book for leisure, you've got to recharge. This is a marathon of studying, not a sprint (okay, maybe for some people it was a sprint, but definitely not for me. I worked my butt off studying!) Do the things you need to do to keep your endurance up and your mind at peace. It can be done.
Lulu
4. Things that did not work for you?
Becky
wish I started a few days or a week earlier to leave more room for down time, especially because my oral was early and I would have like to be able to rest my brain a bit more, so about 5 weeks before really get going
John
I think the main thing was not taking advantage of the practice tests.
In terms of taking the test, the thing that doesn't work is to panic. You will miss some questions. You will probably see something on 101 that you have never heard of before in your life. Don't worry about it. Like I said earlier, if you can write a bit about the concept. Maybe make a simplifying assumption. If you can't even do those things (101) just cut your losses and move on. 211 is going to be a LONG test, use the extra time you have saved to really knock that one out of the park, etc. "Don't panic" is a pretty cliche piece of advice, but it is surprising how easy it is to panic if you don't take advantage of the practice tests.
Theories vs. practise problems: for 101 and neutronics (106, 211) going through the theories (definitions, derivations, equations, concepts etc) worths your time, as you will soon find out that the available problems (quals, past midterms and finals) are very similar, and if you don't have your theories all figured out, rushing into practise problems is just a waste of time and a waste of resources (I highly recommend saving the problems to when you are ready to take them seriously without the help of notes or books so you get a somewhat realistic assessment of where you are). On the other hand I felt like for 22.312 practising problems are a lot more helpful than spending too much time on going through the theories.
Summaries: I enjoyed summarizing/condensing material as I go. It was easy to do with Latex notes as I just start a new section at the end of a chapter and start copying and pasting. It felt great every time I did a round of editing of my notes and added in more material and explanation!
Realistic practise: John and Mareena have already stressed the importance of practise exams. I practised going 4-6 hours straight using 312 past exams (there were a ton of 312 past problems), so on the exam day going 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon were not physically or mentally exhausting.
Be positive: make qual prep into a positive experience by staying organized and having a support group. Use whatever tricks you need to make yourself happy! I tried printing out a schedule with check boxes, and checking items off with a giant red marker, and it seemed to help me stay motivated. Also don't forget that the reason you are doing this in the first place is to learn stuff!
4. Things that did not work for you?
Becky
wish I started a few days or a week earlier to leave more room for down time, especially because my oral was early and I would have like to be able to rest my brain a bit more, so about 5 weeks before really get going
John
I think the main thing was not taking advantage of the practice tests.
In terms of taking the test, the thing that doesn't work is to panic. You will miss some questions. You will probably see something on 101 that you have never heard of before in your life. Don't worry about it. Like I said earlier, if you can write a bit about the concept. Maybe make a simplifying assumption. If you can't even do those things (101) just cut your losses and move on. 211 is going to be a LONG test, use the extra time you have saved to really knock that one out of the park, etc. "Don't panic" is a pretty cliche piece of advice, but it is surprising how easy it is to panic if you don't take advantage of the practice tests.
Mareena
Working in large groups. I found those setting were less focused and tended to break into smaller subgroups anyway. Four max was my limit.
Lulu
Oral exam: I spent way too much time during the fall semester preparing for the oral portion. I definitely enjoyed all the material I learnt and the meaning discussion I had, though I feel like most of them did not directly contribute to my oral exam. Check out old oral exams to see for yourself.
312: I spent a good amount of time going through theories and struggled with the-seemingly-countless-number-of-equations. As soon as I started to go through practise problems, it turned out there were really a couple types of problems, and for each type you use a very small subset of the equations learnt in class. Mareena
Working in large groups. I found those setting were less focused and tended to break into smaller subgroups anyway. Four max was my limit.
5. Any other feedback?
I saved Dave’s response to this section -- enjoy! -- Lulu
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