{"id":6660,"date":"2006-11-26T22:15:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-26T22:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/26\/again-with-the\/"},"modified":"2006-11-26T22:15:00","modified_gmt":"2006-11-26T22:15:00","slug":"again-with-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/26\/again-with-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Again with the Exams"},"content":{"rendered":"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>

Again, I’m engrossed in exam preparations. The latest phase consists of
\nrevolving shifts, a rotary of confidence and dread: waves of self-assured
\nanticipation (I’ll answer this<\/i> way…), shudders of doubt (What if I
\nforget<\/i>, have a lousy day, etc.). I’m not quite all frazzled and manic with
\nthe process, but because it matters to me that I do well, because I want to
\nwrite answers that my committee judges intelligible and even interesting, it’s
\nnot as simple as just shrugging off the anxiety. And while I can’t say
\nthat I’ve been here before, been toe to toe with PhD qualifying exams, that is,
\nit does help to compare the stress of preparation to a certain nervousness I
\nfelt before basketball games many years ago. When I played poorly during
\nthose early years (as a freshman and sophomore), when I underachieved, Coach E.
\nsaid I was "pressing": giving in to the compulsion to do too much and therefore
\nperform all of it at a low level. The basketball solution boiled down to a
\nsimple principle (whose alternative–fitness!–was running sprints until
\ncollapse): do just three things well: box out, defend, go to the glass
\n(different days, different trios: no turnovers, make FTs, bruise the post scorer
\nwithout fouling). Keeping to just three simpler focal-metrics, the extras fell
\ninto place, usually just accumulating in stride<\/i>, without deliberate
\neffort. For qualifying exams, the correlation to pressing is jamming, working
\ninto an unproductive (st)illness (er…stylessness<\/i>). Yet, of course,
\nunderstanding that whatever induces anxiety (whether pressing or jamming) can
\nbest be resolved by shifting methods (have a plan\/outline, keep it simple, the
\nclock is an ally) certainly helps. Less than two weeks out, this is where I’m at
\nas I try to forge a work-path between making too much of exams and making too
\nlittle of them.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Rel: I woke up this morning with a low-on-caffeine headache and one workable
\nclaim in mind for one of the major exam questions (like
\nK.’s
\nsleep-writing<\/a> or somnography<\/i>). Not a bad trade-off, all in all.
\nI noted the claim, adding it to the outline I’m tacking together and made a pot
\nof coffee. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u23f3 Approximate reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> mins<\/span><\/span>Again, I’m engrossed in exam preparations. The latest phase consists of revolving shifts, a rotary of confidence and dread: waves of self-assured anticipation (I’ll answer this way…), shudders of doubt (What if I forget, have a lousy day, etc.). I’m not quite all frazzled and manic with the process, but because it matters to me…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[171],"tags":[567,1973],"class_list":["post-6660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exammunition","tag-exams","tag-grad-school"],"yoast_head":"\nAgain with the Exams - Earth Wide Moth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/26\/again-with-the\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Again with the Exams - Earth Wide Moth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: 2 minsAgain, I’m engrossed in exam preparations. 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Yo.! I officially submitted my qualifying exam proposal today. It's a formality in the sense that I've been reading for several weeks, but a formality, nonetheless, that moves me one small step closer to sitting for them in ten weeks (or quite possibly sixteen weeks).","rel":"","context":"In "Qualifying Exams"","block_context":{"text":"Qualifying Exams","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/exammunition\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ccr.syr.edu\/~dmueller\/vitae\/dmueller2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6654,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/17\/numbered\/","url_meta":{"origin":6660,"position":1},"title":"Numbered","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"November 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I think I've mentioned before that the exam-prep process has inspired in me fits of number crunching in addition to the necessary obsessions with lists. For several weeks, I've been checking off each item read, adding up the remainders, subtracting them against the days left until. Qualifying exams, whatever else\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Qualifying Exams"","block_context":{"text":"Qualifying Exams","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/exammunition\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6589,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/07\/19\/examinutiae\/","url_meta":{"origin":6660,"position":2},"title":"Examinutiae","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"July 19, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I count 110 days until I'm taking qualifying exams. Over the past 24 days, I have read and annotated 19 units--books and articles combined. I'm not making any distinction between books and articles for now, even though I know that I need an hour for an article and ~6 for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Qualifying Exams"","block_context":{"text":"Qualifying Exams","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/exammunition\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/img\/examcount.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6605,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/08\/24\/examinutiae-ii\/","url_meta":{"origin":6660,"position":3},"title":"Examinutiae II","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"August 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Days remaining if I start my three-week qualifying exam period on Nov. 22: 91. Days remaining if I start my three-week qualifying exam period on Jan. 15: 145. Number of pieces in the three exam lists: 169 Number left to read: 70 (44 books, 26 articles) Number left to annotate:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Qualifying Exams"","block_context":{"text":"Qualifying Exams","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/exammunition\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6690,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/02\/01\/qualifeeling-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":6660,"position":4},"title":"Pass","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"February 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A mighty smiley hi and hello to you, February. I successfully defended my comprehensive exams this morning, gathering around with my committee for an hour-and-a-half as we wound our way through the exam answers and associated quandaries. About those associated quandaries: holy smokes. I started to wonder if the climate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Qualifying Exams"","block_context":{"text":"Qualifying Exams","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/exammunition\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6647,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/11\/07\/seven-six-five\/","url_meta":{"origin":6660,"position":5},"title":"Seven Six Five","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"November 7, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Just one month--thirty days--now until I sit for qualifying exams. Krista explained her program's exam procedures in an entry today, and I was reminded I'm due for a report on exam-prep progress. Every tiny exam self-report adds pep to my rally. I've met or corresponded by email with all of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Qualifying Exams"","block_context":{"text":"Qualifying Exams","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/exammunition\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6660\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}