In Graduate School, when a student has finished his/her coursework, he/she must go through the comprehensive examinations. The comprehensive examinations are meant to be a synthesis of what a graduate student has learned in his/her coursework, so it may seem daunting. However, preparing for your comprehensive exams, dear graduate students, is just like preparing for a battle. Here’s how to prepare and strategize for your comps, so even if you are putting everything on the line, you will be able to have the feeling of sweet victory in the end.
Get Your Reading List ASAP
The first thing you need to do to prepare for your comps is to get your reading list. These lists can contain 10-17 full-length books, so you need to get your list as soon as you can, to give yourself enough time to read. In my case, I was lucky that some of the texts in my Philippine History reading list ended up on my historiography reading list. As a result, I only had to read and understand these overlapping texts once.
Talk About Your Readings
Post your thoughts about your readings online which you already do apparently. Any debates they may start may even help you
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In order to internalize your readings, feel free to post about them on any platform, be it Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or even WordPress. Try to open a discussion with your friends about what you read. Also, you can talk about your books with your fellow graduate students. Just be sure that you are opening a conversation with them, and be open to new ideas.
For Longer Works, Use Book Reviews
Look at reviews for readings that may be too long so that you can just skim afterwards
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Some works you may be reading may have 400 pages or more. So, what you can do is search for book reviews since they present how the reviewers understood the original text. Also, some works in your reading list may be commentaries or reviews of other texts, so using book reviews will familiarize you with these other works.
Find a Quiet Place and Time
When studying for comprehensive exams, look for a quiet place and time to read your books. This is to ensure your maximum concentration as you read. In my case, I would study my readings in the Filipiniana section of the Old Rizal Library, since I am sure the books I need are always available there. This is because in the Filipiniana section, all books can only be used on the premises. With regards to time, I would normally start studying from 7:30-8AM, and end at around 9:30, since the Filipiniana section opens at 7:30, and thus, it is less crowded. However, you can use any time you are comfortable with, just make sure you don’t get distracted.
Have Fun and Enjoy
Finally, the most important thing you need to remember in your comprehensive exam preparations is to have fun and enjoy. Sure you may have a lot of readings, but remember that these readings are in your field. Since you signed up to take graduate studies, you are sure that you will be passionate about what you are studying about. However, if you end up feeling burnt out by your studying, remember why you decided to go for graduate studies in the first place, and let it motivate you.
Also, don’t worry too much about the test, since as Jesus would say, “Tomorrow will take care of itself.” Prepare for today, and everything else will follow.