PhD Comprehensive Written Exam: Day #2

Day #2: PhD Comprehensive Written Exam: Part Two: The Minor.

Day 2 – April 2, 2016
Minor (4 hours)
Start – 8 a.m.
Lunch 12noon – 1 p.m. (Subway)

Today’s Minor exam (which for me is Security Studies) was four hours long. So not as long as yesterday, but as I got less sleep last night, having to get up and be there at 8am was tough and I did feel like I was going to fall asleep a few times during the exam.

The department is very official in its exam taking. Once everyone was seated and we were ready to being (we had 6 exam takers today), you are handed a sealed envelope with your name on it and inside this sealed envelop are your questions and your code name (they try a double blind system for the exams and grading them, but with only 5 or 6 test takers there is no way they can not know whose exam they are reading). If you break the seal, its considered an official try. You are allowed two tries to pass the exam. Yesterday everyone was very quiet, but today the guys (all the other exam takers were male) seemed very fidgety. They seemed to keep getting up and moving around a bit (there was an issue with one exam and one of the computers), but maybe it just seemed that way as I had earplugs in to avoid the noise and was not paying that much attention (plus maybe it was just the time countdown being written on the whiteboard that I kept noticing). I thought about a bathroom break at one point, but you only have 4 hours to answer 2 questions, so I just kept on typing and sat there for the whole 4 hours without moving. My bad back was not happy about being seated for 4 straight hours again and I kept fidgeting and stretching in my seat, but the time just flew by. The questions were harder today and not at all what I was expecting or hoping for. So no idea how I did. The results (high pass, pass, or fail) will be mailed out in a few weeks before the oral exams.

The Department once again provided lunch, Subway, so it was nice to sit and talk to everyone after the exam was over. Then I went and took a nap and spent the rest of the day grading. I did get in another another episode of Game of Thrones and watched the ‘Rains of Castamere’ episode, which totally fit my mood for the day.

The day did turn out to be very lovely. A bit windy, but bright and sunny.