Thursday, September 4, 2008

Quals almost done

All that I now have left is the oral exam. Tomorrow, 9.30 AM, I will be standing in front of a committee of professors who will then proceed to grill me for about 50 minutes. So, what should I be studying in order to prepare for this oral assault? Physics. That's right, the professors can ask me about anything they want, even if it was something that I've never been taught. The entire realm of physics is open to them to pull questions from. Talking to students who took it last year, it seems that the professors don't always come to the exam prepared with questions, but will quiz me based on something that suddenly popped into their heads.
Because of the breadth of topics possible, I've been scared for basically the whole week, and been unable to study at all. Today I finally did something, flipping through Giancoli, but I don't know how much that would help me. I really don't know how much anything could really help here. I think my main hope is that I did well enough on the written test to pass. Besides, apparently students usually do poorly on the orals, and I think they don't matter as much if you do alright on the written test.
Ah well, we will see how it goes tomorrow, and then it's DONE.

1 comment:

  1. After a year and a half working for companies in the 'real world,' I've decided to give physics another chance. In April, I face my challenge - the GRE - and I have but one ally by one. One weapon against the tide of insanity. One friend. Douglas C. Giancoli.

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