Comps & other scary sounding things

So I haven't blogged during this experience as much as I wanted to. But I think I might need it now. I am taking my Master's Comprehensive exam in 14 weeks. All the course work, reading, memorizing, and notetaking leads up to that moment. A little dramatic, but true!

I am thinking about how to best prepare myself.

I wrote a note during our first class meeting this last week that said "Organize notes and readings by themes - Like student subpopulation, student development theory, research methods, and courses - Then cross code with post-its."

This made sense then but now as I sit here with my notes, 8 colors of post-its, and 4 binders, I am thinking I took this too far!

My first class meeting was our seminar course (ie prepare & practice for comps). The next course is our fieldwork course. Our fieldwork profs, sense the tension in the room, asked what was up with us. We all went around sharing how we felt overwhelmed and underprepared for Comps. They went on to tell us that we know the material. We just need to strengthen our connections. So I draw from my Psych undergrad days that it is like practicing anything. The more you do it the easier it is. Much like muscle memory, I need to get back to finding & building connections.

Maybe these notebooks aren't the craziest idea. I probably should just dial back the complexity. I will let you know how it goes!

My Comps study group has committed our Saturdays to each other to work together refreshing and I think we will need to delve back into using Google Docs to collaborate.

This post by @KevinRGuidry is a great example of the collaborative benefits of Google Docs (http://mistakengoal.com/blog/2010/07/26/quals-and-google-docs/)