There are three (principle) reasons why I’m not a good grad student. Today, kids, I’ll talk about one of them.<\/p>\n
We’ve been meeting twice a week to study for the PL prelim in the fall — a brutal oral exam that pits you against two profs. The reading list is massive, so we’re set up a study schedule that lasts through the summer. We read six papers a week and meet to discuss them. <\/p>\n
Anyway, the bad thing is that I forget nearly everything I’ve read. I’m talking about papers that I’ve read slowly and deliberately, making sure I understand them as I go. After like two days, I can’t remember a thing about them. The other guys I’m studying with are amazing: they recall the papers with ease, and even reference papers they read as undergrads! (Of course, this highlights another problem: I never took any PL courses as an undergrad, so I’m already woefully behind). <\/p>\n
So I’m pretty concerned about that. How am I going to learn anything? Noooooooo….<\/p>\n
It’s possible that later I’ll write about the other two reasons, my lack of motivation and my short attention span, but most likely I won’t be able to concentrate long enough to do so, and even if I could, I wouldn’t want to ;).<\/p>\n
I do promise, though, a tribute to the one and only Beth…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are three (principle) reasons why I’m not a good grad student. Today, kids, I’ll talk about one of them. We’ve been meeting twice a week to study for the PL prelim in the fall — a brutal oral exam … Continue reading