Comprehensive Exams

So, what kind of test really takes 7 days? Who had that bright idea?? Those were my thoughts as I started my comprehensive exam almost a month ago. The first two days of the exam were spent critiquing a journal article, which was just the warm up. Then I had the weekend off. Starting on Monday, I received an email with 6 questions, and I needed to answer 3 of them plus write up a way to test one of those answers. All in all, it was 46 pages of writing for 5 different parts over 7 days. Along the way, I made comparisons in my mind between the Bar exam and Comps. I would say that preparing for the Bar exam was much better organized than preparing for Comps. However, I think that the actual testing situation of the Bar exam was much more stressful than taking Comps. There is a lot more creativity when taking Comps, but the Bar exam is almost all memorization and recall. I would prefer to never take either of them again!

I am very grateful to Jason's parents, who came and stayed with us for 3 weeks so that I could study for and take the test. We could not have done it without them. So, while I was studying away, the girls and Jason were having fun with Grandma and Grandpa!

And, in case you were wondering, I conditionally passed Comps...which means that I passed 4 out of the 5 parts but need to re-write one answer. When the graduate advisor told me my results, she said that the faculty were impressed with my major answers, but oh did I miss the boat and completely fail my minor answer. Considering that only one person out of the 7 of us who took the exam passed without problem, I don't feel to bad about re-writing one answer. Now if I could only get it written!

Writing, always Writing...

I only have a few weeks left in the Semester, which means that I have three 20 page papers to write in the next few weeks and two presentations to give!
I feel like I am writing, always writing...except for when I am reading blogs, checking my e-mail, looking at facebook, looking something up on wikipedia, calling Jason, texting, or looking at pictures of Amelia and Aliza on my phone...I noticed the other day that my internet pop-up adds are now asking if I have adult ADHD...do you think that's a bad sign????

Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel

So, the last few days of school have not been too great. I was working with a professor on a project, and I gave up most of my weekend to get data together only to have pretty much nothing of what I did actually used. Needless to say, I was pretty frustrated. This frustration led me to question why I am here and to enter in to the realm of self-pitty. Why couldn't I have an easier job to do than to leave my family, our friends, our dog, our house (really our dog's house now), and a good paying job to go back to school and feel stupid pretty much every single day. I spend most of my time studying, missing out on time with my family, and I am not really sure that the studying is getting me any further along. And my thoughts go on and on.
Then, I read this talk by Elder Perry tonight, and I realized that I really have things pretty easy. I have my husband and my girls. We have a good place to live and food to eat. We still have family and friends that support us. And, even though I feel pretty stupid, I have hope that if I keep working hard, I will be smarter tomorrow than I am today (maybe, if I could remember anything that I am reading).

One Down, Two to Go!

I have just handed in my final draft for my Strategy Paper! I doubt that it is an excellent piece of scholarship, but it is complete and it is out of my hands!!!!
Now on to the next 2. I have a Methods paper due Wednesday, and an Organizational Behavior paper due next Monday. Writing is FUN!!!