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As I was cleaning up the digital space where the comprehensive exams took place this morning I noticed that some students has emailed me on Blackboard in March asking for tips about studying for the comprehensive exam; D'oh!  

I am sorry that I missed your message! I honestly wasn't expecting anyone to email me on Blackboard about the comprehensive exam :-)  It is now too late for the most recent group of test-takers to benefit from any advice I have, but I thought I would post something here anyway for those new to the program, and those who haven't taken the comprehensive exam yet.

The comprehensive exam isn't about rote knowledge; it's not about regurgitation of facts, but rather it is about a synthesis of knowledge and information that you have gained throughout your studies in applied linguistics.  Having felt the pain of studying for the Applied Linguistics comps, and having taken the comps as well (a couple years ago) I know what you will be going through.  I thought I would start a series of blog posts on here to help alleviate some of that anxiety over the comps :-)

So, my first tip for studying for the comps is to start early! I wish someone had told me this when I started the applied linguistics program, it would have helped me study in a different way (or perhaps alleviated some of the stress felt around having to read everything all over again in order to revise!).  I will be writing more about note taking strategies in future posts, but for this one I will start you off with the basics:

Each course has a syllabus of readings. When you read, you may highlight, write in the margins, or doodle on the page. The worst thing that you can do is read, but not make any notes.  This is a sure way to forget about the readings three semesters down the road :-)  You may retain some of the essence, but won't necessarily remember something important to refer to in the exam.  Strategic underlining, highlighting, "aha" moments in the margins and reactions in the margins are your friends! They act as road markers that jog your memory a few semesters down the road when you have to reference them again :-)  

In the on-campus program, there were some seminal readings that came back in a couple of classes.  Don't throw away your highlighted, underlined, annotated articles! Use them again for the second class that uses the same reading - you can add to your insights already existing in that first annotated version of the article.  Also, don't throw away any articles until you are done with the program - you will need them for the comps.

What about my articles?  I still have all mine.  I packaged them up, put them in a waterproof bin, threw in some desiccant and put them in the basement.  Every not and again I need to go back and reference one of them.

More comprehensive exams tips coming soon!