How I Study for Final Exams as a Grad Student | PhD & Productivity

Good morning, my friends! I hope you all are surviving the end of your semester okay - you've got this! Today I'm excited to share my study strategy as a grad student taking final exams. It's actually the same strategy I used in college (albeit a more sophisticated version) and the same one I used to study for my preliminary exams so it's a system that works for me at every level of education - And one that I hope will help you study for your upcoming exams, too!

MY STUDY STRATEGY

I'll break it down further in this post but at a baseline, my study strategy consists of just THREE pieces.

1. Review the materials and pull out things that I think will be important

2. Cement that important stuff in my brain in as many ways as possible.

3. Sleep 🙂

1) REVIEW THE MATERIAL + PULL OUT WHAT IS IMPORTANT

For me, the best first step is to review the material I've learned over the course of the semester and pull out what I think is most important. This is usually the most time consuming part of studying, but part of the reason I go through the process of reviewing it and compiling the important parts of the course is because the actual process of evaluating what's important is already one way of studying the material.

Questions to Ask Yourself When Reviewing Articles

In grad school, most of the class material is peer-reviewed journal articles so I make sure to ask the following questions when I'm deciding what is most important to remember from an article (because frankly, you CANNOT possibly remember all of it!)

• What were the article's main findings and contributions to existing research?

• How does it relate to other articles in this area?

• What method did they use to answer their research question?

  • (e.g., what was the type of sample, research methodology, and analysis strategy?)

• What did my instructor want us to GET out of this article?

  • (especially in grad school, there's usually a reason that your instructor wanted you to read that article - was it a historically significant piece? did it create controversy? was the method incorrectly done? etc.)

By asking myself these questions during the review process, what it actually does is that it makes sure that I'm not studying everything. As idealistic as you may want to be in your studying goals, there are only so many hours in a day and your brain can only hold so much information, so the most important part of studying is being able to efficiently boil down your notes to the most important pieces.

Make a Study Guide

As I'm reviewing the material, I'm also simultaneously making a study guide where I compile all of the most important notes. To do this, I like to use Notability or OneNote on my iPad because it allows me to type notes, insert photos, and write on/highlight anything I want. This level of flexibility is so, so nice because I can make whatever notes are needed to help me remember the information better.

For my favorite iPad apps and how I've set up my iPad check out these posts below:

2 ) CEMENT IT IN YOUR BRAIN IN AS MANY WAYS AS POSSIBLE

One of the most effective ways to learn something is to try and learn it through multiple different methods through as many of your senses as possible! That's why you often find that in classes you are not only reading concepts from a textbook but also listening to a lecture and applying those topics to a discussion or activity. Having those multiple input methods allows you to learn and memorize that information more effectively.

The same thing can be said when you're studying. One of the crazier things I do to study is I read my study guides out loud to myself, record myself, and then listen to those recordings on repeat. Is it a little cringe to listen to myself? Absolutely. Has it paid off on my exams? Absolutely. Here are the 5 input methods I utilize in studying:

1. Reading - reviewing the material and pulling out what is important is already a method of reading the material and visually inputting it into your brain

2. Writing - by creating a study guide as I'm reviewing the material, I'm physically writing out the concepts or typing down the concepts.

3. Speaking - I usually record myself reading the study guides out loud and this both serves as another input and allows me to catch things in the study guide that I'm not as familiar with or things that I have to revisit that don't make sense! This can be time-consuming but it is so, so worth so that you can listen to it later as well.

4. LISTENING - This might be #4 on the list but it is my TOP TIP for studying in less time. I get easily exhausted constantly looking at a screen when I'm studying but guess what you can do while you're listening to a study guide? Pretty much anything! I find that this is so, so powerful because it allows me to continue to process and memorize the information in my head while I'm taking a walk, preparing dinner, getting ready for bed, working out, cleaning my home, or when I'm simple resting. A lot of space during the day that I normally would not be able to use for studying can now be spaces where I can continue to encourage my brain to process the information.

5. Drawing - Last but not least, if there's some info that I'm really struggling to memorize or understand, I'll usually draw out the information in some kind of creative picture. You do NOT have to be an artsy person to do this! This has helped me SO much because even if I don't remember every concept perfectly, I find that I'll often remember the ridiculous picture I drew and that usually allows me to remember a whole host of other things about the topic! It's much easier for us to remember an image than a huge list of items so try to use that in your favor.

3) SLEEP

Since I'm not the cutest when I'm asleep, please enjoy some adorable photos of my foster cats sleeping the day away 😊

BUT in all seriousness. PRIORITIZE SLEEP! I know I might sound like your mom right now but damn does it make a difference. I was a migraine sufferer for most of my teens and early twenties and the main thing that ended up causing those migraines was lack of sleep. Nowadays, sleep trumps nearly everything else in my life because the level at which I function without sleep just does not compare to how I function when I've had my full 8, 9, or 10 hours of sleep. I totally empathize with the fact that you often feel pressured to stay up to study more but after having a good night's sleep your brain is able to make new connections and is sharper the next morning - which I think ultimately shows in your performance (at least it does for me!)

I hope this was helpful as you're studying for your final exams! Leave me a comment down below if you have any other study recommendations for our little community here - I'd love to learn from your experiences! Good luck with your exams - you've got this!

Gift Ideas for Grad Students | A Little Gift Guide for the Grad Student in Your Life!

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It’s that time of year friends! I feel like grad students are notoriously hard to shop for, especially since most of us spend almost all of our time studying in our free time (oops! 🙈) So, here are some of my favorite grad school centered products for the grad student in your life! 

Pomodoro Timer 

If you haven’t heard of the pomodoro method, it’s a productivity method where you work for a set amount of time and then take periodic breaks throughout! It’s a method works for me especially when I need to get through tough slogs of writing or data work! Though we now have tons of timers available to us, I find that having a physical pomodoro timer that I can see right in front of me really helps to keep me on track and I’m sure many other grad students would appreciate it as well! 

Spotify Subscription 

One of the best things I’ve invested in during my grad school years is a paid Spotify subscription. I’m constantly listening to podcasts and music while I’m working and not being interrupted constantly by ads is wonderful for maintaining focus. In grad school, it’s vital to be able to focus for extended amounts of time and having uninterrupted access to great lo-fi playlists has been a god send!

Noise Cancelling Headphones 

I know I’ve said this a thousand times at this point but I really can’t emphasize it enough. Noise canceling headphones are a game 👏 changer 👏 if you want to be productive and not get distracted by every person that walks by your office! Personally, I own both the BOSE Q35 over ear headphones and a pair of Airpods Pro that I use on daily basis.

Meal Kit Services

One of the easiest ways to support a stressed out grad student is by buying them a meal or two! I’m really fortunate to have a partner who is super supportive and does most of the cooking for us, but for busy grad students who don’t have that kind of support, a meal kit service makes a world of difference because it saves them time and energy but still allows them to make their own healthy, home-cooked meals. 

Planners & Notebooks

I feel like you can never go wrong with a planner or a notebook - there are always so many thing to organize in phd life and studies show that writing things down by hand are the key to getting things done. My favorites right now are the Erin Condren weekly planners, The Daily Page, and the Day Designer! 

Robot Vacuum

Right before I started my PhD program, my fiance gifted me the cutest little robot vacuum and it has quickly become one of the best things I own. I’m not a naturally clean person so being able to just let our robot vacuum run around the apartment while I’m doing other work (or being a blob on the couch) is amazing 🤪

Grad School Themed Books

I received a number of grad school themed books from friends and family before and during the first couple of years of my PhD program. I always found these books to be such thoughtful gifts because it really showed that they understood how stressful grad school life could be and wanted to gift something that pass down wisdom from academics who have been through the process before. I also highly recommend them in general if you’re a 1st generation grad student - there are a lot of unwritten rules in academia and these books are extremely helpful if you don’t have a social network that can help you along the way. The two books I still reference and use the most in grad school are The Professor is In and Graduate Study for the 21st Century. 

I hope this little gift guide was helpful for giving you some ideas for your grad student friends and loved ones! HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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Questions to Ask During a PhD Admissions Interview | Applying to Grad School

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So, you applied to grad school and you got an interview! What now? It's been a hot second since I interviewed for grad school but since admissions interview season is coming up, I thought I'd share some of the interview questions I asked/wish I'd asked more about during my grad application process.

First, my top tip - even before you think about what specific questions to ask - is to remember that this interview is for YOU, too. Sure, we tend to think that being interviewed for admission to a grad program is where you're being judged whether you're "worthy" of a program, but in reality, if you're at the point where they want to spend the time and money to interview you, you already have the right qualifications for the program. This is more so an opportunity for both you and them to decide whether you are a good fit for the program, the people, and the culture.

It's like Harry Potter houses. You probably have multiple interviews for grad programs and they have multiple students interviewing - you're still going to be at Hogwarts, it's just a matter of which house you're getting sorted into. And, it's important that you ask questions that are important to you and true to yourself during these interviews so you're sorted into the right house. (shout out to all my fellow hufflepuffs 😘) Though it is still up to you to decide what is important to you, here are some things I asked or wish I had asked during my PhD admissions interviews:

What's the funding situation like?

How every advisor, department, and school determines PhD student funding varies a ton. In some departments it totally depends on your advisor, in others, you teach in exchange for your funding, and in some cases, you may be responsible for your own funding. Usually, if your program is reputable, your school and department should guarantee you some sort of funding - however, the way in which you earn that funding may vary. Furthermore, you might only get funding during certain semesters (e.g., not in the summer) so you may have to budget accordingly. Long story short, how much funding you get, what work you have to do in exchange for that funding, and how it is distributed varies a TON so get 👏  those 👏  details 👏 . You need to know what you're getting into.

Are there opportunities to teach, and if so, how are teaching opportunities distributed?

Again, how teaching opportunities are distributed in each department varies a ton. Even within the business area in my school, the teaching opportunities are distributed totally differently across marketing vs. accounting vs. real estate. In some departments, you have to teach during certain years of your program, in others, you may not teach at all unless you choose to do so. Teaching is also viewed very differently by each person - some people love it, some would rather teach as little as possible. How much you as an individual want to teach should be based on what your ultimate goal is - either way, however, having at least one or two opportunities to teach during your program is ideal if you want to move into an academic role in the future, so knowing how teaching is distributed is valuable.

How long does it take students to finish their PhDs?

This one may not seem super important but again, I think it's about setting yourself up to have accurate expectations of a program. In many cases, PhDs take people 5, 6, 7 years or even longer depending on the area. Knowing how long you'll be in an area and how many years of your life you will need to commit to this program is invaluable when you're making such a big life decision.

Ask for specifics about the qualifications/preliminary exam/dissertation process.

This is a question I wish I had asked at the schools I visited! Especially if you get the opportunity to meet with current PhD students, their most recent experiences will give you a good idea of what it's like to actually go through the process. Though it may seem preliminary to be asking such specific questions about qualifying exams and the dissertation process, it's again one of those things that varies a TON by school and program. In some programs, the qualifying exams is an extremely stressful process where students may be weeded out while in other programs, the qualifying exams are important, but the goal is not to weed students out and a majority of sutdents are supported through the process. Having that information in your mind will be that much more helpful when you're making a decision as to which program is the best fit for you.

What is it like to live in XYZ place?

Asking about what it is like to live in the program's location is important for two reasons. 1) It gives you valuable information about what your day-to-day life will look like for the next 4-8 years and 2) it demonstrates that you are seriously considering the program because you are evaluating what it would be like to live there!

What is the culture of the department like?

This may or may not be a question that people will answer honestly, but I think it's still worth asking because it can be very telling how people choose to (or choose not to) answer the question. Each program is different, the relationships between students are different and the relationship between students and faculty is different. The sooner you can get a read on the culture, the better!

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