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You’ve read what we have to say, but now it’s your turn. What questions do you have?
Preparing for Your Comprehensive Exam from Day One
It is easy to become so focused on each course every quarter that you do not see the forest for the trees. That is to say, you put up a valiant effort to do your work. You read and post and research and write to keep up with the weekly demands and the final assignment. And yet, this is not enough. READ MORE
At the end of both group and individual advising sessions with learners prior to the beginning of the comprehensive exam, I am frequently asked if I have any final tips for success. The following three tips summarize what I and many of my doctoral advising colleagues say as we prepare learners for the exam.
Trying to complete the exam while working fulltime is difficult enough, and we advisors strongly recommend that learners make arrangements that allow them to write daily, even if only for a couple of hours on weekdays.Spending entire weekend days (at least 12 hours) on the exam is a given. Taking a day or two off from work each week of the exam allows for extra writing time and, if possible, a week or two of vacation during which learners can focus on the exam is even better. Some learners think they can work 60+ hours a week and still have time for the exam, but it takes extraordinary energy. I have had learners who received their questions and began the four-week exam time frame knowing that they would have an interruption for a planned event such as a wedding, class reunion, one-week trip or a cruise. It seems to me that taking time away from the exam during the four-week writing period is a recipe for failure.
All Capella learners who are registered for one or more courses are provided free access to Smarthinking. To being using these services, learners can visit www.capellawritingcenter.org, click on the first link under ‘Resources’ on that page (titled ‘tutoring’), and follow the prompts to make an account. Any one in the general public can use Smarthinking, but the fees can mount quickly, so to avoid being charged fees for the service, Capella learners must make the account using the prompts provided at the location noted above. Once the account is established, learners can use the account with the password and ID that they create.
On that same Writing Center public home page, learners can find new ways to ask for feedback from Smarthinking. The Writing Feedback Tool (WFT) on the public page (second link under ‘Resources’) provides users with a common language to use when talking about academic writing. The WFT starts with critical reading (category 1) and moves all the way through 11 categories, including organization, APA format, grammar, mechanics.
Here’s how the WFT can make Smarthinking a more effective tool. READ MORE
This is the last week before the summer quarter begins, so many of my advising colleagues and I have been talking to learners who are about to take their comprehensive exams.
Once again, I am hearing some of the myths that circulate among the learners about to take those dreaded comps. Some insist that they heard these myths from faculty at colloquia. Others admit they heard these myths from other learners. No matter who or what is the source of the myths, I try to do my part to give the learners correct information. READ MORE
Purpose
The purpose of an incomplete is to provide learners who can’t complete a course by the last day of the course due to unforeseen or unavoidable circumstances to complete the course. How do learners receive an incomplete? READ MORE
Recently, my advising colleagues and I developed a new webinar to further discuss “comps preparedness.” Content ranging from the philosophical and historical foundations of the comprehensive examination down to the nitty-gritty logistics and academic standards of an individualized learner’s situation and preparedness.
Depending on what stage we are in our lives, we can sometimes feel like we ought to know more about who we are or how to live. We may even berate ourselves for making the same mistakes, or for just not “getting it,” whatever “it” may be. We wonder how our lives would be now, if only we had “known better.” During moments like these, it is important to remember that none of us are born with instruction manuals and that learning lessons is a lifelong journey.
Running a marathon is all about preparedness. Practicing by running the miles, but also
We would be lost without some kind of structure in our life. Hopefully we don’t take any structure too seriously so it runs us rather than providing boundaries in which to function. I find routine fascinating, especially when tasks become automated because of repetition. Then we get to play the “Did I Really Do That Game” where we float through life on the automaticity wave and don’t always remember if a task was completed. READ MORE
One group of issues that academic advisors assist learners with on a daily basis consists of time lines, deadlines and queues. Every day I hear learners say: “Why does it take so long for Methodology Review Form approval?” The same for dissertation committee approval, proposal review, or final graduation audit, Capella is no different from any institution or similar organization. READ MORE
