Wow, that's a nice, alliterative title!
I am now 15 days away from my first day of comps. Thus far I have committed two questions to memory: Israelite Origins and Ethnicity, and the Tenth Century Debate. Pentateuch history of scholarship is up next, to be followed by Psalms, OT theology, and Former and Latter Prophets. NT I hope to get to next week!
Let's hope I can keep this material all in my mind. I trust it will go well, but I'd be lying if I said I was looking forward to a week's worth of exams!
I have yet to have any dreams (that I remember) relating to the tests . . . although I did have one several months ago where I took the exams for some reason in a nice convenience store, and I was able to come out, get coffee, snacks, etc. at my leisure. It was nice and relaxed. Let's hope that dream becomes a reality (at least the nice and relaxed part).
Keep on a'praying for me!
Shalom!
We intend to communicate
14 hours ago
The morning of my first comp, my computer decided to start acting up. I ran into the suite and quickly borrowed a friend's laptop to use for the day. That was a close one. I worked out a deal to use his computer for the others as well, and that summer as I was beginning the diss research I treated myself to a new laptop.
ReplyDeleteOne other quick story. A couple of years after comps, my friend Frank Yamada was playing in a competitive intra-mural basketball game at Princeton Theological (probably against the faculty; they were cut-throat in the paint). He got elbowed in the head and spent a moment blacked out on the ground. He said that his first thought upon waking up was, "I passed comps."
Blessings in your preparation!
A couple of hours into my first exam, the outlet into which I had plugged my (borrowed) laptop began to smoke and sizzle. I couldn't find anyone to book me a different exam room, and then the laptop's battery threatened to die before I could finish and print. Then I did get a new room and had to move all my stuff. In all, I must have lost over an hour of time as well as being distracted and frazzled.
ReplyDeleteSo, I worked out the sloppy parts at the oral. :^) Expect the unexpected and try to have fun.
Wow, the horror stories keep rolling in. Hopefully nothing of the sort happens to me. There will be about 9 of us taking prelims at the same time, in the same area . . . so I trust any malfunctions will be prompty taken care of!
ReplyDelete