How to Pass Comps: An Insider's Guide for Graduate Students in the Social Sciences

By Trevor Thrall

Worried about comps?

Who isn't? Comprehensive exams. Qualifying exams. Field exams. General exams. Whatever the name at your university, it's the most important exam you'll ever take - your career is on the line. Failure is not an option.

 

How to Pass Comps provides you with proven strategies to pass comps. Everyone knows you can't pull an all-nighter to study for comps, but too few know what it takes to prepare until it's too late. In How to Pass Comps, Thrall relies on 25 years of experience working with graduate students to walk you through everything you need to know:

 

• The true purpose of comps
• What professors are looking for in your comps exam essays
• How to embrace a professional mindset
• How to master the literature and hone your analytical thinking
• How to take smart notes and create a Second Brain
• How to set up an effective exam study plan
• How to break down exam questions and write the best possible essays
• How to bounce back and try again if you don't pass the first time

This book will give you the blueprint for passing comps with flying colors.

 

A. Trevor Thrall received his Ph.D. in political science from M.I.T. 

 

[75 pages]

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trevor Thrall
• Release date: Aug 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215931356

Book preview

1

INTRODUCTION

Before you write a dissertation that turns your field on its ear, you must pass the first major hurdle of graduate school: comprehensive exams. You’re a great student, otherwise you wouldn’t be a Ph.D. student or thinking about going to get a Ph.D. But even great students fail comps. In fact, roughly half of the students who took the international relations field exam at George Mason University, where I taught as a tenured professor for more than a decade, failed one or more of the three questions and had to retake at least part of the exam. Almost every year, at least one student in the political science program failed an exam for the second time and was forced to leave the program without earning a Ph.D.

Before we go any further, let me confess something that I didn’t admit in public for about 15 or 20 years after it happened. As a graduate student in political science at M.I.T. in the early 1990s, I failed my first attempt at comps. As you can imagine, I was shocked, depressed, and horribly embarrassed. To top it off, for the next five months I worried intensely about failing a second time and getting kicked out of the program. I worked my butt off and thankfully I passed the second time. As a comps survivor and as someone who has seen countless others go through the process, let me tell you a secret: passing your comps feels a lot better than failing. 

Few of us enter graduate school having any real sense of what to expect, but we all wind up hearing horror stories about smart students who failed and got flushed out of their programs. And though we might get copies of old exams to review, few programs provide clear guidance about what comps are all about, what faculty expect from a passing exam, or how best to prepare for them. All of this needlessly amplifies the anxiety around an already tense subject. 

My goal is to relieve you of (some of) this anxiety by making the process more transparent and providing battle-tested strategies to prepare for the exams. I can’t take the exams for you, and I can’t promise you’ll pass if you do everything I discuss. But I can tell you that many of these are the strategies that helped me pass comps on my second try, while others are strategies I have honed and helped others use to pass their comps. What I will promise is this: If you follow the advice here, you will radically improve your chances of writing great exams and passing comps.

The Roadmap to Success

This book will guide you through the six steps you need to take to pass your comps with flying colors:

Understand the challenge. Most students don’t appreciate the nature of comps when they start graduate school. This book demystifies the purpose of comps and explains what professors are looking for in a great exam.

Become a professional. Your journey from student to Ph.D. holder requires changes in your mindset and habits. It’s time to treat school like a job.

Become an Expert. To pass your exam you will need to master the literature, become fluent in analytical and theoretical thinking, and build your methodological toolkit.

Take Smart Notes and Build a Second Brain. Upgrading your approach to note taking and creating a database for notes and ideas can pay huge dividends not only for comps but also for your research and writing. 

Exam Prep Like a Champion. Studying for comps is unlike studying for any other exam you’ve ever taken. You need a plan and plenty of time to get ready.

Write a Killer Exam. Many exam failures are the result of poor exam taking practices. Following a simple process on the day can help you do your best.

Who is this book for?

This book is aimed at graduate students in the social sciences. My hope is that you’ll read this book before or soon after you start graduate school because the best time to start preparing for comps is the day you step foot on campus. But if you have just raised your head, spied comps on the horizon, and need a plan of attack, this book will provide it. If you’re reading this book with comps looming, fear not - you still have plenty of time to make great use of these strategies. And if, like me, you find yourself having failed your first attempt at comps, the advice here will help you pass the next time.

This guide reflects a strategy rooted in my experiences, first as a political scientist who took comps in two major fields: security studies and science, technology, and public policy. And second, as a faculty member of the Schar School at George Mason, where I dealt with exams in the biodefense, political science, and public policy graduate programs. Though I cannot claim any special knowledge of the subject matter or comps processes in other fields, my belief is that the approach and strategies I outline here are general enough to be good preparation for taking exams in a wide range of disciplines. Though a few of the strategies might need tweaking for your situation, the bulk of them apply regardless of the topic or what format your exam takes.

2

THE COMPS CHALLENGE

Comprehensive exams. Qualifying exams. General exams. Whatever their name at your university, they stand between you and your goal of writing a dissertation and getting that Ph.D. But before we talk about strategy, we need to talk about the exams themselves. What are comps? Why do Ph.D. students have to take comps in the first place? What does it take to pass? What does a really great, high-pass exam look like? Until you know these things, you won’t understand how to prepare for