2018-19 FUF Sessions

Description

This session served as a guided discussion/panel on balancing grad student responsibilities. In small group settings, senior students shared their experiences, including their successes and failures, as well as trips and tricks for studying, TAing, etc. Key take aways from this session were to know it's ok to ask for help and to do so often, that scheduling can be a life-saver, and that checking in with yourself is incredibly important!

Resources

Description

Senior grad students shared their experiences to help demystify the qual exam experience, as well as provided tips on surviving the Winter Quarter leading up to exams. Key take aways from this session were to remember that if you fail the first time, your career as a scientist is not over and to figure out how you feel most comfortable studying (i.e. alone, in small groups, doing practice problems, redoing homework).

Resources

These serve as a repository of resources that current PACE mentors used to help them pass the qualifying exams. Please remember that different approaches and resources work for different people, so it’s important to identify the study methods and content that is most crucial to meeting your needs. As always, you can find an archive of previous exams here.

Post Session Mentor Blurbs

"Quantum mechanics will likely present the greatest challenge to passing the qual. Professor Hamber's no graded homework, take-home final approach makes it easy to sweep quantum under the rug as you manage the rest of your tasks during Winter quarter (and this last Fall quarter). On top of this, quantum mechanics is one-3rd of your qual. Finally, quantum is already a challenging subject, and Professor Shirman may emphasize different topics in his questions than what Professor Hamber emphasized in lecture. I think it's important to find a way to really motivate yourselves to study quantum consistently during Winter quarter. One idea for making sure this is done is to form "quantum teams." Before the quarter starts, each team could create a quantum study plan for the Winter quarter. This could be just keeping-up with quantum 2 or involve studying for quantum 1 as well. Team members could hold each other accountable by meeting once or twice a week to study that week's material together, go over questions about it together, or just hold everyone accountable for studying that week's material. Teams should be relatively small so that it's noticeable if someone is absent or not keeping-up, but not so small that everyone could feasibly bail on studying quantum one week. 4 or 5 people seems like a good team size to me. Regardless, your quantum game plan should be finalized before the Winter quarter starts, or it might never happen! As long as the other classes have in-class exams, then quals will be like 'final exams, round 2' for those subjects. So as long as you're doing fine in your classes, then dedicating most, or all, of your quals study time to quantum mechanics will probably get you the most bang for your buck." - Michael S.

"One point that I feel wasn't hit during the panel is the fact that the thought of not passing the qual can be a daunting one. I found it difficult for me to feel well-prepared for the qual after being burnt out from struggling with the first and second quarter courses. Just keep in mind that it isn't the end of the world if you don't pass it the first time around. Having to retake the qual does NOT make you any less worthy of being a part of this department and this field for that matter. As I mentioned during the panel discussion, taking the qual over the summer gives you much more time for some good, non-stresful qual prep. " - Francisco M.

"Qual Advice: The qual will be definitely be stressful, but don't let it take over your life. Think of it as a big cumulative final. It's scary but it's just like the tests you've taken before. Don't get overwhelmed studying for it. Make a study plan; break it up into what you need to do and tackle it piece by piece (preferably with others). Get a group to meet regularly and go over problems. I found this incredibly helpful, especially for statistical mechanics. Don't be afraid to talk to the professors, they're there to help. Also, and this is my biggest piece of advice, don't sacrifice paying attention to your classes Winter quarter. I personally think paying attention is more important than crunching through a lot of past qual problems. Remember that quantum and E&M are weighted the most heavily and the majority of what you'll be tested on comes from the Winter quarter's material. Overall, for each of the classes I would say do the following: 1) For quantum, work through some of the basic problems and concepts from undergrad but mostly focus on the material from Winter quarter. 2) For E and M, pay attention in class and do the HW. Arvind is a great teacher and the class prepares you well; you'll be fine. 3) For statistical mechanics, work Pathria problems in a group, steadily throughout the quarter. Get familiar with where things are in Pathria, it will be a lifesaver on the exam. 4) For classical, don't start looking at it until the last couple of weeks of Winter quarter or spring break. The material will come back fast, so don't stress about it too much." - Jessica H.

Description

In the first session of this two-part series, we explored as a group some methods of stress reduction - or rather stress expression - to use for when times get rough. This included discussions that facilitated the normalization of our struggles. The key take aways from this session were effective stress management methods such as calendar blocking, practicing discipline, exercise, using To-Do Lists, outsourcing and multitasking (links below). We were left with a great Grandpa quote - "Do your best and eff the rest."

Resources

Description

During this discussion, we explored how and when to find an advisor across physics subfields, what to look for in an advisor, and what it means to have multiple mentors.

Resources

Description

In this special session lead by UCI's Grad Division Counselor, Dr. Phong Luong, we will discuss individualized and consistent self care, especially for physics graduate students and learn some breathing exercises!

Resources

Description

Congratulations for making it through the Qual! This session we enjoyed ice cream while discussing fellowships opportunities and (very briefly) applications.

Resources

Description

In this session, we took time to identify goals for the rest of the quarter (now that there is more free time to do so), learned how to break these goals down into an NCFDD Semester Plan, and celebrated the small wins along the way.

Resources

Description

This session served as a time to discuss tackling conferences and self promotion. We discussed balancing intense research time with developing important professional skills/materials such as personal websites, CVs, posters, etc.

Resources