My exam structure

Anna asked me tonight exactly what my exams would be like, and I figured that other people would want to know as well. So...

I am currently making my way through three reading lists which I compiled with input from my committee (my supervisor, first reader and second reader). The lists essentially test my ability to write my dissertation and demonstrate knowledge in my field (18th century British). I sit one exam per list. Each exam takes three hours, and I have to write two essays based on a list of around 6-10 questions. The exams are written in a windowless room in the Humanities building where I'll have a computer (apparently there's a Mac in there, thankfully). About 10 days after writing my last exam, there's a candidacy exam in the form of an oral defence of what I wrote. The defence is chaired, and I will be questioned by my committee as well as an external reader from the department.

My exams are tentatively scheduled for afternoons of Aug. 28, 30, and Sept. 1 (MWF). We're not sure about the defence yet, since that depends on availability.

There's been a lot of discussion in the department about revising the exam structures to be more useful and less stressful for students, especially since none of us will ever have to replicate this kind of scenario again in our careers. Other English departments around the world have different exam structures (some radically so), and other departments within the Faculty of Arts also do things differently. Essentially, there is no consistency about exams within or outside of the university, which only makes things more complicated.

The bottom line? Expect me to be stressed as hell the last two weeks of August. Wheee!