Reading versus studying

A colleague who recently achieved ABD status last November gave me some solid advice on Saturday afternoon. She said:

"I never understood why they call it 'reading for exams.' You're not reading for exams. You're studying for exams. There's quite a difference."

She's right.

"Reading for exams" implies a depth of comprehension achieved only when every single word has been consumed on every single page, cover to cover. With a cumulative reading list of 300 items, this is nigh-on impossible.

"Studying for exams" suggests, rather, a general glossing of the detailed material, focusing instead on thematic importance and treatment as well as on authorial idiosyncrasies.

I will be expected not to quote from my texts nor to close-read specific passages. I know this from conversations I've had with my examiners--every exam is different, so it is possible for a candidate to take an exam for which they're expected to close-read a given passage.

Instead, according to two-thirds of my committee (I don't meet with my third examiner until this afternoon), I will be expected to make critical connections between primary and secondary sources, a skill I've developed since my days as an undergraduate English major. If a PhD candidate cannot make critical connections by the time they are taking exams, then they should really reconsider their program placement. Sounds elitist, but, frankly, it's the job we're paid to do. An inability to perform that job in any capacity hampers the ability to perform the job in the classroom.

I am confident in my capacity to draw unforeseen connections. I've been paid to do that for nearly five years now. I've been trained to do that for nearly nine. I have a natural inclination toward it (at least as I've been told by my parents and past teachers).

So, rather than reading for exams, the goal is to study for them. A critical difference in semantics that can cost the outcome of the exam.

I'll sound a little like a PSA or a drug commercial or lawsuit commercial:

If you are, or someone you know is, facing preliminary/comprehensive/qualifying examinations, heed the advice: don't read for exams. Study for them.