I Passed Comps! Reflections, Struggles, and Tips for Future Students

After weeks (okay, months) of mental marathons and self-doubt, I’m happy to say: I passed my comprehensive exams! As a non-native English speaker, this journey wasn’t just academic; it was personal. I want to share my honest experiences, emotional ups and downs, and some lessons that I hope will help future students walking (or stumbling) down this path.

Standing on the Shoulders of Those Before You

First, talk to your advisors. Second, and equally important, reach out to senior students, even those who have already graduated. They’re your best resource. They’ve been through it, survived, and often carry wisdom no handbook captures.

Organizing Notes

I started by reviewing and reorganizing my reading notes from classes. But remember, comps are not limited to what you learned in seminars. Just reviewing class readings isn’t enough. You’ll be amazed by how much you already know when you start preparing. Knowledge doesn’t only come from lectures; it also comes from projects and random conversations.

This is how I organized my notes. I identified major theories and topics and organized my notes around them. What is this theory about? What are its assumptions, seminal works, antecedents, outcomes, limitations, and future directions? I also prepared several versatile research ideas that integrated multiple theories and topics, and I’m a big fan of them. If you’re asked to design a study for one theory, these pre-prepared ideas become your personal cheat sheet, so you don’t have to pull a rabbit out of a hat when the pressure is on.

Crafting Answering Strategy

We were given a month to study. In the first two weeks, I focused on reviewing materials, and in the second half, I shifted to crafting my own answering strategy. As someone who studies strategy, having a strategy for comps felt…necessary?

I practiced structuring my answers to be logical and clear. I used simple numbering (“first,” “second,” “lastly”) to guide the reader through my thoughts. Honestly, my brain felt like a tangled yarn ball with all the information I’d stored. But structuring my answers was like finding the beginning of the string: once I pulled it, everything flowed smoothly, and I could lay out my ideas in an organized way.

Who’s My Audience

I often wondered: should I write at a basic level? But faculty already know this stuff. I imagined explaining to first-year students who had strong logic but little familiarity with the literature. For example, when discussing agency theory’s risk preferences, I didn’t just write “different risk preferences.” I added: Principals are risk neutral because they can diversify away firm-specific risks, while agents are risk averse because their wealth is relatively concentrated in one firm. Adding one sentence showed I understood the “why,” not just the definition. This is just my take, and I encourage you to talk to your advisor about what level of depth and explanation is expected in your program.

The Practice Simulations

I did a full 3-day simulation of the written exam. It helped me understand pacing, fatigue, and the emotional rollercoaster I’d face. But it was exhausting. I wasn’t in my best shape to continue studying for a few days afterward. My recommendation is that consider doing a simulation if you can, and time it wisely, not too far away from the exam as you are not “ready” yet and not too close to the exam as you may exhaust yourself. You don’t need to burn out before the actual exam. Allow time to recover.

Time Management

The first thing I did each day when the exam started was to map out my time on scratch paper. I wrote down exactly what time I would start and finish each question. This helped me stay disciplined and avoid spending too long on any single part. I allocated time to each question, and when time was up, I moved on, no matter how tempted I was to keep writing. My goal was to answer every question. Sometimes, I had three points I wanted to cover but only enough time for one paragraph. In those moments, I made sure to address the most important point first. If I had time later, I could come back to add more (though honestly… that never really happened). Structuring my answers, as I mentioned earlier, also helped me stay focused and avoid rambling under pressure.

Emotional Management

The comps also tested how I handle uncertainty and pressure. In the last two weeks before the exam, my brain felt like it was operating on fumes. Sometimes I blanked out and often wondered if I’d make it through this. Turns out… I did. If you feel like you’re losing steam before the exam, you’re not alone. Trust that knowledge (if you’ve mastered it) will come back to you when you need it, especially with the prompts in the exam.

Also be kind to yourself. I think that it’s important to let go of the need to study perfectly every single day (yes, I’m looking at you, high achievers). Otherwise, you risk draining your emotional energy very soon.

Additional Tips for Non-Native Speakers

There were times I felt like I had to work extra hard to express my ideas clearly and write at an academic level, but over time, I learned that clarity matters more than fancy words.

I didn’t need to say:

“From the standpoint of perceptual phenomenology, the chromatic presentation of the sky emerges as a function of light dispersion processes…”

When all I truly needed to convey was:

“The sky is blue.”

The Oral Exam

Before my oral, I was jittery, and I thought I had forgotten everything again. But when the questions came, I was able to think and respond. Our faculty members were supportive and warm, and as the conversation flowed, my stress level decreased. It felt like the type of conversation I’d have at a conference over coffee. Stay calm. Easier said than done, right? Yet, this seemingly simple advice holds immense power. It’s truly beneficial to pause and collect your thoughts before diving into an answer. It’s not about giving the perfect answer; it’s about showing how you think.

Final Thoughts

Comps taught me that I’m more resilient than I thought. It’s easy to believe that fear, doubt, and fatigue are signs of weakness or impending failure, but I learned they’re not. Instead, they are universal human experiences that simply underscore the intensity of the journey you’re undertaking.

At the end of the oral exam, I asked the faculty for feedback as I wanted to be able to share my experience with future students to help them navigate this daunting process. One faculty asked: “When do comps start? And what would you tell future students? I responded, “The day we start the program.”