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Jul. 21st, 2004 12:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
meanfreepathA short before-bed update...
Coding for lab proceeds slowly, but steadily. Several algorithmic problems remain, which are perhaps best attacked with a fresh, well-rested, and well-fed brain in the morning.
I am trying not to worry about various things in my personal life.
One of the UI physics profs, Prof. Vincent Rodgers, gave a talk on the Physics GRE today. He's been on the committee to write the exams before, so his insights were, I think, good ones. Same general strategies I'd expect to hear about any multiple choice exam.
The one thing was that he made the Physics GRE sound a lot more important in grad admissions than Swat profs seem to have, or at least more important than the impression one gets off of the SWAP grad school advice page. We looked at one sample problem, involving angular momentum in B-fields. This was new to me; I don't think it's in Purcell but it ought to be in Griffiths, and we should be seeing it in 112. Apparently only 6% of the candidates had answered that question correctly.
All the big physics exams coming up. This isn't counting next year's seminar exams. Then come GRE's, and then Honors exams, and then the hell that will be PhD qualifiers. UI's are coming up in a few weeks, and all the now second-year grad students are feverishly preparing.
All of this makes you question if you really want to be a physicist... But I should sleep, and I should definitely not worry about these things now.
Coding for lab proceeds slowly, but steadily. Several algorithmic problems remain, which are perhaps best attacked with a fresh, well-rested, and well-fed brain in the morning.
I am trying not to worry about various things in my personal life.
One of the UI physics profs, Prof. Vincent Rodgers, gave a talk on the Physics GRE today. He's been on the committee to write the exams before, so his insights were, I think, good ones. Same general strategies I'd expect to hear about any multiple choice exam.
The one thing was that he made the Physics GRE sound a lot more important in grad admissions than Swat profs seem to have, or at least more important than the impression one gets off of the SWAP grad school advice page. We looked at one sample problem, involving angular momentum in B-fields. This was new to me; I don't think it's in Purcell but it ought to be in Griffiths, and we should be seeing it in 112. Apparently only 6% of the candidates had answered that question correctly.
All the big physics exams coming up. This isn't counting next year's seminar exams. Then come GRE's, and then Honors exams, and then the hell that will be PhD qualifiers. UI's are coming up in a few weeks, and all the now second-year grad students are feverishly preparing.
All of this makes you question if you really want to be a physicist... But I should sleep, and I should definitely not worry about these things now.
