Among the errands this morning, I ran out to the Barnes and Noble in Virginia Beach where I spent a couple hours perusing the many tempting offerings on the shelves. I came away with four books, which wasn’t all that bad considering the number that piqued my interest. Two of the acquisitions were general biology study guides which I need for my forthcoming comprehensive examinations. Sure they contain the same material as in my general biology textbook (as well as the textbooks for general ecology, evolution, etc.), but the advantage is that the information is presented in a more compact, concise, and easily review able manner. The textbooks will provide a more in-depth review of the material if such a need arises, but as for now, a generalized overview is what I need. The last thing I have time to do now is to review all of my old biology textbooks from cover to cover.
The comps have me a little worried since my graduate committee can pretty much grill me on anything (and here I emphasize ANYTHING) biological in nature, technically whether you’ve had a class in that particular subject or not. I’m not worried at all about topics such as evolution, ecology, systematics, or biogeography, and to a lesser degree, entomology as these are counted among my biological interests and to one degree or another tie in with my thesis research. If the examination was limited to these areas, it would be a piece of cake. However, such will not be the case and it will such topics as cellular biology, genetics, and various system processes (Krebs cycle? What the hell was that?) that will be my doom. I absolutely loathe genetics (though I do realize that it’s the foundation for practically everything in biology) and am rather alarmed by what I don’t remember from genetics class a few years back. So it is evident that I have my work cut out for me.
4 comments:
You are a well educated man, but I prefer the Dorland-Kindserley(sp?)books. They do EVERYTHING in pics...and have some of the neatest books on animals...our world...just about anything. Oh...and they're written for people like ME!!
Kim... Will have to check those books out. Sound interesting. And I do like the pics thing. Makes understanding something (like Jeeps and big tires) so much easier. :)
when i defended my disertation in front of supercilius professors, i had to go back to yoda's teachings. Albeit i am paraphrasing: these people are just like me, composed of cells (metochlorites), so what they know i know; and messing up would jsut give me a chance to learn more. Such is the jedi way without the nasty lightsaber fight:)
Hehe....well, unless my grad committee is composed of three Sith lords (which is unlikely since only two there are: a master and an apprentice), I'll be ok.
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