I'm studying for my comprehensive exams right now. For those of you who might not know what those are, those are the exams a student has to pass at the end of grad school (or at least, after they've finished the course-work for their grad degree), in order to become degree candidates. At my university, every member of your thesis committee is required to give you a comprehensive exam. I just looked at the study guide that one of my members sent me. Holy shit. This is what I have to know for his comp:

How does mitosis differ from meiosis

Ecosystem defined & Components of ecosystems.

food chains and what limits the length of food chains

Primary vs secondary production

Theory of Natural Selection, concept of “Fitness”, and modes of selection

Group and Kin-selection

Concept of “minimum viable population”

Crude vs ecological density

General plant and animal patterns of dispersion and movements

What are the mechanisms that “regulate” a plant or animal population

Mortality and survivorship curves

Exponential vs logistic growth of populations

Density-dependent regulation vs density-independent regulation

Intraspecific competition vs interspecific competition

r-selection vs K-selection

Types of mating systems found in nature

Competition theory: Lotka-Volterra Model and Competitive Exclusion

Concept of resource partitioning

Concept of the “niche”: fundamental vs realized

Models of predation and postulated functional responses to predation

Foraging Theory and concepts of optimal diet, foraging efficiency, and risk-sensitive foraging

Parasites & Diseases: parasitism as a regulatory mechanism

Mutualism: origins of mutualism and its population effects

Concepts of vertical stratification, horizontal heterogeneity, “edge”, and ecotones

Theory of Island Biogeography

Interactions & Community structure: role of competition, predation, parasites, & diseases,

Concepts of succession: primary vs secondary, climax

Ecological disturbance; small-scale vs large-scale disturbances

Ecological disturbance & nutrient cycling

Continental drift, climatic changes & dispersal of species

How is a “species” defined, and how species are maintained

Methods of communication between organisms

Concept of “Biological Magnification” or “Biological Amplification”

How does “Conservation Biology” differ from “Biology”

Concepts of endangered vs threatened species

How does a species become “endangered”

And that is for only one exam. For one of the others, I have to know the following chapters out of an ornithology text for the exam given by my advisor (he's an ornithologist):

Diversity of birds

History of birds

Mates

Breeding systems

Populations

Species

Communities

Conservation

And I have one other member of my committee that doesn't tell anyone what they have to know for the exam.

Holy fuck. :faint:

Good Luck! I remember my comps. I had to prepare for 48 essays for my Master's degree. I carried these little cards around w/ me for about 2 months. That what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger. I now teach classes for Master's degrees, and I try to be gentle w/ my students. Get off LBT and go study!!!