Always Up-to-Date: Learning Resources

This is my always up-to-date page of Learning Resources. As I navigate the PhD process, I will make sure to collect as many resources as I can.

STATISTICS

Learning the Basics

• Khan Academy: Probability & Statistics
• Khan Academy provides short videos that cover the basics of probability and statistics.

Using Statistical Programs

• How to Stats
• This is a YouTube channel. The link above is for their blog page, in which they categorize all the topics they have covered. 
• The focus is on SPSS. 
• Introduction to STATA
• This is a tutorial website by Princeton and emphasizes data management and graphics.
• SAS Learning Modules
• This is a tutorial website by UCLA and covers all the basics of working in SAS.
• Try R
• Try by Code School. This is a fun, and short intro to the basis in R.

PROGRAMMING

Learning to Code

• Code Academy
• I used this to teach myself Python.
• Code School
• I use this to learn Git.
• W3Schools
• I used this (a long time ago now) to teach myself HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and SQL

Programming Languages

• Python
• This is a brief intro in programming with Python.
• R Tutorial
• Go beyond the basics by reading through the modules in this Tutorial.

Productivity Tactic #3: Captain's Log

I have often been told:

"If you didn't write it down, it didn't happen."

And I never wanted to listen. It just took too much time and effort to write things down. But when I started my PhD, I knew I would need some sort of way to make sure that I stayed on track. These kinds of programs are by design structureless. So as a student who refuses to go ABD (All But Dissertation), imposing a structure on myself is absolutely imperative.

Enter my Captain's Log

And yes, this is a Star Trek reference.

I used GoogleForms to create a log for my daily activities. In it, I track if I engaged in scholarly activities (reading, writing, data collection/analysis), teaching activities, or service activities. I also track a few personal metrics such as the miles I walked,  (see The Year to Thrive and 1,000 Miles).

At the end of the week, I can access the data summary that Google so nicely puts together.

Productivity Tactic #2: Rescue Time

My computer is the source of all the things. It is both my place of work and entertainment. I connect with my family and friends and conduct meetings. I have all the papers that I am writing for my degree as well as a science fiction I have been working on. I learn by participating in Coursera classes and I play video games (Civ V, anyone?).

Given that all productive and downtime activities take place on the same screen, I have to be careful about how I spend my time. I discussed before the importance of staying away from my browser (thank you, Mailbox). Today I want to talk about RescueTime.

RescueTime tracks all the things you do on your computer. From the specific websites you access on your browser, to the programs you use such as Word or Mendeley. You can access your dashboard to see how you use your computer time. You can also classify certain activities from very productive to very distracting.

My goal is to have my productivity pulse above 80. This is not always possible, since there are meetings to schedule, emails to respond to, and world news to keep up with. In general, as long I spend most of my time in the Composition and Learning categories, I call it a good day.

Productivity Tactic #1: Mailbox

A lot of my work takes place in a web browser. Unfortunately, that is where all my distractions happen too.

In order to minimize distractions, I have been finding ways to move my work away from the web browser. Enter Mailbox for Mac.

It was quite a quest to get a betacoin in order to have the Maibox app for my mac, but I am very happy.

The best part of this app is that it allows you to defer mail to later in the day, the next day, the next week, or at any point in time that you choose.

This has allowed me to move email tasks from my inbox to a later day when they have to be completed. Clearing my inbox is akin to clearing my mind. If I am not looking at an interminable list of email to-dos, I can focus on the task at hand.

Stages of Studying for Comps

Comprehensive exams are a thing of legend. Every PhD hopeful must endure the process of preparing and must survive the exams themselves. If you have not taken these exams, here is what is in store for you:

Vague Awareness
At the start of your PhD program, you know you will have to face comps one day... but that day is not here yet... it is not even happening this year!

Reality Shock
Somehow, you managed to complete all your coursework and now the faculty have scheduled your comps - in a few weeks!

Panic Mode, Engaged
This happened much too soon... there is so much material to review... did you even learn what you were supposed to?

Despair
Nope. You most certainly did not learn anything. You know nothing. At all. Not a single thing. Time is ticking.

Confusion
You get over the despair and begin to study. And as you review, you realize that you don't even remember half of these things. What is the difference between moderated mediation and mediated moderation? Is that even a thing?

Anger
You have spent so much time studying and it dawns on you: most of the material has nothing to do with your research interests. Why are the faculty even testing you on this? Don't they know you need to focus and publish?

Studying
Once you let go of all the emotions, you get to work. You have to take comps soon!

Panic Mode, 2.0
It is too much. There is so little time. There is no way in the world a single human could possibly learn all of this. You panic. Again.

Determination
You finally realize that every single PhD you know has gone through this. You are not alone. You are capable. You can do this!

More Studying
Yes! You got a second wind and this time YOU KNOW you can handle it!

Exhaustion
After your second wind and new-found determination, you study like never before. Now, you have ben studying for so long... you can't possibly do any more.

Sleeplessness
The exams start tomorrow. And sleep is elusive. You ponder all of the life choices that led you to this moment. You wonder if you are smart enough, and if you have what it takes.

The Exam
The exams begin. Somehow, you manage to type ALL THE WORDS. You write pages and pages and pages. Everything you know - everything you are - is poured into this exam.

Post-Exam
You are done with this exam. You can't even make it home. You are so done.

The Wait
All you have left to do now is wait for your faculty to decide if you pass...

The Results
You somehow manage to pass this hurdle. You should celebrate!! Be happy!

The Next Step
You are now ready for the next stage: the dissertation! Keep pushing!

The day before comps

Tomorrow, I finally take my comps. FINALLY.

Sadly, I did not get to take today off... I had so much to do before tomorrow.

In an ideal world, I would have one more week to practice more questions and really memorize all the cites. Though I am not sure this will make a big difference.

I began this blog as a way to keep myself motivated and focused during the time I had to study for comps. There have been many ups and downs in this process. If anyone were to look at the number of posts per day, it would be very easy to see which days were the better ones.

Despite any challenges (and there were many), I managed to review and write about every topic for the exam. I also was able to make electronic flashcards and table of articles. Unexpectedly, I even made regular flashcards and practiced writing out all the cites multiple times (an inherently difficult task because of my dyslexia).

The only thing I did not do was to practice more questions. But after one question it was clear my biggest weakness was the memorization of all the citations. And this is how I have tried to spend my days.

All there is left to do is to be confident that my preparation will be evident as I take the test.

As expected, I will be away for the next few days.

¡Si se puede!

... and it continues

Since 90% of the test relies on memorization, this is all I have done today.

Yesterday I focused on making flashcards for economic foundations topics. Today I practiced over and over and over until I could write out all those cites and their key ideas.

My goal is to complete the sociological foundations flashcards today. Tomorrow, I plan to practice until I know them. I will be making the last set of theory flashcards tomorrow as well.

On Tuesday, I will practice until all I can write out all the theory cites (just under 120) and all the theories (just over 20).

Just a few more days to comps...

Just studying

All I plan to do from now until the test is to keep reviewing. I am still making flashcards by hand. And I am still memorizing all the information in the tables of articles.

Grad School Wisdom

"True wisdom begins when we accept things as they are"

I came across this quote while watching cartoons. It was quite unexpected. And yet it was perfect.

With so little time to my comps, I am naturally stressed. Every PhD student I have spoken with describes the comps as one of the lowest and most stressful moments of the journey.

I admit that I am fortunate in that I had 4 weeks to exclusively focus on the exam. I had no other classes, no teaching duties, and very few RA responsibilities.

However, I am not fortunate in that my exam is closed notes and closed book. I do not understand why this has to be the case. Other majors in the school are allowed notes. And I know of several schools that allow notes as well. Furthermore, when writing papers, I will never have to cite something without the opportunity to look it up.

Memorizing the material does not upset me. But I do feel it has detracted from my focus of synthesizing what I have learned. The learning process for each activity is significantly different. We are going to be tested on our ability to synthesize, sure. But we also have to memorize.

I have devoted more than a few hours lamenting this fact. And I have been struggling to balance one set of activities over the other. Naturally, I have prioritized synthesizing. This activity is a lot closer to the ideal of being an academic: reading and writing and thinking and learning and imagining the possibilities of new things.

But with so little time to go, it has become apparent I must simply accept this is what my test will be: it will require memorization. As hard as it is to believe, I have never had to memorize before. I have always taken the time to learn. And I am including all the econometric proofs I had to learn for my methods classes.

I will now stop using my time pondering why my comps are structured this way, and instead focus on creative ways to ensure that all the pieces of information I need in order to talk about these topics intelligently (or as close to that as possible) are stored in my brain by next week.

The Final Countdown

My comprehensive exams are in 21 days. Just today, I was informed the source materials for the exam have doubled. Doubled!

I have been enjoying my time preparing for "the last exam I will ever take." It has been a fantastic opportunity to review the material I have been exposed to, and an interesting way to develop and refine my research interests.

With three weeks to go, I had plenty of time to really delve into all the subjects and synthesize the information that I was learning at a deep level. Now, with double the material, I am afraid I will need to rush the process. It is disheartening that I will not have the time to understand the added material at the level that I was aiming.

My strategy to study and pass comps will have to change:

¡Arriba y Adelante!

UPDATE: And now the person in charge has decided that we will stick with the original plan!

Lego Calendar

I am having a hard time getting started today. So I decided to get warmed up by writing about how I like to stay organized. More specifically, how I organize my time.

The LEGO Calendar

Lego Calendar Awesomeness!

Why It's AWESOME

It is (in my own biased opinion) the best way to think about time. It is both visual and tangible. Each little block represents 30 minutes of time. As I plan my week, I can see and feel how much time I have and how much time I dedicate to each of my priorities. Nothing has made me realize the importance of prioritizing as holding a handful of legos in my hand. As I place a block on each day, I can literally feel the hours flying away.


How I Built It

Materials:

• Lego Grey Baseplate
• Lego Basic Bricks Deluxe Box
• Specialty Pieces:
• Flat Tile 2x4, Item: 87079, Qty. 1
• Flat Tile 2x4, Item: 87079, Qty. 27
• Flat Tile 1x2, Item: 3069, Qty.  6
• Plate 1x2, Item: 3023, Qty.  6
• Plate 2x4, Item: 3020, Qty. 1
• Plate 2x4, Item: 3020, Qty. 27

Build it:

1. Understand the layout
   I wanted to have seven columns. One for Labels, five for the days of the week, and one extra. I also wanted to have 10 hours of scheduling time per day. This meant that the first column had to be placed one stud from the edge. Here is an image with a clear map of the layout. Each label piece uses a plate and a flat piece. This makes the labels stand out more.
   
   You can choose to not purchase the plates and use the flat pieces only!
2. Choose your colors and activities
   The Deluxe Box comes with nine colors. So make sure you choose your activities based on the number of pieces. For instance, there are more blue than brown pieces. Thus, I chose blue for my main activity (studying for comps as of this writing), and brown for my Yoga class. The red pieces go in the row labeled red, to indicate deadlines.
3. Make the Labels
   I have a label maker, so I made a few labels with the days of the week, times, and names of my activities.

Use it:

Each day has two columns. The first one belongs to me and the second one to my officemate. The "other" column has the key to the meaning of the colors. Since we are both at different stages on the program, her days revolve around classes. We also included Lego figures of each of us, for funsies!

Naturally, most of my time is dedicated to comps. I have some admin time scheduled for research assistant tasks, and just an hour a day for my own research. I also have one long meeting scheduled each week. That is the time I dedicate to discussion of theories with my classmates.

I came about this distribution of tasks by thinking how much time of my day at the office I wanted (or needed) to spend on each activity. For example, if I am at the office 45 hours each week, I do not want more than five and a half hours per week spent on breaks. So I gathered enough black blocks and decided how that time would be distributed. Once those blocks were gone, there is no more time I can spend on that activity.

This calendar can also work for one person. The first column can represent the "ideal" day, and the second column can represent the "actual" day.


TL;DR

• Legos allow you to see and feel how you spend your time - awesome!
• Each block represents half an hour.
• Think about your priorities and how much time you can/need to spend on them.
• Assign the right number and color of blocks to each activity.
• Build your calendar!

Have you built something similar? Please share!