My blog needs a new title..

Injection molding my future? I don't know what I was thinking last February. That's corny, even by my standards..

I stopped posting because I was certain that no one was reading my blog. Posting to a blog that no one reads is very similar to talking to yourself, and I'm not that crazy, yet. But it has been brought to my attention that if you Google "plastics qualifying exam," this blog is the first thing that comes up.

So this means, twice a year, a handful of plastics engineering PhD students from UMass Lowell stumble across my blog. Of that handful, one or two of them actually read it. This has inspired me to revisit this blog.

So if you are preparing for the qualifying exam at the end of  summer break, I have 3 tips for you:

1. Study your ass off! I studied everyday for a month like it was my full-time job, and I barely passed. I have spoke to others who barely studied and passed, but I wouldn't risk it. Do your homework..
2. Talk to every Professor asking a question. Ask for a review session. We got a review session from most of the professors, the rest would at least give some helpful insight.
3. Bring a plastics dictionary and a stopwatch.

• The plastics dictionary is important. It can save you if you don't know one of the words in a question, but it can also help you answer questions you're unsure of.
• The stopwatch was very helpful to me. You get 30 minutes per question. Don't blow 90 minutes on one question and run out of time for the rest. If you haven't answered the question fully in 30 minutes, write that you ran out of time, and that you will come back to it if you can.

I'll try to post some more tips over the summer as soon as I think of a better title for my blog. Please leave some questions or comments below, that way I know I am not talking to myself.

Thanks for reading!

-Guthrie

Qualifying Exam

I must admit, I forgot about this page that I made.. I entered a Google search for "UML plastics qualifying exam," and this was the fifth page to turn up.

Anyways, I am anxiously awaiting my results from taking the qualify exam two weeks ago. That's right, two weeks. Could you imagine having to wait two weeks to find the results to a test that decides your future?

Here is how the test works:
Closed book: 2 Questions in 4 subjects (Materials, Design, Processing, Properties) 4 hours to complete. Go home, cry yourself to sleep. Then come back the next day and repeat the test for the open book section.
You need to pass 2 questions in each subject and 11/16 overall.

I can say hands down, this exam is the most miserable experience I have willingly put myself through. I studied for three weeks like it was a full time job. Between gathering information from other students, arranging study sessions with teachers asking questions, and having group studies with classmates, I have to had put in at least 40 hours per week. Actually taking the test was one of the most stressful experiences of my life. I have had nightmares about not knowing answers to simple questions, running out of time, and only getting two questions right on the entire exam.

I really hope that I passed, because I know that it would take a lot for me to put myself through this again. Stay tuned...