Here we go...

It is what it is...

I am about to embark on what will (hopefully) be the last art history exam I will ever take, the Second Qualifying Exam or (more commonly) "Orals." It is an intellectual rite of passage where you enter a room of three professors who proceed to grill you for up to two hours on an incredibly wide range of material (all of which, you need to have mastered). My exam will consist of a "focus area," Public Art in the U.S. since WW2, a "major field," Art Since 1900, and a "minor field," Film Studies. This test will take place in the first two weeks of September (date TBA) and will be followed (pass or fail) by sleep, beers, and my ecstatic attendance of at least two games of the Nationals trip to Citi Field. If all goes well, I will be a PhD "candidate" and can forever relinquish the title of "student" as I inch closer and closer to "doctor." This ultimate goal will, of course, guarantee me copious amounts of fame and notoriety, limitless fortune, and a lifetime of rewarding and stable employment.

And now for the studying: So it begins...

With less three months to go, today I'm starting to review some First Exam images and reading Erika Doss's Twentieth-Century American Art. I'm hoping to power through this book and refresh my major canonical images while also reviewing some European greatest hits on the old Powerpoints from two years ago. Met with focus-area professor last week, will be meeting with other major field professor tomorrow, so hopefully will be able to hammer down that bibliography by Thursday AM. Film studies I'll handle next week...