<p>I finished my first oral exam in graduate school. What was your first oral exam like? How was the grade distribution? In my Masters program, the first oral exam in midway through the first semester, covering everything from the class up to that point. </p>
<p>I got a 90-92 (B+ at my school). I read that a B+ is bad in graduate school and you should only be getting A’s? The average grade for the exam was a B. </p>
<p>I’m excellent at getting the big picture and thinking abstractly, but I didn’t get an A because my ability to think concretely about specific details and examples needs improvement. </p>
<p>Has anyone who thinks the way I do overcome this issue? I’ve never been good at thinking in terms of specifics, it is unnatural for me.</p>
<p>Every question asking me to think abstractly about an issue or provide a defensible opinion I was able to answer with a compelling narrative, but when asked about specifics I had difficulty articulating the finer details.</p>
<p>What kind of exam was this? For many fields (such as my own, electrical engineering), the only oral exams are pass/fail and departmental, part of the PhD process (such as qualifying exams or defending your dissertation).</p>
<p>FWIW, I thought my first oral exam (my qualifying) was an absolute train wreck, but I passed so that perhaps shows how perspectives can differ.</p>
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Course grades are not the same as exam grades. Also, it is better to think in terms of GPA - most programs have a minimum GPA in the 3.00-3.25 range and an average GPA in the 3.5-3.75 range, which means that any way you look at it there are a lot of B’s. I generally say that a B outside your specific research area is fine so long as there are not too many of them.</p>
<p>In my PhD program the oral exams are very individualized per person, so there’s no grade distribution - it’s either pass or fail (and you can pass with distinction) but I don’t know anyone who has failed the exam. What we do is design two reading lists; one has to be about health behaviors and the other about health systems/administration (I’m in a public health program). You read the reading lists and then have a ~2 hour conversation with two examiners about the scope of your lists. The lists, theoretically, are related to your dissertation research and the orals help determine whether you are ready to begin your dissertation.</p>
<p>If the average is a B then a B+ is above average and you’re fine. Although it’s generally true that a B+ is not the greatest, you have to go by the conventions of your program. In my program nobody cares if you get an A or a B.</p>
<p>Perhaps when you are reading, you need to make notes in the margins or on post-its. Take a moment after each big idea to think of a concrete example or specific detail and jot it down.</p>