Here are just some ideas to get you started:
- If you have no idea of the answer (taken from Prof. Smith’s 22.251 slides 2013 fall):
- Say so, don't bs.
- Start with something related that you know of, describe the process you would use to get the answer, and regain your composure and confidence.
- Be able to estimate the order of magnitude of quantities. Be careful about the units. Be careful about the sign (e.g., positive vs. negative temperature coefficients). Good examples: first day exams from 22.211(fall 2011), 22.251 (fall 2013).
- Practise speaking in front of people loudly and clearly with confidence. Practise how to handle a question that you have not though of before. Practise how to break a big question apart into several points to attack.
- Always start with an outline of what you are going to talk about if you can. For instance, for the second problem you are not going to have enough time to work everything out in the 5 mins given, but rather you should make a quick outline about stuff you feel comfortable talking about, and write down a few key words to help yourself remember what to talk about.
- For the prepared question, every sub-field (e.g., in fission there are reactor physics, thermal hydraulics, material etc) has a different style and require a different approach, so definitely talk to a senior grad student in your group for suggestions!
The following information is specific to your chosen field:
- Fission students: * Prof. Smith did a mock oral exam practise for 22.211 in Spring 2012, and it is definitely a good practise for at least the neutronics folks!# NST students: Mareena Robinson generously shared her experience on how to prepare NST's oral exams:
- As an NST student, your oral exam is two parts: (i) an article you pick to be grilled on and (ii) questions the committee prepares to grill you on. For the first section, you are allowed to prepare 3-5 slides to help you through your article presentation. I personally recommend using those slides as reminders of things you know you're not going to remember in your head: complex equations, specific times or durations of reactions or decays, complex graphs that you can't seem to remember in high stress situations, etc. Since NST is so broad, from nuclear security to quantum computing, every one on your committee will probably not be an expect on the article you choose. Make sure you know the big picture stuff as well; the questions that a novice in your field would ask. Those tend to be the unexpected easy questions that you don't prepare for.
- Also, if you are fortunate enough to have an idea of who will be on your oral committee, brush up as best you can on their area of expertise. From my oral experience, the questions they gave me for the second portion of my exam really reflected their interests. So if you know you're going to have Scott Kemp on your oral, know a thing or two about enrichment technologies, just as an example. If you're more on the detection side, know the basics (basics being everything the Knoll Chp 1-14). It may not show up on your oral but it would suck if it did and you didn't know it. All in all, just don't loose your nerve and say something blatantly wrong. If you don't know something and can't seem to reason through it, just say you don't know.
Credit:
Dr. John Bernard
Mareena Robinson
Prof. Kord Smith