When and How To Start Thinking About Your Prelims Reading List

Welcome back to our February series on preparing for your prelims/field exams. Today we are addressing the first step in the prelim process: creating your prelim reading list. The next post in our series will address some best practices for creating the list, but this post is dedicated to what might be the most overwhelming, ill-defined part of the prelims process–conceptualizing the work your prelims list needs to do. Once that piece is in place putting together the list becomes a fairly straightforward task.

Hey There! I’m so happy you found this post! In the first year of abd2phd, I did a month long blog series on how to survive your prelims. Since then, I’ve updated this advice with what I’ve learned from clients and what I’ve learned about executive function. I created a series of worksheets to cover everything from your prelim timeline to assignments you could give your students if you have to teach during your prelims. I’ve put that all together in one place for your convenience. You can buy it here.