The UCSB IAS comprehensive exam is the first major hurdle in your graduate career. It’s a 3-day writing marathon designed to test your (1) mastery of the available literature on general topics + specializations and (2) ability to critically assess said literature.


Start early

Start early, work gradually. Build up an outline for general topics and each of your specialization topics (which you should clear with your advisor beforehand). Add relevant info that you may glean from papers/books/lectures/conferences. Keep an organized notebook dedicated to comps.

Use concept maps

For each topic of study, generate a concept map. Check out Carmen’s blog on this topic and watch this Youtube video.

Sort PDFs and citations

Keeping PDFs and citations organized, accessible, and tabulated is key. Use Mendeley or other PDF organizer to sort papers and citations. Install a citation plug-in inside Word, so inserting citations while writing the exam will be fast and easy.

Website last updated: 2022-04-04.