Jadon Buzzard

(Note: These tips will be most applicable to first-year PhD students in economics or related programs with an intense class load, but they might be helpful in other academic disciplines.)

A few months ago, I finished my first year of Ph.D. econ coursework and qualifying exams. More than once I questioned my decision to apply to Ph.D. programs–I’d heard horror stories about the rigor of the economics course sequence. Keeping up with everyone else in my cohort seemed daunting, and I felt that my math and stats background was subpar compared to others.

Despite definite challenges, the first year ended up being much more successful than I had anticipated. As such, I decided to write down several of the biggest lessons that I learned. (Also: I entered the program married with 5month old child, so you’ll see references to my wife and daughter peppered throughout the post!)

Tip 1: Quality study time really matters.

Studying in first-year econ grad school is about condensing the information you’ve learned into digestible chunks and building enough intuition to tackle problems that require implementing this information in new ways. It’s about figuring out what works for you in each class, and sticking to it. This requires developing a kind of pattern recognition in order to identify what is and what isn’t valuable to study.

What helped me was adapting my study routine to the requirements posed by each class. After taking a few exams, I realized that my study methods for some subjects couldn’t readily extend to others. For micro theory classes, I could do well by focusing on practice tests, often without redoing problem sets. In econometrics, redoing problem sets and typing up my notes were essential. In math econ, a conceptual understanding and intuition went a long way. Macro was harder; for me, it required all three elements to do well. I also started typing my notes into LaTeX starting in the second semester. This was the major boost I needed to keep on track with classes that were definitely harder than they were in the first semester.

Of course, you should be careful not to waste lots of time. Spending hours and hours social media or YouTube will probably reduce your class performance (though you do need breaks). But also keep in mind that your number of study hours does not necessarily linearly improves testing outcomes. The old mantra applies here: quality over quantity. Find what works for you to build the essential toolkit you need to succeed in a particular class, and stick to it! And when you start hitting those diminishing returns, don’t be afraid to take a break.

Tip 2: Scheduled consistency >> motivational bursts

I often mistakenly assumed that my motivation throughout the academic semester would remain constant whatever level of motivation I had at the beginning. But energy and drive will subside as the semester progresses. Occasionally, I get bursts of energy that I can ride for a while, but they eventually dissipate. I quickly learned that relying on the adrenaline boost I’d get a few days before a big exam wouldn’t be enough to get me through the program. And since I have a family that I need to spend time with, I couldn’t just study whenever I wanted. I needed a system.

About four weeks into the first semester, our first wave of exams hit. Except it wasn’t really a first wave—it felt like we had prelims every week or two from that point until finals. It was one big wave. To survive, I naturally fell into a rhythm that went something like this: wake up, spend time & eat breakfast with my family, go to class, eat lunch (sometimes while studying), study for several hours, go to the second class, come home and eat dinner with my family, maybe go on a walk or watch a show with my wife, then put my daughter to bed and study until around 11pm. This let me get around 6 hours of studying in on a good day, outside of class time.

There were days when I had to do much more than this. Sometimes I stayed up working on problem sets until 3 am, and I often woke up very early to study when we had exams. Other days I ran out of steam early, or opted to spend the whole evening with my family. Some days felt highly productive; others not so much. But by the end of each semester, my exam grades were consistently at or above the upper quartile for all classes, and I attribute that largly to maintaining schedule.

Tip 3: Failure is an opportunity to change trajectory.

With any high-effort activity, failure is part of the game. You can’t always perform your best. But trajectory matters a lot in terms of signaling your aptitude to coaches and teachers. You don’t need to go from being the absolute worst to the absolute best, but failure provides an opportunity to establish a floor. It is a benchmark; the goal is to stay far above that floor in your subsequent performances.

The worst performance I had on any test was on the first Micro midterm. This also happened to be the first graded work I had returned to me in the program, and it psychologically crushed me. I was easily in the bottom quartile of the grade distribution, and it was in a class I (presumably) had a comparative advantage in. I began to question whether I was cut out for a PhD program after all. If I was already doing this badly, I didn’t want to know how the other exams would turn out.

After meeting with my professor, I reallocated more time to studying for Micro during the rest of the semester. I started studying 1.5 weeks in advance of any tests, and I made sure to thoroughly solve lots of old prelim questions before each test. I didn’t know how well I’d end up doing, but my goal was simple: stay away from the floor I set in the first midterm. And it worked. I even topped the class in the second midterm and final. If I hadn’t done so poorly on that first exam, I probably wouldn’t have done so well overall.

Grades don’t really matter in the PhD, but I think this kind of mindset is true for other academic goals as well. Research often has ups and downs that could topple even the most confident academic. Again, if you look at failure as setting a floor for your performance, it won’t demotivate you as much as it might otherwise.

Tip 4: You can’t do everything yourself.

Highly motivated, type-A people tend to underrely on others for help. I don’t mean help with coursework necessarily, though some people would certainly benefit from that as well. I mean emotional support—someone who can give good advice about handling the pressures of a challenging situation.

My wife gave me many pep talks during the first semester. I can’t tell you how many times she had to talk some sense into me when I bemoaned the fact that I might fail out or didn’t get a good enough grade on an exam. She provided objectivity that was missing in my own perspective. Talking to my fellow classmates frequently also provided a much-needed sense of solidarity and camaraderie, helping me realize I wasn’t in this alone.

One of my biggest pieces of advice for newcomers to the PhD world is to fight the urge to self-isolate in intense environments and realize that everyone else is feeling a similar sense of impending doom. Talking it through with family, friends, or your advisor is very important for processing both failures and successes. Try to meet regularly with someone (or several people) in your program to debrief from all the stress. Be open and honest with them, and expect openness and honesty in return. If you have an advisor willing to meet with you regularly, take them up on the offer. They’ve gone through the fire before and know it’ll all be okay on the other side.

Tip 5: Breaks avoid burnout.

If you are constantly trying to run at 100%, you will let other things in your life slip, which will make you miserable later on. Avoid this at all costs. Take breaks, go outside, take up a hobby, go to cookouts—anything to get away once in a while. Of course, this is easier for some people than for others. But many PhD students push themselves so hard that they burn out when performance matters most, like during quals or finals. Remember, it’s much better to get an average grade on a midterm and the final than to ace the midterm and fail the final. Similarly, it’s much better to get a B+ in a class and pass the qualifying exam than to get an A+ in the class and fail the qualifying exam.

Burnout was not something I considered enough when tackling classes in the first year. I prioritized studying over everything else to avoid failing out, but I definitely noticed a toll on my mental and physical health halfway through the year. I wish I had been much more intentional about taking breaks when I needed them. Instead of scrolling through Twitter/X, go outside for a walk. Listen to your favorite podcast. See if anyone in the cohort wants to meet for lunch. Feel free to take a weekend off, especially if you begin feeling emotionally or mentally overwhelmed. These are all healthy practices that can get your mind off the immediate problem set you’re working on and will likely lead to better overall performance in the first year.