Doctoral student and NSF Fellow, Paul Delgado discussed "Qualifying Exams Demystified" in September 2012.  He used metaphors and illustrations from "Lord of the Rings" as he presented effective strategies to prepare and excel in graduate preliminary, qualifying, and comprehensive exams.  You can watch the recorded session at http://bit.ly/Paul_Delgado_ELAwebinar. 

More about the speaker: 

Paul Delgado is a 2nd year Computational Science PhD Student at the University of Texas at El Paso, specializing in modeling fluid flow through porous media.  He received an M.S. in Applied Mathematics from the University of New Mexico, and a B.S. in Mathematics and Spanish also from the University of New Mexico.  He has interned at NASA Ames Research Center, Los Alamos National Laboratories, and worked as a contractor with National Energy Technology Laboratory. He is a recipient of the NASA Training Project Scholarship, New Mexico Lottery Scholarship, and a National Science Foundation Fellowship (HRD-1139929).  He is also the author of 5! Calculus Jokes: For the Not-So-Typical Math Nerd.