Hi. I am a first year PhD in molecular biology. I am now well into my first year and I feel I have not achieved much. I've done a lot of reading and some basic lab stuff. How much are you expected to do in your first year? My supervisors are pretty laid-back and I don't want to appear paranoid. Would be grateful for your views.
If your fellow PhD students are telling you not to panic then you should probably take their advice. Some people are lucky and find the things that work straight away, most people have to spend more time finding out which approaches don't work first. It's research - it's meant to be difficult and it's often slow. The results that take up most of your thesis may be achieved in only a few days.
The alternative is to do four or five different things per day, that way at least one of them should work.
Ater,
They wont send you off because your skills aren't what they're looking for. , nor your knowledge. The point in doing a PhD is that you are still a student and still learning. It is their job to make sure you learn skills and gain knowledge. If they don't feel you are progressing enough, or putting enough effort in they may do though.
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