Choose the correct letter, A, B or C. What does Howard say was his main concern a year before?

Joanne:  Hi, Howard. Haven’t seen you for a while.
Howard: Hi Joanne. Yeah, they are keeping us really busy on the postgraduate program, but how are you? You’ll be starting your dissertation soon, won’t you?
Joanne:  Yeah, tutorials start next week. I’ve got Dr. Peterson. You still remember him from last year, of course.
Howard: It’s not something you forget easily. But seriously, although I didn’t expect to enjoy writing my dissertation, and in fact, I didn’t really find it much fun, I wouldn’t miss the experience. I found it really improved my understanding of the whole degree program, you know, from the first year on.
Joanne:  Right.
Howard:  So what are you doing yours on?
Joanne:  Glaciated landscapes. Although I haven’t decided exactly what aspect yet.
Howard: I did mine on climate systems, so I can’t help you much, I’m afraid. But you’ll be fine once you start your tutorials. Dr. Peterson will help you focus.
Joanne:  I know, and he’ll set me deadlines for the different stages, which is what I need. My concern is that I’ve got tons of material on the
topic, and I won’t be able to stick to the word limit, you know?
Howard: I remember I had different concerns when I was doing my dissertation.
Joanne:  Last year?
Howard: Yeah, before my first trial, I did a lot of fairly general reading because I hadn’t fixed on my topic that stage. I actually enjoyed that quite a lot, and you know, it improved my reading speed. I had got through a lot of material, but I was frightened I wouldn’t remember it all, so I got into the habit of making very detailed notes.
Joanne: So, did you find your tutor helpful in getting you started?
Howard: Yeah, we certainly had some interesting discussions. But it’s funny I saw a brilliant program about climate change, and it was that that fired me up. It was talking about some recent research which seemed to contradict some of the articles I’ve been reading.