Getting your first real critique of your art in a portfolio review is brutal and clarifying. Bring a notebook, not armor.

Defending your work during a critique converts information into an argument, and you walk out with the argument instead of the information. The stinging part is real: you cannot yet see your own pieces from outside, so hearing somebody describe them accurately feels like being described yourself. Writing it down puts a gap between hearing a note and deciding whether it is right.

Take everything down and argue with nothing in the room. Afterwards, look for the note that two different people gave. That one is about the work rather than about taste.