Qualifying Exams for the Ph.D. Programs

The written qualifying exams cover three subject areas and test material from the following courses:

• Languages: CS 440 and CS 536
• Systems: CS 450 and CS 550
• Theory: CS 430 and CS 535

  Removed 2012-02-27: Note: Students admitted before the fall 2011 semester have the option to pass a theory qualifier exam covering CS 430 and CS 530. This option will terminate starting spring 2012. A study guide for the old theory exam is available.

There is a Study Guide for the Written Qualifying Exams. It includes a number of previous exams.

The written exams are given every spring and fall semester. Students who want to take them should contact the Ph.D. coordinator for times and places. Once given, the results of the written exams will be available within ten days. A student who fails a subject area has ten days from the date of notification to submit a written request for re-scoring of the exam for that area. The request should be submitted to the Ph.D. coordinator and must include an explanation of why the student believes that the score of the exam is incorrect.

Some graduate courses are allowed (but not required) to have special Ph.D. Qualifier sections:

• CS 530: Theory
• CS 535: Theory
• CS 536: Languages
• CS 550: Systems

• Languages: CS 536
• Systems: CS 550
• Theory: CS 530 and CS 535

Students who earn an A when registered in a special PhD Qualifier section are deemed to have passed the corresponding area exam. Students in these sections may be required to do extra work and/or be graded in a different manner from students in the regular sections. These differences will be announced by the course instructor at the beginning of the semester. Earning less than an A in a special PhD Qualifier section of a course does not count as a written exam attempt. Note: For the Theory area, an A in either CS 530 or CS 535 suffices.

The purpose of the oral qualifying exam is to judge the research capabilities of a student — to determine whether or not the student is capable of the academic elements that constitute the research process. These elements may be categorized as:

• Scholarly review of a topic.
• Formal description of a problem.
• Familiarity with techniques that may be useful in solving the problem.
• Innovative ideas useful for solving the problem.
• The capability to present the work above in written and oral form.

It is expected that the student address these requirement by presenting one or more research problems. The student should carefully review each problem, exhibit knowledge of techniques required to solve the problems, propose partial or full solutions, and show prospects for further research, if possible. While the student may address more than one problem, the student should guard against simply reviewing a number of problems. It is possible that the student has published results based on the presented research. This would be additional evidence of the student's research capabilities.

The following procedural rules applyDropped 2012-02-27: from Spring 2004 onward:

• The PhD coordinator will coordinate the exam. The exam is to be held at the beginning of the semester, and the date, time, and schedule should be announced at least two weeks in advance.
• The student will be examined by a faculty group that excludes the advisor. Each group will decide the format of the exam. This could be:
  • A description of research of the student's choice.
  • A specific paper/topic assignment for the student.
• A written report may be required.
• The examination methodology should be announced to the student well in advance.
• The exam will be closed. The presentation should take 20 minutes; this is a general guideline that can be modified by the examination committee.
• A review of the examination will be given to the student along with the result of the exam within a week of the exam.