Graduate: PhD Program

Doctoral Preliminary Exam

Each Ph.D. student must pass the doctoral preliminary exam, which consists of both a written and oral component. Both written and oral parts are prepared and conducted by the dissertation committee appointed by the GPD. Unanimous approval is required for passing the preliminary examination. Students must pass both the written and oral parts to pass the preliminary exam. The specific requirements are described below.

Written Component

In the written component of the preliminary exam, each Ph.D. student is required to prepare a research-oriented written document in consultation with the dissertation committee. The written document should describe the current research status in a targeted topic. It should include but not limited to the following items:
  1. appropriate literature search and overview/review;
  2. potential research problems, and 
  3. possible approaches to take.
The document should be written clearly, using the correct mathematical notation, style, and format.

Oral Component

Upon passing the written component of the preliminary exam, each Ph.D. student should prepare for the oral component of the preliminary exam, which is administered by the dissertation committee. The oral part of the preliminary exam should be conducted within one month of passing the written component. In the oral component of the preliminary exam, the student is required to present and defend the written document. The committee must evaluate the oral exam and decide on one of three options.
  1. The committee unanimously agrees that the work was satisfactory. This constitutes a score of Pass on the oral component of the preliminary exam. 
  2. The committee unanimously agrees that the work was unsatisfactory. This constitutes a score of Fail on the oral component of the preliminary exam. 
  3. The committee decides to require the student to complete additional work before assigning a score to the exam. This may occur if the student demonstrated mostly satisfactory work but showed deficiency in some component. Upon completion of the additional work, the committee decides on options 1 or 2.
Once the committee unanimously agrees upon a score of Pass or Fail on the oral component, they must give their decision on the Preliminary Exam Evaluation Form.
 
A score of Fail on the oral component constitutes failure of the preliminary exam. In this case, the dissertation committee may choose to allow at most one re-examination. The re-examination will not be permitted during the semester in which the preliminary examination was failed. If the student fails to pass the re-examination, the Graduate School will send the student a letter of dismissal from the program.
Each Ph.D. student is required to pass the preliminary exam by the beginning of the 7th semester. Failure to do so will result in dismissal from the program.