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PhD Qualifying Exams -- Are they being phased out?
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[QUOTE="George Jones, post: 6849292, member: 31570"] At my university, there was only an oral component. Each exam was set by the Qualify Exam Committee (QEC), and consisted of 5 problems, one each from: classical mechanics; electromagnetism; condensed matter/solid state; thermodynamics/statistical mechanics; quantum mechanics. Format. The student only had to attempt 4 of the 5 problems. To start, the student was left alone in the room (without books, cheat sheets, etc.) for 20 minutes. After this the, QEC committee came in, and the student started solving the problems on the board. If the student adequately solved a problem, then they could move on to another problem. If the student floundered on a problem, then the QEC would ask all kinds of questions about the subject area. After finishing, the student waited in the hall while the committee deliberated on the outcome Three possible outcomes: 1) outright pass; 2) pass with weakness in 1 area; 3) fail. If 2), then, then the student had to compete and submit a report that sytheized the weak area. If 3), then the student got 1 more chance before being booted. Frequency of outcomes, from greatest to smallest: 2); 1); 3). [/QUOTE]
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PhD Qualifying Exams -- Are they being phased out?
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