Graduate student comments about the Qualifying Exam
Your qualifying exam committee is not necessarily the same group as your thesis
committee although this is often the case. Check the rules for selecting each group.
They're different.
Consult closely with your advisor on the issue of your qualifying exam as he/she is the
designated committee chair and should be your closest ally.
Know from your advisor and committee members what to expect. These exams can vary
in duration from 30 minutes to 4 hours and in substance from rigorous fact recollection to
casual problem solving. It's generally a good idea to meet at least once with each
member or your orals committee well before the exam. They can often provide reading
suggestions and some general thoughts on the sort of questions they might like to ask.
Generally, the more contact you have with your committee members before the exam, the
more smoothly the exam goes.
Talk with other students who have had various faculty members on their committees.
You can get an idea of what sort of questions to expect.
Some examples of "reasonably broad topics" are as follows: Tropical ecology,
herpetology, plant systematics, molecular evolution, invertebrate paleontology,
biomechanics, ichthyology, wildlife management, developmental genetics, population
ecology, animal behavior, evolutionary theory, histology, chemical oceanography,
plant/insect interactions, vertebrate physiology, systematics, invertebrate biology, etc.
Ask other students for recommendations.
Be prepared to demonstrate your proficiency in prescribed course work.
In setting a date for this exam, plan well in advance. Keep in mind that you must work
around sabbaticals, field seasons, conferences, etc. Professors are notoriously difficult to
track down; getting four of them in the same room at the same time can sometimes be
next to impossible, so be prepared with many alternative dates.
It is helpful to give committee members an outline of your proposed thesis. This often
helps direct discussion during the exam.
Most students prepare and present an oral presentation on their system and proposed
thesis topic. Often the questions in your exam are based on ideas presented by you in this
presentation; having the questions start with familiar material can help ease you into what
is often a stressful situation.
In setting a time, most folks recommend mid-late morning (maybe you'll get out before
lunch!)
Some graduate students bring some sort of snack to the exam (bagels, cream cheese, juice
and coffee) to share with your committee members. However, it is not necessary to bribe
them with food in order to pass the exam. But it does help- ideally, they’ll be at least a
little distracted by the food.
It might be useful to have someone outside your field on your committee. This might
allow you to develop clear answers that any scientist could understand. Also, it might
give you the opportunity to present knowledge on a topic that you wouldn't normally
share with someone well acquainted with your field.
As uncomfortable it is to consider, occasionally students fail this exam in our department.
Without dwelling on it, consider the situation beforehand.
Students generally are very relieved when it's over, but most are disappointed in some
aspect of their performance or in their committee's questions or both . . . it takes a little
while to get back to normal. Be patient with yourself; everyone deals with the stress
from this exam differently and it’s not unusual to find yourself uninterested in work for a
while.