Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Graduate students in a myriad of departments at UC Davis: engineering, physical sciences, agricultural and biological sciences, as well as the arts, humanities and social sciences are united by the common thread of the dreaded qualifying exam. For many graduate students this is one of the most uncertain, stressful, and time consuming aspects of their graduate education. This exam, may be written or oral or both, or follow any format according to the specific requirement of the graduate program. Although the content and structure of qualifying examinations varies widely by discipline, this information focuses on universal "strategies for success" that will be valuable to graduate students in all departments. This information will help to demystify the qualifying exam, and empower graduate students with the skills and strategies to feel confident and prepared when the time comes for their exam. In addition, this information is a resource for graduate student advisors to better achieve their mentoring goals. The following are the Five Golden Rules of qualifying exam preparation. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Understand the qualifying exam. Know your examiners. Prepare early. Reduce your stress. Have an exam day plan.
Students who follow these golden rules, in combination with close consultation with their adviser and committee members, will be superbly prepared for success on their qualifying exam. So, where and when do you start? Ideally you should start with golden rule #1 about six months before your qualifying exam. However, graduate students often begin preparation three or fewer months in advance and also have good success.
The best way to obtain this information is from a variety of sources. First and foremost ask your advisors for their input. Next ask these questions to all of your committee members, especially your chair. Cross check their answers to see if all of your committee members are on the same page when it comes to the time, format, and assessment. If not, then you may want to let your committee chair know so he or she can set the tone for your committee. Next, you should ask these questions to other graduate students in your department who have recently passed their qualifying exam. After you have mastered the time, format, and assessment of the qualifying exam you will have a complete understanding of what it is you are about to undertake. Next you are ready for golden rule #2.
This information is invaluable. It will help to put you at ease with their personalities, and can help you anticipate possible questions they may ask you.
answer is all up to you, and it gives you a chance to tell the committee about yourself, perhaps things they never knew before (where you grew up, childhood experiences, and inspiring events in your life). You also should think of the how I came to be here speech as a platform for you to plant seeds for further questions from your committee members. Any information which you give them in this speech may prompt additional questions from them, so be sure to mention things that you would be happy to discuss further. e. Prepare for anticipated questions. After you have reviewed the general and specific topics in your field, interviewed and met several times with your committee members, and have prepared your research proposal, you will have covered all of the potential topics that are game for your qualifying exam. As such, you should begin to generate anticipated questions. It is a little bit like predicting the future, but using what you have learned about the format and types of questions asked during exams, you should be able to come up with a few hundred potential questions. f. Set up a practice qualifying exam. Setting up a practice qualifying exam is an easy way to give you a taste of what to expect on exam day. Enlist the help of your colleagues, fellow graduate students, or even friends or family. Present to them your "how I came to be here" speech and your research proposal. Have one of them keep time for you, so you can adjust the length of your speech and proposal accordingly come exam day. Have them each ask you several of the anticipated questions that you have already formulated and even ones that they come up with themselves. Also ask them for critiques on your speech, volume and body language anything that you could work on before your oral exam. Also, try to conduct your mock exam in the same room in which you will have your qualifying exam. g. Review recent scientific journals. As the date of your qualifying exam approaches, be sure to read the latest editions of the most important research journals in your field and subfield. Being informed about the latest research and discoveries in your field may be useful when answering your examiners questions. Your committee members often read these same journals and they may draw some of their questions from recent articles.
a. How will you respond to off-the-wall questions? Off-the-wall questions include those from left field, or those that you have not anticipated. Expect that you will get a few of these and create a plan about how you will respond to them. Perhaps you can ask your committee member to repeat or clarify the question. Take a few moments to think about it. It is okay if there are a few seconds of silence. Restate the question out loud so that you can make sure you understood the question as it was asked. Then go for it! You are well prepared to answer. b. How will you respond to questions that you do not know? It is almost inevitable that you will be asked a question or two during your examination and will not know the answer. So it is best to prepare ahead how you will answer it when it is asked. Do not try to fake your way out of it. It is best to be honest and say that you dont know. Some possible answers include: I dont have that information at this time. However, I would obtain that information from That is a good question and I am not sure about the answer. However, I would find the answer by I am not sure what the answer is, but if I was to make a hypothesis based on my knowledge it would be. By having a plan for what to do, you will reduce your stress level if and when a questions is asked that you do not know the answer. 3. The week before: a. Reconfirm the date and location of the qualifying exam room with all your committee members. This way you can touch base one last time with all of them before the big day. You can rest assured that everyone is clear on the day, time and place. b. Visit the exam room and check that the keys fit, the lighting, heating, air conditioning, are all functional and ready to go. This will help alleviate any of the nagging what ifs about your exam day.
room, go for a walk and watch your time. Be back to your exam site five minutes before your exam. 2. During your exam: a. Understand the time constraints of the exam. Use your watch to keep abreast of time and pace yourself accordingly. Speak slowly, and clearly. Do not cut off any of your examiners when they are speaking (as they are using up time that could be filled with more questions for you). b. At the break, leave the exam room and go for a brief walk, or stretch outside, in another hallway, or in the restroom. You are half way there! c. At the end of the examination, be sure to thank all of your examiners politely for their time, consideration and efforts. After your exam try to take some time to celebrate with family and friends. It is a big accomplishment, and you should reward yourself for your efforts.