QUALIFYING EXAMINATION

•  Prospective doctoral candidates must pass a Qualifying Examination to be admitted to candidacy. Students are expected to take the Qualifying Examination by the end of their third semester in the program. This examination includes a total of four written exams in:

• Classical Mechanics (CM)
• Electromagnetic Theory (E&M)
• Quantum Mechanics (QM)
• Statistical Mechanics (SM)
• The Qualifying Examination is prepared by an examination committee appointed by the Chair. The examination committee prepares and administers the Qualifying Examination for all doctoral students on a regular schedule. If the candidate is unsuccessful in the Qualifying Examination, the committee, following the criteria listed below, will decide whether to allow the candidate to repeat the entire examination or any part of it. In arriving at their decision, committee members will take into consideration the overall performance of the student in the courses he/she has taken up to the time of the Qualifying Examination, the performance in the Qualifying Examination itself (i.e., how poor was the student's performance), and they will get input from the student's research advisor (if he/she has one at the time of the exam) to evaluate what is the likelihood that the student will successfully complete doctoral work. If a student gets a score below 40% in the Qualifying Examination, and has below average results, in the committee's estimation, in the other two indicators (courses and research activity), that student will not be allowed to repeat the Qualifying Examination.
• In any case, the Qualifying Examination, in whole or in part, may not be taken more than two times. The one exception to the above rule is that students who so desire can have a "free try" at the Qualifying Examination by taking it at the beginning of their first semester in the program, without this instance counting as one of the two allowed opportunities to take the exam. Should they pass, such students could not be admitted to candidacy until the Graduate School's twenty-four (24) hour residency requirement is met.

THE EXAMINATION

• The exams are given on two different days:

       Friday: CM (morning) and E&M (afternoon)

       Following Monday: QM (morning) and SM (afternoon)

• Each exam will last for a maximum of three hours and will contain three to five questions that emphasize (but are not restricted to) basic topics outlined on the sylabii corresponding to each graduate course/s.

• No books or notes are allowed during the exams

• Examples of previous exam questions can be requested in the Physics office; these exams are only supposed to give you an idea of the kind of problems and degree of difficulty to expect…Do not expect to find the same problems in your qualifiers!

 

• EXAMS DATES and TIMES for Fall 2008:

-           Friday, AUGUST 8^th , 9 am – 12 pm and 2 pm – 5 pm

-          Monday AUGUST 11^th, 9 am – 12 pm and 2 pm – 5 pm

-          Room: Neckers 410 (to be confirmed, please check at the Physics office).

 

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Department of Physics
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
webmaster@physics.siu.edu
last updated 12/1/08 mb