The qualifying examination has two parts: Part I and Part II. Part II may be taken only after successful completion of Part I.
The written (Part I) qualifying exam will be offered every year in August and, if necessary, again in January. Students must attempt the Part I qualifying exam by the end of their third year.
Part I
The objective of the Part I exam is to test the knowledge of basic statistical tools commonly needed to develop a dissertation in statistics. The exam consists of questions from the core PhD courses: STA 6246, STA 7466-67, STA 7249 and STA 7346. Students are not eligible to take the Part I exam until they have completed all the core PhD courses with an average grade no lower than “B.”
The examination will be about four hours duration. There will be two questions from each of the four areas (linear models, probability, generalized linear models, and inference). Students will be required to answer six out of the eight problems subject to the restriction that they do at least one from each of the four areas. The faculty will review each student’s performance on the exam (as well as the student’s performance in the core PhD courses) and will issue one of two scores: “Pass” or “Fail”. Students who do not pass the Part I exam in two attempts will be suspended from the Ph.D. program and must petition the Graduate Program Committee to remain in the program.
Part II
The objective of the Part II exam is to test the student’s ability to
- comprehend statistical research literature;
- write technical material in a style suitable for publication in
standard journals of statistics; and - to propose new areas for dissertation research.
Students should conduct a thorough literature review of the research area selected for their dissertation and prepare a written report which both summarizes the literature and identifies a well-defined research problem. Students are also expected to present some ideas for solving the research problem in this report. There is no absolute limit on the length of the written report. However, it is suggested that the length be kept modest, say, between 15 and 20 double-spaced pages, excluding references.
The examination shall be administered by a committee of at least four faculty members, including members of the supervisory committee. There will be two phases to this examination. In the first phase, the supervisory committee will examine the written report submitted by the student. If the written report is judged to merit a pass, then the student will be given an oral examination which will also constitute the oral portion of the Ph.D. qualifying examination required by the Graduate School. Students are responsible for scheduling the oral examination, and it is suggested that at least two hours be reserved for this purpose. However, the oral examination should not be scheduled until the written component of the Part II exam has been completed to the satisfaction of the supervisory committee. Students will be recommended as a candidate for the Ph.D. degree to the Graduate School if their performance on the oral examination is judged to merit a pass.