Requirements of PhD Qualifying Exams in Data Management
Profs. Michael Carey, Chen Li, and Sharad Mehrotra
ISG Group, UC Irvine
Last revision: January 2019
The goal of a PhD qualifying exam is to evaluate and assess a student’s skills to advance to candidacy to finish a successful PhD.
Written Exam: The student is required to take both CS222 and CS223 and receive a grade of at least “A-” in the exam part for each course, as evaluated and decided by the instructor. If the grade for the exam part of a course is below this threshold, the student will have one additional chance to take the exams (both midterm and final, if both are offered) during the next offering of the course in order to receive at least an A- as decided by the instructor.
Oral Exam: The student needs to give a presentation to summarize his/her research results developed so far, or to do a survey of the research topic he/she is working on. The format will be one hour, including the presentation and Q&A. If the student fails the oral exam, he/she will have one additional chance to repeat the exam.
Expected timeline: The student is expected to pass both exams (written and oral) by the end of the second year, and must pass no later than the end of the third year. The student can opt to take the oral exam earlier if they and their advisor feel they are ready.
Exam Committee: The student is required to form a committee of five members for the oral exam according to university policies. It is highly recommended that he or she start contacting committee members at least three months before the desired exam date to find a time that works for everybody.