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Students are required to take the preliminary exams within six (6) months after completing course work for the degree or within three and one-half (3.5) academic years (7 terms) from initial matriculation, whichever comes first.
1. Review the PhD Student Handbook for requirements regarding the Preliminary Examinations for the PhD in Public Affairs. Follow that document's detailed requirements, as summarized here:
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) (including exam schedule with approval of committee members)
Written exam:
Exam taken at home or other location (i.e., not proctored) over a period of seven days
Questions in three areas (theory, research methods, substantive area)
Choice of three questions per section
Answer one or two questions in each area, determined by committee.
Page limit per section of 10-pages (not inclusive of bibliography should you wish to include it)
Oral exam by prelim committee taken within 21 days of last written exam
2. At least three months before prelim exams, submit Graduate Degree Plan (GDP) which follows this approval path:
signature of faculty advisor
if pursuing a minor, signature of Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) for minor
signature of PhD/Public Affairs DGS (see top of page)
signature of College Coordinator (see top of page)
approval and record entry from GSSP (see next item)
GDP information is here.
3. Staff from a central University office called GSSP will email notification when GDP has been approved. GSSP stands for Graduate Student Services and Progress, but it is not typically referred to that way.
4. After GDP approval, and with approval of faculty advisor, student assigns prelim oral exam committee members.
View criteria for committee composition here.
If you will have a committee member who is external to UMN, they must be given an HR appointment before submission of committee members. Contact DGS for details.
Assign prelim oral exam committee members by following the link here.
5. At least one week before the oral exam date, Schedule your oral exam officially by following the link in Step 4 here. NOTE: This step can technically happen any time after your committee has been approved, in item 4 above). In coordination with committee, set dates/times/locations here for oral exams no later than 21 days following the last written exam
6. In coordinator with advisor and committee, create a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to guide the scope of the preliminary exam.
The purpose of the MOU is to establish an agreement between the student and the committee regarding the scope and details of the exams. To that end, the memo must include information on the following:
Examination date for the written examination.
A well-defined area of topical specialization that reflects the research and teaching interests of the student.
Finalized versions of reading lists for each subject area (i.e., theory, methods, substantive area).
The MOU will be written by the student, signed by the committee chair in consultation with all committee members, and distributed at least two weeks before the exams are scheduled. The student shall discuss and clarify the scope and contents of the MOU with individual committee members. This should be done reasonably early during the development of the MOU. By policy, all readings and course materials included in the Humphrey School required courses (i.e., PA 8003, PA 8004, PA 8005, and PA 8006) is incorporated by reference in the MOU, if not explicitly by author and title. The chair is responsible for the implementation of the contents of the memo.
Examples of previous MOUs can be downloaded here.
7. Written Component
i. Topics and Questions
The committee will develop written exam questions that reflect appropriate detail, depth, and sophistication of the materials covered in the required courses and in the MOU. Each of the three subject areas (i.e., theory, research methods, and area of specialization) will have up to three questions of which students will answer one or two determined by the exam committee.
The DGS will review exam questions and may propose revisions to the committee. The primary concern of the DGS review will be to ensure that the questions fairly reflect the topics covered in coursework required of all PhD students. In making this determination, the DGS may consult with the instructors teaching required PhD courses.
ii. Format and Distribution
The written exams will take place over a 7-day period.
The student will be given all of the questions at the beginning of the 7-day period.
All questions will be emailed to the student, and once the questions are emailed, the timed exam commences.
The deadline for the completed exam, down to the minute, will be provided to the student in the same email containing the exam questions.
The student will email the full set of answers to all members of the committee at the end of the 7-day period.
Failure to meet the 7-day deadline constitutes failure of the examination. The student’s response to each exam subject area shall be no more than 10 pages, not inclusive of bibliography, with double spacing, a font size of 12, and 1-inch margins.
iii. Assessment
The written preliminary examination will be graded either pass, pass with reservations, or fail. Results of the written examination are forwarded by the student’s advisor to the DGS and Program Coordinator. A passing grade must be achieved before the student may take the preliminary oral exam.
For students who pass with reservations, conditions to be met must be given in writing to the student within ten working days, including a timeline for completion. Reservations must be removed by the committee before the student may advance to the oral exam.
If a student fails the exam, he or she may retake the examination once. All committee members, or all committee members save one, must approve this option. The second attempt to pass the preliminary written examination must use the same committee members unless an emergency situation necessitates a substitution. If the committee does not approve a retake, or if the student fails the retake, the student will be terminated from the program.
8. Advisor and DGS inform Program Coordinator (see top of page) of written exam results.
9. Results must be reported to GSSP by Program Coordinator through "Record Preliminary Written Exam Results" here. This must be entered at least one week before the oral exam date.
10. After notifying GSSP (Step 9), student will receive a link to initiate the online oral exam form. *new process as of summer 2020*
Instructions for completing the form will be delivered to the chair via email after this is initiated.
11. Notes to chair about the instructions: 1) after oral exam, submit signed form to Program Coordinator (listed above) instead of GSSP; 2) name of College Coordinator is listed above.
Committee Chair -- review instructions; bring Preliminary Oral Report form to oral exam
Upon completion of oral exam, committee members sign form
If committee members are participating via distance technology, review this link and make arrangements for signatures
If results are anything other than “pass,” follow procedures in the PhD Student Handbook.
12. When Preliminary Oral Report form is received by Program Coordinator (not GSSP as listed on instructions), it will be imaged for student’s Humphrey School file and forwarded to GSSP. Upon receipt, GSSP will indicate “doctoral candidate” in student’s record.
13. Once you are a doctoral candidate, check with Program Coordinator to determine what you should register for (usually the remaining credits of PA 8888 or the 1-cr PA 8444 FTE/ABD).
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