Qualifying Exam Resources

Disclaimers

ESPM is very diverse in research interests, taxa, and approaches. Every quals experience is individual-, committee-, and division-specific, so we will do our best to provide general advice. So, in this panel we did our best to give general advice on how to prepare and succeed in the quals exam. Such advice may be useful or not to people depending on divisions, systems, labs, etc. in ESPM. 

This report summarizes the key points covered during the panel. By no means this aims to be a formal or comprehensive guide to the exam. 

A recording of the event is available upon request. Please contact the author (Ignacio Escalante, iescalante@berkeley.edu) to access the recording online. Additionally, this is a work in progress, hence please feel free to contact the author with suggestions, comments, and feedback. 

Qualifying exam logistics and procedures

A summary of the process is given below. For questions and concerns, please contact your GSAO. 

1. In the semester that you plan to take your qualifying exam, you must submit your Qualifying exam form and the S&E Division reading list forms (available here) to your GSAO by:

   • the end of the 3rd week of the semester, OR

   • at least 3 weeks prior to the examination date, whichever comes first. 

   • Submit the Qualifying exam form and the S&E Division reading list forms (available here) to request scheduling. Submit to your GSAO 1 month in advance, include mailing address for them. 

2. Form a quals committee. The general composition will be: 

   • A chair from ESPM

   • Another from ESPM

   • Another from UCB (can be ESPM) 

   • Another from UCB (can be ESPM) 

** Your guiding profesor may serve on your committee, but they cannot serve as the chair, and this must be approved by your GSAO.

** Lecturers and adjuncts may NOT serve on committees

** You can have a maximum of one person from outside UC Berkeley and this must be approved by Grad Div. To do this,  you must get in touch with the HGA and your GSAO to file an exception. In order to have an external member, you have to justify this member by demonstrating that there is no one at UC Berkeley who can satisfy the expertise that you are looking for. If the person you want the must submit this form to get them into the Cal Central system. 

3. Poll their availability and agree to a date and time (this is honestly the hardest part!)

5. You will need to find and reserve a room. You can find more info on how to do that here!

6. Complete the electronic Qualifying Exam Form on CalCentral which is under "Higher Degreee Commitees Form"

7. Remind your committee members 2-3 weeks, and 2-3 days before your exam. 

9. After your exam (woo!), the results are sent to GradDiv by your Chair and GSAO.

10. Last step! Once results are in CalCentral, submit a the Advancement to Candidacy Form on CalCentral after your exam. This is especially important for international students. Through this form, you will confirm your Dissertation Committee. There is a $90 fee, but this is automatically covered by the Department. If this fee has not been taken care of by RRR week, reach out to your GSAO.  

For your dissertation committee, you will have a:

• • Guiding professor 

  • Two members from ESPM  or non-ESPM

Extra members (consult with GSAOs about this)

The actual exam

1. 5-10 min prospectus/your background and long-term goals presentation (this varies a lot between committees. Make sure you define expectations for this –and your prospectus depth and length- with your chair. 

2. Four 20min question sections, one per member (you define the order). 

3. Then open Q&A. Usually not long. Make sure to define length with your chair. 

*outcome scenarios: pass, partial pass, fail. If failed student can re-take the exam, either all sections or just the 1-2 sections they failed. 

General suggestions given in the panel 

[some of the outlined suggestions may be very division-, group- or even lab-specific. Be aware that the advice might not apply for your situation. Everyone’s experience with quals is very different. The suggestions below come from a limited sample size of students in ESPM that have found them useful in order to succeed in their exam.]

1. When choosing your committee make sure you have a good fit given relevance for your topics. Ask students that have had them in their exam, you might want to avoid wildcards, in general you want to have professors in your committee that will help you succeed in your exam and in graduate school. 

2. Taking classes with professors you think you’ll ask to be in your committee is a good way to start forming a committee.

3. When approaching professors to ask them to serve on your committee be very upfront about it. 

4. Time to prepare varies a lot, somehow between 8 and 4 months before the exam. This might depend on other commitments such as field work, lab work, teaching, summer break, etc.

5. Scheduling the actual exam date is frequently the most difficult part of the process. 

6. How to prepare? Read, take notes, do practice explanations, do flashcards, etc. 

7. Besides reading and summarizing knowledge, make sure you are able to quickly define basic concepts. Prepare 2-3 min short answers for questions like: ‘what is natural selection?’, ‘why should we care about biodiversity?.

8. Do a mock quals, in which graduate students pretend to be specific members. Preparing for the 2 hour grilling is super beneficial, both mentally and physically. Schedule your mock orals at least 2-3 weeks before the actual exam. 

9. Make sure you define (hopefully in writing) the expectations of your prospectus, presentation and scope of questions with your chair. 

10. Make sure you and each member agree on the reading list and the scope of topics that each one is going to ask you during the exam. 

11. Having time to de-stress while preparing for the exam is crucial. 

12. The number of meetings that people have with each member varies a lot for many reasons. People have between 2 and 8 meetings for example. There’s no magic number, but certainly if you meet with each member many times, you will have a good idea of how their section is going to go, and what to expect in their questions. 

13. Try to have actual sample questions during the meetings with each member. 

14. Make sure you can define the terms in your prospectus/relevant to your field. Like if you’re teaching an upper division class. 

15. Practice answering questions with your friends, partner, pet, strangers on Berkeley Bowl, on your own while biking, etc. 

16. Quals is a great moment in one’s career because one gets to sit down and talk about science and get great feedback from four awesome professors. Try to enjoy it and make the best of it.