Quals Tips & Resources
The following notes were initially compiled by graduate student Chippie Kislik (ekislik@berkeley.edu), and updated by Sarah Hartman (sarah_hartman@berkeley.edu) but feel free to add / edit as you wish!
Resources & Recommendations for Quals - April 2021 (including remote)
Complete Course Requirements & Get a Signature
Get your course requirements approved by the head grad advisor (Ian Wang) before or during the semester you take quals
Submit your signed PhD Program Form to your GSAO (Ryann or Zarah) (Grad Student Forms) | For remote quals due to COVID, the GSAO will also submit an extra form to give you permission to take your quals remotely.
Find a Committee
Do this the semester before your exam.
3-4 committee members from within ESPM (you no longer need an outside member).
Your main advisor can now be a member of your committee, pending the approval of the Head Graduate Adviser. For an advisor to sit on a qualifying exam, a request to the Head Graduate Adviser outlining how the PhD advisor’s expertise is necessary and not found in other UC Berkeley Senate faculty is required. The head graduate advisor must approve this arrangement as part of their routine review of committee constitution petitions.
To ask people to be on your committee, we recommend attending office hours or emailing them. If you really want a specific person, get them as soon as you can before their availability fills up.
It’s often best to choose members you already know (and preferably have taken a class with), but this is not always necessary.
It may help to ask students who have previously had that member on their committee about their experience.
Ask committee members if they would be willing to be on your committee and describe the information / topics you are most interested in discussing with them.
If they say yes, ask when / how often they would like to meet and if they have a preferred layout for the meetings - discuss specific readings, discuss questions, quiz the student…?
Start scheduling meetings with them if they are available bimonthly, depending on their schedule.
Figure out which of your committee member you would like to be your Chair. They help organize the flow of the exam. Make sure the committee chair is someone you trust who will have the situation (in general and tech) in control
Feel free to ask committee members for example exam questions - ask them about their method / style during the exam (example: only questions from the readings, a focus on specific figures, more of a focus on the prospectus / general research, material from their class, combo…?)
Remote quals: People can be different in their offices than they are at home. Atmosphere might be different because interactions are online.
Find a Quals Day / Time
Once all your committee members have accepted, send out a When2Meet with specific days / times that would work for everyone
Beware - this process may take a few iterations. Start this early!! (About 4 months before the exam, if possible)
Fill out 2 Forms
Qualifying Exam Request form - on ESPM’s website, submit with GSAO’s, they confirm schedule
Higher Degree Form - can be done online on CalCentral.
CalCentral → Dashboard → Forms on the bottom right → Higher Degree Committees Form
Watch this video
If you have an external member on your committee: contact your GSAO at least 4 weeks before the exam to fill out the required paperwork.
Book a Room (if applicable - depending on COVID)
Once you have a day and time, book a room!
Exam: Probably around 2 hours and 45 mins - book a room for 3 hours total
Do this with Ryann or Bianca, can check out rooms here and go see them in person if you can!
Make sure to get a room with a whiteboard, nice lighting, and ability to project slides (if you’re presenting any)
Book a room for mock quals also, depending on mock committee members’ availabilities
Remote quals: you may be asked to host the Zoom call. Make sure you and your committee chair discuss the technical logistics of the events and you are both comfortable using Zoom.
Create Reading Lists
Provide about 10-15 papers to each of your committee members (in a Google Doc if that’s easiest) and ask them to approve / add / delete papers from this list.
Start creating these reading lists about 3-4 months before your exam if possible. No worries if you do it later for 1 or 2 members.
Create a Reading & Study Schedule
Divide up your readings based on when you’re meeting with each committee member so you’ll be prepared with specific questions to ask them, based on the readings.
Start reading about 2-3 months before the exam, if possible.
In general, committee members often want to meet with you roughly 3-5 times for ~1 hour each time.
Remind members when you re-meet with them what you talked about last time and what direction your previous discussion was leading - keep them on track with the direction you understand it to be.
Print out the papers if that’s easiest - can create a Quals binder if you like.
Create Google Docs or spreadsheets - get creative with your studying. You may find it helpful to write memos summarizing reading chunks or create a critical analysis matrix to fill in.
Memos are reflections written up throughout the reading process. Say you meet with a committee member 4 times, you will break up your reading list into 4 segments, and write a memo for each segment. These memos are usually written and submitted to the committee member before you meet, however, some prefer to receive them after so you can include aspects of your discussion in them. Not all committee members will require this, but if you need to do a writing portion for the exam (e.g. S&E!) and/or want to more fully learn the content along the way, these are very helpful. They are usually 3-5 pages, single-spaced, and include summaries/ gaps/ questions/ analyses/ connections.
Make flashcards of important papers - author and year on one side, 3-4 important points or key figures on the other.
Make flashcards of key concepts - concept on one side, definition or figure on the other.
Read up until a week before your exam. During this last week, stop reading and focus on studying your flashcards / practicing your presentation.
Day before the exam - take a hike, run, go to the beach, relax, eat a nice meal… you earned it!
Schedule Mock Quals
Reach out to friends / colleagues who have already taken quals with your committee member or who know them very well about 4 weeks before your exam.
Schedule mock quals to be about 1-2 weeks before your exam.
Try to reserve the same room for mock quals as your real quals, or for remote quals do it in the same format as you would for your real exam (Zoom).
Make mock quals as realistic as possible - have the Chair decide when the meeting starts, stay in character, give your presentation, go through the Q&A with the committee members… then get feedback at the very end.
Write your Prospectus
This can be quite short or very long - usually up to you and your committee. Faculty have different ideas of what the prospectus should be. Ask the committee in advance what they want in the prospectus.
Example outline: Introduction, Chapter, Chapter, Chapter, Conclusion.
Include background information / previous studies, why we care, rationale, figures, research questions, methods, expected results, conclusions, and as much detail as you would like. This will be helpful for writing up your dissertation later on.
Submit this to your committee about 1-2 weeks before your exam, unless they direct otherwise. Some may not read it until the night before / morning of the exam.
Written Exam
The Written Exam is a new requirement for S&E students. This is done in the 3 weeks between finishing your reading and your oral exam date. Since this is a new requirement, there seems to be some fluidity in its adoption. Essentially, the intent is to write a few pages per area of focus based on a question/ prompt posed by each committee member.
Create a Brief Intro Presentation
This is optional and depends on your committee - you can ask them if they would like you to present this at the beginning of your quals. For remote quals this is a standard component.
Usually about 5-10 minutes: Describe who you are, how you got here, what you’re interested in, and outline your dissertation chapters (with research questions and expected results or hypotheses, if the committee members would like this).
This could be a brief summary of your Prospectus.
Day of Exam Information
Length: 2-3 hrs, usually 2 hours for remote quals
First 5-10 minutes = presentation about yourself as a scientist
Usually PowerPoint with a projector. For remote quals, generally PowerPoint slides during Zoom call.
Some professors prefer students to just use the whiteboard. For remote quals, check in advance if your committee will want you to write and troubleshoot the technology beforehand.
Next 5-10 minutes = prospectus, outline of your project
Don’t tell them everything you already know in the first 5-10 minutes. Let them ask you easy questions!
Print a few copies of your prospectus for your committee for reference. Some of them will bring their own copies.
Each of 4 members has 20 minutes to ask about whatever.
You can choose the order in which people ask questions. Put the people you’re most comfortable with first and last. Put the intense person and then a break and then another intense person.
Then there’s a second Q&A session. Kind of like a follow-up.
Talk to your committee Chair to make sure they know how you want to run the show in general.
Your advisor can sit in the room without intervening if they want to.
General Quals Advice
We recommend not taking other classes or doing much else (GSI or fieldwork) during your quals semester if you have a choice
Bring your own whiteboard markers to the exam
Have your friends / labmates bring snacks / coffee for you & committee members on the day of your exam
During the exam, it's best to be concise.
Restate the question they ask and first define the concept they brought up, then answer the question as simply as possible.
Try to avoid rambling otherwise they can take a piece of what you just said and go off on a tangent and eventually corner you on something you don’t know.
Speak about what you do know about at first, and let them follow up with easy questions if they want you to elaborate.
If you don’t know the answer, you can say you don’t know, or try and relate it to a concept that is similar that you do know about.
Draw on the whiteboard as much as possible!
This will help slow down the exam, help slow down your thoughts, and show you can explain things conceptually.
The number of questions varies by committee member, but is likely between 5-10. One of the hardest parts is to stop speaking instead of just going on and on.
ESPM quals tend to be general knowledge: identify who examines you on each subject area. Each person asks you about important things in each of those areas. Not supposed to be specific to methods of your prospectus.
Mentality: it can be helpful to frame it as essentially taking four courses: the amount of reading, meeting, and writing (if you are doing memos) can be the workload like a 2-3 unit course, so thinking of it like that might be helpful.
For remote quals:
Think about what materials you will want nearby in advance (food, water, paper, marker)
Options for communications: may need to draw (use whiteboard function in Zoom, practice in advance; or use paper or actual whiteboard)
Your internet may go out. You may want to recommend having committee turn off their cameras except for the one person asking you questions at that time. Do what you need to do to have peace of mind about consistent internet.
You might want to plan to take the exam somewhere that isn’t where you live (i.e. not in your bedroom), so you can separate the two places
If you pass (You will! You can do this!), all committee members will sign a form, digitally, spearheaded by your chair and submitted to your GSAO. They have a few days to sign the form and your GSAO should be on top of this.
You're going to do great!! You got this!