The following notes were initially compiled by graduate student Chippie Kislik (ekislik@berkeley.edu), and updated by Sarah Hartman (sarah_hartman@berkeley.edu) and Daniela Rodriguez-Chavez (drodriguezchavez@berkeley.edu) with the help of other graduate students. Feel free to add / edit as you wish!

For those taking them in the future, you're going to do great!! You got this!

Parts of a Qualifying Exam

The 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. S&E profs might be more focused on the prospectus. 

The 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). In other words, this could be a brief summary of your Prospectus. 

Written Exam (S&E)

• • • • • 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. 

The Q&A 

• • • • • This is the bulk of the exam on the day of the exam. This is the component where your committee asks you questions for some amount of time to ensure you've gained the knowledge in a satisfying enough matter. Each prof gets 20-30min to ask questions. There's a two 20-min periods, then a 15-min break, then another two 20-min session, then a 5-min break. 

General Advice

• • Don't do anything else if you can avoid it. We recommend not taking other classes or doing much else (GSI or fieldwork) during your quals semester if you have a choice. 

  • 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. 

  • Taking a class with the professor during the semester of your quals can be helpful!

  • Plane 3-4 months in advance. (For example, get committee by the end of Fall, have planned meetings in January, start reading in February, take exam in May.)

What previous students used to destress

• • • • • Therapy (using CAPS) 

        • Physical exercise and don't sit inside. Try to find ways to go outside 

        • Studying with other people is really helpful! Can help cover areas you wouldn't have thought of. 

        • Start talking to people who had quals with your committee super early on in the process. 

        • Print every single paper. You can see the pages that you've read. 

        • Have a day with no reading every week. 

        • Compartmentalize your studying. 

Things that surprised previous students about the process

• It's like taking a very specialized class, you don't have to necessarily know anything about a topic. It's like a very intensive crash course. 

• Profs do not prepare the questions a whole lot. 

• Kind of anti-climactic, not as scary once you're in the room. 

• Find folks who are going to fight for you, who won't grill you super hard on things. 

• It is so much better to overprepare. 

• You have a lot of power over what you want to learn and be directing the questions that you'll be asked! Be very clear about how much power you will have over the reading lists and what type of questions they will ask you.

  • • • • You can review during the breaks! You can also ask for extra breaks to refocus. You can ask for accomodations!!!! 

        • You can choose the order of professors. Common advice for order: easy-hard-hard-easy and if you have someone who isn't part of Berkeley or never done a quals before go last or later. Make sure to practice whatever set-up you're using if you have someone participating virtual. 

        • Be prepared for lots of stimulus (construction, lack of A/C, etc.) 

        • You provide food for your committee. Check with your chair about providing food for your committee (i.e. do they do this or do you do this?)

Logistics Advice

Course Requirements & Forms

• • • • • Get your course requirements approved by the head grad advisor before or during the semester you take quals and submit your signed PhD Program Form to your GSAOs (Grad Student Forms). You will also submit a Qualifying Exam Request form. If you need to take remote quals, the GSAO will also submit an extra form to give you permission to take your quals remotely. 

        • The Higher Degree Form can be done online on CalCentral. 

          • • • • CalCentral → Dashboard → Forms on the bottom right → Higher Degree Committees Form. Watch this video

Find a Committee

• • • • • Do this the semester before your exam so you can get to know them and do a vibe-check. It will be 3-4 committee members, of which two need to be from within ESPM. 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.

        • Meet with profs preliminarily before deciding to have them on the exam. Treat it it like a conversation and bring up quals later. It's a vibe-check! THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT. You want to find a nice balance between a chill professor and a professor who does research your interested in. They need to be in touch with your chair. 

        • Meet with students who are currently studying or who have had quals from the professor to see how the quals will be. Some profs beforehand will seem chill and then in the exam they will not be (i.e. going from conversation to question-answer). Check the QE database to see who has used which committee members. 

        • Questions to ask/figure out about potential committee members since it varies:

          • • • • How much of the list you want me to come up with? 

                • What type of questions do they ask? i.e. broad or "write this equation"? only questions from the readings, a focus on specific figures, more of a focus on the prospectus / general research, material from their class, a combo?

                • Are they open to asking committee-esque questions beforehand?

                • What is their question style (i.e. grilling, or more of a conversation)?

                • Are they going to ask you questions on your prospectus or not? 

                • How crucial do they view the prospectus? 

                • How many times can you commit to meeting? 

                • What do they want before you meet during meetings leading up? 

        • 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 and 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, etc. and start scheduling meetings with them if they are available bimonthly or monthly, depending on their schedule. (If you are taking quals remotely, just note that people can be different in their offices than they are at home. Atmosphere might be different because interactions are online.)

        • 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 

Find a Quals Day / Time

• • • • • Don't recommend doing it on a Monday nor in the morning if you can. 

        • 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)

Book a Room (if applicable)

• • • • • Once you have a day and time, book a room for about 3 hours! Do this with Ryann or Zarah, can check out rooms here and go see them in person if you can! Get access to your room at least a week before! 

        • Reserve room a half-hour before. Takes a really long time to set-up a meeting. 

        • Make sure to get a room with a whiteboard, nice lighting, and ability to project slides (if you’re presenting any). Know if it's chalk, markers, or a projector. 

        • For 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.  

How to 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.

        • Talk to students who had taken a prof on your guiding committee and ask for their reading lists! Find folks from the QE database. 

Study Advice

Create a Reading & Study Schedule

• • • • • Start reading about 2-3 months before the exam, if possible. 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. 

        • 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. Share notes documents with quals committee. 

        • Make memos. 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.  

        • Make slides that have figures and questions on them and go through them (kind of like flashcards but for figures). 

        • Writing things over and over is super helpful! 

        • Change where you're reading! Library, office, cafes, etc. 

        • Two weeks out, copying and pasting discussion sections into ChatGPT and asking it to summarize it. Use it as a tool. Re-read papers in the way that the professor will ask you. (i.e. what are you trying to take away from the paper based on what the prof wants you to take away?) 

        • Read up until a week (ideally two weeks) before your exam. During this last week, stop reading and focus on studying your flashcards / practicing your presentation. It can be helpful to go back to the prosectus with the papers as a reframing. 

Schedule Mock Quals

• • • • • A practice qual is when you get some folks together who have been with the prof and they ask you questions. 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. 

        • Get a fat document of exchanging practice qual questions from these folks plus others who might be relevant.

        • 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 (i.e. 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.

Day of Exam

Schedule

• Day before the exam: take a hike, run, go to the beach, relax, eat a nice meal…  you earned it!

• Length: 2-3 hours, 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.

Tips & Tricks

• Bring your own whiteboard markers to the exam

• Have your friends / lab-mates 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. 

        • Take a deep breath and if you don't know, say you don't know. If you don’t know the answer, you can say you don’t know, and 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. 

• 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. 

• Add your name to the QE Databse so folks can find you.