Qualifying exams are in several ways a different experience for students in S&E when compared with the other divisions. As of 2019, the new S&E Quals include both written and oral components. Find below a resource to guide the lead up to these exams as well their new requirements. 

Below are the S&E Quals requirements, including written and oral components, as of 2019. 

Qualifying Exam and Advancement to Candidacy Procedures for Society and Environment Doctoral Students

The S&E Qualifying Exam (QE) assesses students’ knowledge of four fields developed with their dissertation advisor and QE committee members (made up of four members, at least two of whom must be from ESPM).

The QE has two components; Students will first take a written exam, which is then followed by an orals exam. Procedures for preparing for and taking the QE are outlined below:

1.     QE committee and the QE chair should be confirmed by the student no later than the end of their 4th semester.

 2.     Reading for the QE: Students should be developing reading lists starting at the beginning of their graduate programs. By the 7th week of semester 5 (or sooner), students should have developed final reading lists for their four fields with the approval of QE committee members. The committee chair should ascertain whether lists are appropriate in length—long enough to cover a “field” and short enough to be readable or reviewed within 3-4 months. Reading lists are finalized when all QE committee members and the dissertation chair have signed off and the list with signatures have been submitted to the QE and dissertation chairs. The student can be in reading groups, or discuss with other students and professors during the reading period. During this time they are advised to add to their notes on previous readings and to take notes on others. They can also begin drafting written summaries of debates in the literature, how their research contributes to the debates, etc.

 3.     Setting an Orals Exam Date: Once reading lists are finalized (the semester before the actual exam), students should schedule an orals exam date and a room, conferring with the QE Chair. The student needs to complete an application for the Qualifying Examination on CalCentral. This form will be routed to the appropriate departmental advisors for approval.

The orals exam is the second and final part of the qualifying exams process (after the written exam). Deadlines for other components of the QEs should be set backwards from the oral exam date. Exam dates should be set no less than 4 months after reading lists are finalized, to give the student at least 3 months to read and adequate time to complete the written portion of the exam prior to the oral exam date (students can build in more time for reading and writing, if they wish). Note: QE dates should be set during the academic year. QE dates should be no later than the first Friday of December for the fall semester or the first Friday of May for the Spring semester. Professors cannot be expected to administer orals exams during the summer.

 4.     Dissertation Prospectus: An abbreviated 2-4 page dissertation prospectus will be due to the QE committee no later than six weeks before the oral exam date. This deadline is 1 week before the beginning of the written exams.

5.     Written Exam: Five weeks before the orals exam takes place, the student will be given questions for the written exam. They have three weeks to complete the written exam. The written exam will consist of four short papers in response to four questions provided by the QE committee members, covering each of their fields of study. The maximum allowable length for ALL FOUR PAPERS TOGETHER cannot exceed 10,000 words (i.e. 40 double-spaced pages). The word count for each question does not have to be equal: some questions may be answered with fewer words. The timeline and procedures for the written portion of the exam are as follows:

a.     About 8 weeks before the orals exam date, the QE chair confers with the committee to develop the four exam questions to be sent to the student. This may be done through an in-person meeting, teleconference, or by exchanging emails. Committee members will submit questions based on their reading lists. The QE chair will confer with each committee member to ensure the appropriate depth of the question—i.e., is it answerable in about 2500  words? It is also possible for the entire committee to have input into each others’ questions, particularly if there is considerable overlap between the expertise of the examiners. The QE chair is responsible to make sure that the questions are finalized no later than 6 weeks prior to the orals exam date.

b.     Five weeks prior to the orals exam date, the QE chair sends the committee’s final questions to the student, with copies to the dissertation chair and the entire QE committee (as a formality and to signal the beginning of the exam period).

c.     The student will have three weeks (i.e. 21 days) to complete the four papers. During this exam writing period, students are not allowed to discuss the QE questions with professors or fellow students.  Final papers must be  submitted together electronically to the entire committee by 5:00 PM on the deadline date.

d.     The QE committee then has two weeks to read and evaluate all four papers, focusing mainly on the field they supervise. During this period, QE members may formulate questions in response to the student’s written work.

6.     Orals Exam: Oral exams will entail discussion of the written exam, further probing and follow-up on the student’s answers, and also encourage students to expand   upon their written work. Faculty can also ask additional questions beyond what was asked for the written exam including questions about the prospectus, other debates  in the literature that were included in the reading lists, how the literature relates to their dissertation research question, etc. At the end of oral exam, the committee will recommend one of the following actions, based on the written and oral portions of the QE (established by the Graduate Division): 1) pass; 2) partial failure; 3) failure, does recommend reexamination; or 4) failure, does not recommend re-examination.

Additional Notes: 

•    Students should confer with professors as they develop and prepare their reading lists for the exam and may do so while they are reading. To ensure fairness and equity, it is strongly recommended that examiners do not reveal what written questions they will ask the student before the written exam begins.

•    If during the reading period, the student feels they are not sufficiently prepared to receive the written exam questions, they may reschedule the exam start date, preferably by no longer than 1 month and with the approval of the QE committee. Once the written portion of the QE starts—i.e., at the time that the QE chair has sent the four field questions to the student—the exam cannot be postponed and the student can no longer discuss the readings or questions with professors or other students.

•    It is the responsibility of the QE chair to work with the student and the rest of the committee to ensure that the deadlines and procedures are  clear  and  that milestones for the QE process are completed on time before the exam period begins (see timeline above).

•    Entering students in ESPM receive a year of funding, and have flexibility in deciding when to take their second semester of that funding. Beginning in 2017-2018, students can save their second semester of dept. funding for their QE study semester so that they do not need to be teaching or performing other GSR work during that semester.

•    After the student has passed the Qualifying Exam, s/he must prepare a full dissertation prospectus in consultation with the Dissertation Committee. The student should convene a meeting with the Dissertation Committee to discuss the prospectus at which at least the two ESPM faculty are present. Upon completion of an approved prospectus, the student should submit an Advancement to Candidacy form in CalCentral which will be routed to the Dissertation Chair for approval online. The student’s account will be automatically charged the $90 Candidacy Fee. The student should turn in a signed copy of the prospectus to the ESPM grad advising office.

•    Students must also have their research protocol reviewed and approved by the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (CPHS)/Institutional Review Board prior to conducting their field work, interviews, data collection or analysis.

Graduate Division requires all students to submit a copy of their approved IRB protocol when they file their dissertations. In addition, failure to have an approved IRB protocol can compromise students’ ability to publish their work.

•    Advancement to Candidacy is contingent on: 1) receiving a "pass" on the Qualifying Examination; 2) Completion of a dissertation prospectus with signatures by the chair of the dissertation committee and approval of the rest of the committee; 3) Submitting an advancement to candidacy form in CalCentral, 4) IRB approval or exemption for research protocol.