Preliminary Written Exam

The preliminary written exam takes one of two forms: (1) the student solves problems in a traditional exam or (2) the student prepares a National Science Foundation-style proposal on a given topic. 

The type of exam will depend on your research area. Please see your advisor for the type of exam your research area administers. 

The exam should be taken as soon as coursework is completed or nearly completed. Students should consult their adviser at least one semester before they plan to take the written exam to obtain details on the date, format, and scope of the exam. 

Three decisions are possible regarding the exam: (1) the student has passed; (2) the student has failed and must terminate their studies in the department; or (3) the student has passed with reservation but may retake the exam the next time it is offered. 

The exam can be taken at most twice. 

The minimum duration of the traditional exam is a half-day. 

The exam is prepared, administered, and graded by the faculty in a given area, who subsequently make a decision on the outcome and inform the DGS and graduate program coordinator accordingly. 

Traditional Exam

The traditional exam may be open or closed book or a mixture of the two, and its format (number of problems, length of problems, duration of exam, etc.) is variable.

NSF style proposal Exam

For the NSF proposal, the student is assigned a topic and given one month to prepare the proposal. The student must review and cite the relevant literature as background information, develop hypotheses and objectives, and develop a research approach to address the objectives. 

The student submits the completed proposal to the examining committee who reviews it for originality, technical content, organization, and writing (style, grammar, etc.). If the written proposal is approved, the student must then defend the proposal before the committee in an oral exam format. 

The proposal defense is considered a part of the written exam and is not a substitute for the preliminary oral exam.

An email with the results of the exam must be sent to the graduate program coordinator at cegesps@umn.edu. 

The email must contain the students name, the exam results and the date of the exam. 

The graduate program coordinator will officially record the exam results to go on the students record.