General Description

Doctoral qualifying examinations are given in Applied Mathematics and in Applied Probability and Statistics. These are written exams, each composed of three parts.

Applied Mathematics

• Part A. Analysis
• Part B. Linear Algebra and Numerical Methods (LA/NUM)
• Part C. Applied Mathematics

Applied Probability and Statistics

• Part A. Real Analysis and Probability
• Part B. Linear Algebra, Probability Distributions and Statistical Inference (LA/STAT)
• Part C. Topics in Statistics

Ph.D. students usually take Parts A and B at the beginning of their third semester in the program and take Part C at the beginning of their fourth semester. To maintain status in the doctoral program (and to progress from doctoral student to doctoral candidate) students must successfully complete all three parts of the exam within two years of beginning the Ph.D. program.

Any one part of the exam can be taken at most twice. Exam grades are: A pass, B fail (some understanding of subject but not sufficient to pass), F fail (understanding is more deficient).

Schedule

The three parts of the exams are offered at the following times of the year

• September:   Parts A and B
• January:   Parts A, B, and C
• May:   Part C

Additional Information

Copies of past qualifying exams are available here.