The Qual: Exposing the Secrets

1
The Qual Exposing the Secrets

• Based on a talk by Fred Brooks
• With comments from Steve Weiss and Jack Snoeyink
• Presented by Russell Taylor
• Fall, 2002
• -1. These are my observations, your mileage may
  vary. Ive never taken the Qual, but Ive been
  on the other side and have passed the Doctoral
  Oral exam.
• 0. These arent meant to be secrets. Im doing
  this presentation to keep you from being tripped
  up because you are surprised by the format or
  style of the exam.

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The Qual Whats the Point?

• 1. The purpose is to keep you from wasting years
  of your life pursuing a Ph.D. and ending up
  without one when you could have been out making
  money and having fun instead.
• 2. We are trying to determine
• Do you attack problems like a Ph.D.
  candidate?
• 3. Contrary to appearances, your examiners are
  eager for you to do well. But, compassion
  dictates better a little pain now than a lot of
  pain later.

3
How It Goes

• 4. You give a list of courses on which you will
  be examined.
• 5. Examiners take turns, each using his share of
  the time.
• 6. Usually a questioner will pursue a line of
  questioning from elementary concepts to subtler
  ones, until you cannot answer. His object will
  be to see where he hits bottom. Do not be
  discouraged because you run into trouble on every
  line of questioning thats the terminating
  condition. If you felt like you knew all the
  answers, the examiners didnt do their job. A
  final exam question for a course is almost by
  definition not a good Qual question.

4
Answering Questions

• 7. Take your time before starting to answer.
  Formulate your ideas. If hints come too fast, ask
  please give me time to think. If they come too
  fast again, ask always give me time to think.
  (It helps to think out loud when you can).
• 8. Always attempt to answer exactly the question
  asked, to the point. Ask for clarification if
  needed.
• Be as specific and precise as you can. Give
  formulas and equations when you know them.
• Use the whiteboard.

5
Studying for the Exam

• 9. Identify and master the basic concepts,
  assumptions, and models of each topic. Try to get
  a feel for how problems are attacked in that
  domain (divide and conquer, recursion,
  invariants, ).
• You are training to answer questions youve
  never seen before, so cramming wont help you
  much.
• 10. Not remembering an equation can be forgiven
  (if it doesnt happen a lot).
• Not grasping a basic elementary concept is more
  serious.

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Attitude isnt everything, but its a lot

• 11. Take the exam, the examiners, the questions
  and your own abilities seriously.
• 12. Strategy hint pretend you are all in a
  research team meeting and you are searching for
  answers to the questions being posed.
• When you dont know an answer (which you often
  wont, thats the point), drop back to the basics
  and drive (derive) towards an answer. If you know
  equations or specific techniques that apply, use
  them!

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Other Advice

• 13. Give as simple an example as you can while
  still being within the bounds of correctness if
  asked for a function, respond F(x) this may
  be the basis for a line of questioning.
• 14. Listen to the hints. Were trying to help
  you.
• 15. Treat the exam like a conversation, not just
  a QA session.

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More Advice

• 16. When the question lends itself to it, start
  thinking precisely.
• 17. In your studying, put yourself in the context
  of the exam. About 10 minutes is the longest
  single question, which may limit what is asked.
  Spend about half the time with the book closed.
• 18. Calingeart (sp) number.

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Hot off the Presses of Faculty Lunch

• 19. Dont sign up for an undergraduate course if
  you can help it, it makes some professors angry
  and they ask harder questions as a result.
• 20. Any course can be the basis for any question,
  though we tend to group sessions by who can
  examine on particular courses dont get caught
  off-guard by this.

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Questions, live example

• 21. Questions for us from you (about the Qual,
  not Faculty-on-the-spot).
• 22. Students tell of their own experiences taking
  the Qual.
• 23. Example question worked out live before your
  very eyes (Miguel-on-the-spot).

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Explain this.
Explain this band