QUALIFYING EXAM PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS AND GRADING

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QUALIFYING EXAM PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS AND
GRADING

• 2004
• Ian Waitz

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WRITTEN ASSESSMENTS OF STUDENTS

• Faculty endorsers are required to provide written
  assessments of the students prior to exam
• Assessments to be done at time form is signed (or
  exam is not scheduled)
• How long and in what capacity have you known the
  student?
• Relative to X of masters students you have
  worked directly with this student ranks where?
• Comment on specific strengths and weaknesses of
  the applicant that may bear on the success of the
  student as a doctoral candidate

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QUALIFYING EXAM STRUCTURE

• (1) Written
• 2 Questions from Column A
• Mathematics (Discrete OR Continuous)
• Physics (Dynamics OR Fields)
• 3 Questions from Column B
• Autonomy, Communications and Networks, Control,
  Fluid Mechanics, Human Factors Eng., Propulsion
  and Thermodynamics, Software Eng., Struct.
  Matls, Vehicle Design Performance
• Total 5 written questions
• (2) Oral
• 2 Questions from
• Communications and Networks, Control, Fluid
  Mechanics, Humans and Automation, Software Eng.,
  Structures and Materials
• (3) Research Presentation
• Research paper (from a list of 5 topic areas) OR
• Personal Research or Design Project

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TEST OBJECTIVES

• Written questions evaluate knowledge and
  understanding of concepts, ability to apply tools
• Oral questions assess candidates conceptual
  understanding, ability to reason, problem-solving
  skills
• Research Presentation (20 min) QA (20 min) to
  assess candidates understanding of how their
  research fits in a broader context

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COMMON GRADING GUIDELINES

• Strong Pass 9.0 Demonstrated excellent
  performance at a level at or beyond expectations
  for a student who is ready to begin a doctoral
  program
• 9.0 gt Pass 7.5 Demonstrated good performance
  at a level consistent with expectations for a
  student who is ready to begin a doctoral program
• 7.5 gt Marginal Pass 7.0 Demonstrated minimally
  acceptable performance for a student who is ready
  to begin a doctoral program
• 7.0 gt Marginal Fail 6.0 Demonstrated some
  understanding expected of a student who is ready
  to begin a doctoral program, but further
  preparation would be suggested
• 6.0 gt Clear Fail Demonstrated little or no
  understanding expected of a student who is ready
  to begin a doctoral program further preparation
  required

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RESEARCH PRESENTATION GRADING

• Assessment is based upon five criteria
• Can explain the context of the research and its
  importance to the field
• Can describe related work and relationship to
  current research
• Can clearly describe the approach and major
  findings
• Can identify underlying assumptions and
  limitations of the research
• Clarity of presentation
• Criteria also apply for grading paper reviews
• Professional presentation is expected. Style is
  not graded explicitly, but it is implicit in
  achieving each of the five criteria above
• Ability to respond to questions should be
  reflected in the scores for each of the five
  graded criteria

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RESEARCH PRESENTATION SCORING
Note A total grade of lt7 means that a retake
will be required on at least this portion of the
exam
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POSSIBLE OUTCOMES
Pass
P
Retake the entire exam
R
Retake written oral only
Candidate
Retake research presentation only
F
Fail (not allowed to retake)
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PASSING CRITERIA
The faculty desires that a candidate who passes
achieve

• A pass (7) on all three parts of the exam OR
• An overall average of 7 (50,20,20 weighting)
  AND marginal pass on the research exam OR
• An overall average of 6.5 (50,20,20 weighting)
  AND extremely strong support from faculty OR
• Passed written and research presentation, failed
  oral BUT at least one strong pass ( 9.0) on an
  oral question AND extremely strong support from
  faculty OR
• Failed written, passed oral and research
  presentation BUT at least two strong pass pass (
  9.0) on written questions AND extremely strong
  support from faculty OR
• Failed both written and oral, passed research
  presentation BUT at least two strong pass (9.0)
  questions on the written AND one strong pass
  (9.0) question on the oral AND extremely strong
  support from faculty

Note A candidate who fails the research
presentation cannot be passed
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RETAKE CRITERIA

• Must have strong recommendation from a faculty
  member in all cases to be allowed to retake and
  has not taken any part of the exam previously
  AND
• Passed written AND oral, but failed research
  presentation then retake only research
  presentation OR
• Did not meet any of the passing criteria, but
  passed the research presentation then retake only
  written oral OR
• Did not pass any part of the exam but had an
  average 5.0 then retake the entire exam

Note Candidates who meet neither the passing,
nor the retake criteria have failed and are not
allowed to retake
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GRADING MEETING

• Faculty meet to review performance of each
  candidate and determine outcome
• Each case reviewed individually
• Written pre-assessment from faculty endorser
• Exam scores
• Comments and discussion from faculty endorser,
  examiners and any others who wish to speak
• Outcome (P,F, retake) determined by majority
  (gt50) vote of the faculty