Ph.D. Exams

Preliminary Exams

Scheduling the Preliminary Examinations

The written preliminary examination takes place first and usually in January or February. The oral prelim exam takes place a little later in the semester, usually before May 1. You should be in contact with your committee about the days and times for both examinations. For the written exam, they need to know when to get the questions to you. For the oral exam, however, all committee members must be able to attend (in person or remotely (e.g., zoom, phone, Skype)).

As soon as the date for the oral preliminary examination is set, but no later than one week prior to it, officially schedule the exam (see the "Ph.D. Timeline" for a link to that form). The GSSP Office will review your record and e-mail you if there are any outstanding requirements that need to be met before you can take the oral prelim. Once you are cleared for the exam, the GSSP will send the Preliminary Oral Examination Report form to the chair of your exam committee.

Please ensure you notify the GPC of the dates for both portions of the exam as soon as you have them.

Preliminary Exam: Written

For the written prelim, the departmental members of the examining committee develop several questions based on the your reading list. You choose one question and have a week to write a 20-25 page paper (including notes and bibliography). Students opting for the Germanic Medieval Studies track may be required to write three four-hour exams based on the reading list instead.

Upon completion of the written prelim, distribute your exam to your committee. The departmental members of the committee will read it and provide you with written comments for the oral prelim.

In order to move on to the oral prelim, your advisor must submit the results of the written prelim using the Written Prelim Exam Report form (available on the "Common Forms & Info" page).

As soon as you have passed the written prelim, you may start registering for thesis credits. If you take the exam in early to mid January, you will be able to register in Spring. If you take it after the start of Spring Semester, you would start taking thesis credits in Summer or Fall.

Reminder: the oral prelim must be scheduled at least one week before it is to take place. The scheduling of the oral prelim generates the form your committee will need to sign on the day of the exam.

Preliminary Exam: Oral

The oral prelim is usually about two hours long. Before it begins, the committee members usually meet for 5-10 minutes, after which you will be asked to come in. You are given the opportunity to respond to the written comments that the committee members had provided concerning the written prelim. This is followed by an extended discussion of the prelim paper.

At the end of the exam, the committee signs the Preliminary Oral Report form which is then submitted to GSSP. The form should be filed within a day of taking the exam.

 

Ph.D. Final Oral Exam

The final months before the Final Oral Exam are usually hectic, and not surprisingly involve various forms. Make sure you have all paperwork and other steps done in time for your final oral exam.

Ways to prepare for final oral exam and graduation:

It is crucial that you remain in regular contact with your advisor. The other members of your dissertation committee, in particular those who are official thesis reviewers, may welcome regular discussions with you about your progress, but the primary responsibility for advising the dissertation phase rests with your advisor.

Your advisor will want to read drafts of individual chapters as they are completed. Your committee may ask to see revised chapters as they are completed, or they may prefer to receive a completed draft of the entire dissertation once it has been revised according to your advisor’s comments. Check with them to determine their preferences. In any event, it is essential to get feedback from all your reviewers before producing a final draft.

Doing interviews for your Dissertation?

If you are using human subject in ANY way (including interviewing people), you need to contact the Institutional Review Board to see if you need to do paperwork.

Be sure to start this process EARLY as it can take months to go through the system and you need to get the approval BEFORE you begin the work.

Thesis Review

After your advisor has read a draft of the dissertation in its entirety and after you have completed any required revisions, you should distribute that revised copy of the completed dissertation to your thesis reviewers. We strongly advise you to notify them in advance that the thesis will be delivered on a particular date.

The reviewers should have at least three weeks before the final oral exam to read the dissertation and to decide whether it is ready. Once they have reached a decision, the three thesis reviewers sign the Thesis Reviewers’ Report form. The form provides three options. They can certify that the thesis is acceptable as presented; that the thesis is acceptable with minor revisions; or that the thesis requires major revisions and is not acceptable as presented. The reviewers must be unanimous in certifying that the thesis is ready for the final oral exam whether as presented or with minor revisions. If revisions are required, the committee will inform you in writing about them. (If you have to do revisions, make sure all members of your committee (including the non-Readers) have a copy of the updated version.)

The Final Oral Exam (Dissertation Defense)

The final oral examination is comprised of two parts: the candidate’s presentation to the academic public, followed by a discussion between the committee members and the candidate.

  • The student’s presentation to the public is approximately 20-30 minutes in length, after which members of the audience are invited to ask questions related to the presentation. No later than the end of the first hour, the public is asked to leave.
  • At this point the committee may wish to meet briefly without the candidate. When the candidate is called in, the final oral exam continues with questions from committee members. At the end of the second part, the student is asked to leave the room while the committee votes on whether the student has passed the exam.