The First Hurdle: Qualifiers

Though they differ from school to school, qualifiers seem to strike fear and panic in most PhD students. For most schools, quals are a tool to weed out students who may not be ready for the rigors of the PhD process. The process is different between schools and even between programs with some schools having classes that must be passed while others have one or more written exams that must be passed. For me, it was four 2 hour exams in 4 different subject areas of computer science. I was lucky and had some choice in what exams I had to take.

While I am through that hurdle, I still remember living on Peanut M&Ms and Cherry Coke during that week and wearing sweat pants ever day. I promise that I did shower, unlike some people. I also remember people getting an exam, looking at it, and then just leaving the room. Others left in tears after the two hours were up. I did hear some people say that they just came to the exams cold to just see what they could pass. With only two chances to take the exams, that method seemed rather risky. Not surprisingly, the student I met who chose this approach had to retake all four quals.

Everyone has a different way of preparing for qualifiers. I have CDO (OCD with the letters in the proper order) so my notes are very thorough and well organized. I made sure to take the classes from the professors who wrote the exams and studied 2 hours a day for 4 months. I studied a different subject every week and worked through problems and read through the slides. I took the week of quals off from work and basically lived on campus.

While I and the members in my dissertation group have passed this hurdle, I still have students referred to me from the CS department (my notes are well known). Sometimes it is a student who is on her last chance (how we met Coco) and for others it is their first foray. I'm currently working with two students now for quals next month. Some tips my group and I have given:

1. TAKE THE CLASSES that the quals are based on! Preferably, take them from the professor who writes the qual.
2. Don't wait till the last minute to start studying. A month really isn't enough time if you have a job or classes taking up part of your time.
3. If you have a choice, take them in the fall. Taking them in-between fall and spring semester is rough as you do not have time to recover from the end of fall semester before having to cram on quals. Not to mention trying to study while everyone is celebrating the holidays is depressing.
4. Take the week of quals off if possible. My coworkers were very helpful in this. Trying to concentrate on work knowing you have quals that day is difficult as is concentrating on your qual when you are still thinking about work.
5. Join or form a study group for quals.
6. When you walk out of a qual, write down the questions you remember just in case you didn't pass.
7. For PhD Students at GMU, I have notes for the following quals: Foundations of Computer Science, Programming Languages, Database Management, Software Construction, and Software Modelling. I am willing to share, but do ask that students add to them to keep them current for future students.
8. It is OK to cry. I know I broke down when I was finished. I also remember talking to friends as they were taking them and some of them did too.
9. Failing is not the end of the world. I took quals three times before I passed (I know I said you have two chances, but there are always loopholes). You just have to not give up.
10. If you did fail one or more quals, go look at them to see what you did wrong. If possible, try to challenge. It can't hurt.

"Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Cham www.phdcomics.com