Qualification Exam

The official qualification exam description may be found here.

Download old qualification exams here (login required).

Who takes the exam?

The qualification exam is a requirement for all doctoral students. However, it is open for all graduate students in the department. Regardless, all students must have a minimum 3.2 GPA to sit for the exam. Speak to your adviser for specific advice. 

 

When should I take the exam?

The mechanical engineering department offers the qualification exam once a year, on the day after university commencement in May. As per the department website, the exam is typically taken "after the student has spent two semesters in the graduate program as an MS/PhD or PhD student." Speak to your adviser for specific advice.

 

What's on the exam?

The qualification exam consists of 11 subjects: 6 core subject areas (control, dynamics, elasticity, fluids, heat transfer, thermodynamics) and 5 applied subject areas (combustion, energy, manufacturing, micro/nano engineering, robotics). Each subject has 4 questions, so students will be given a total of 44 problems at the start of the exam. Students must complete 12 problems. At most 4 problems may be solved from applied subject areas; otherwise, students are free to mix-and-match problems from sections as they desire.

 

When should I start studying?

MEGA polled all students who took the 2016 qualification exam. Our results showed that students felt confident when they started studying at least three weeks in advance.

Timeline of when students start studying for quals