| | | General Preparation Strategies |
The first question you need to answer is "Should I take the quals my first year?" Although you are strongly encouraged by the department to take the exam your first year, there may be good reason to wait until your second year to take the exam for the first time. For example, if you are just returning to school after a hiatus in industry, you may want to wait a year to brush up on fundamentals and test taking ability. If you have recently switched your area of emphasis, you may not feel competent to be tested in the areas that are offered.
On the other hand, even if you don't feel fully prepared, you might take them, pass and surprise yourself. Even if you don't pass, many students find that it was an invaluable learning experience for the next time.
The following sections give ideas and suggestions on how to prepare for the qualifying exam. Everyone has his/her own study preference. So use this section as you wish to formulate your own strategy.
DRAWING FROM EXPERIENCE
Talk to as many people as possible, both within and outside your primary area, who have already taken the quals in previous years. They can tell you about their personal experience and they will tell you about the little tricks that worked for them. For example, you can find out about which professors to avoid, which professors are difficult to get, etc.
CHOOSING SUBJECT AREAS
Once you get the list of professors giving quals, look through the area of specialization and summarize the number of professors giving quals in each major subject area. These are the subject areas for 1998-99: Engineering Physics, Electronic Devices, Electronic Circuits, Electromagnetics, Signals, Systems, Computer Architecture and Logic Design, and Computer Systems Software. Try to study as few different subject areas as possible. The reason for this is that suppose you have ranked Signals and Systems and Semiconductors as your top choices. Suppose you get 4 professors from the first area and 3 professors from the second area and the remaining professors are from other areas. If you do really well with these 7 professors, you will pass the exam. You can concentrate on your first two choices of areas and spend very little time on the others. Usually students pick areas with the most professors giving questions in them. If you are in an underrepresented lab such as CSL, you will definitely need to concentrate on another area, preferrable one of the better represented ones (systems, EM, and semiconductors are the three largest).
IT IS IMPORTANT TO HAVE A SUBJECT STUDY PLAN WHICH OUTLINES THE TOPICS YOU WILL STUDY AND A SCHEDULE.
REMEMBER THE BASICS
In your practice exams and your material review, don't neglect the basic math, physics and electronics in your study plan. Make sure you know the basics well! Many problems are very simple and can be solved easily with a mastery of the basic concepts. Keep in mind that you only get about 10 minutes with every professor. Thus they cannot ask you to solve a difficult math or integral problem in that time. In fact, if the math becomes complicated, you have probably done something wrong!
GUEST EXAMINER
Get a "Guest Examiner". As the date of the exam approaches, you may want to ask a student who has already passed the quals to come in and be a guest examiner. Tell them to ask any questions they wish.
TAKING THE TEST...
If possible, wrap up your studying one or two days before the exam; this will help you be as relaxed as possible on Q-day. Be sure to get a full night of sleep the night before and two nights before (just in case you don't sleep well the night before) When you get your list of professors, go through each name on the list. Go visit their offices to know the location. Don't leave it for the day of the exam! Run through the schedule as if it was Q-day. If you have exams back-to-back, make sure you have enough time to get to the professor's door.
To give you a better idea of the strategies that have worked for some students, we have provided some quotes from the 1998 Quals Survey below.
| | | General Preparation Strategies |