Graduate Program: Qualifying Exams
The department has three qualifying examinations covering required course material:
First-Year Theory Exam, June 16, 2009, 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM, Room EEB 045, UW: All Master’s students must pass this exam in June at the end of the first year of coursework. The exam covers statistical inference as taught in STAT 512-13.
PhD students who take STAT 512-13 must also take this exam for advisory purposes.
Entering students who have a Master’s degree in Math, Statistics, or a related field, or who, after consultation with their academic advisor, believe they have mastered the material in STAT 512-13, may take a placement exam during Autumn Orientation Week. The results will indicate whether they need to take 512-13 or may place out of it and take the second-year theory coursework (STAT 581-2-3) instead.
This exam offers typically students six questions, of which they choose five to be graded on. Students are given three hours to complete the exam, which is closed-book/notes. Calculators are allowed.
Second-Year (PhD) Theory Exam, August 26, 2009, 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM, location TBA: This exam covers material taught in STAT 581-2-3, and is currently given in late August. Students are typically offered seven questions, and must give answers to at least five. The exam lasts four hours and is closed book/notes. Calculators are allowed.
Second-Year (PhD) Applied Exam, July 20, 2009 (distributed) - July 27, 2009 (due); Presentations on July 30-31, 2009: This exam will be given in mid-summer. Students are given a data analysis problem and have one week to produce a written report on their analyses and results. Consultation of any written source is allowed, but students are not allowed to discuss their analyses or results with anyone until after the entire exam period (including orals) is completed. After the written reports are turned in, students are scheduled for an oral examination by the graders, when they will have a chance to make clarifications, defend choices, and answer questions. This exam assumes knowledge of the material in BIOST 517, 518, 570 and one or more quarters of BIOST 579 is strongly recommended. A Masters level version of this exam will be offered starting in Summer Quarter 2010.
Grading of Examinations and Results: Each theory exam has a committee consisting of a Chair from both the Departments of Statistics or Biostatistics. Normally, the instructor(s) of the relevant courses will be on the committee. Committee members normally grade the exams, with at least two different graders for each exam question (with scores averaged). If two graders differ substantially on their scores for a particular question, a reconciliation effort will occur.
After exam scores are turned in, the faculty will hold a meeting to determine a passing score. Passing lines differ from year to year due to varying degrees of exam difficulty. Faculty from both Biostatistics and Statistics discuss and agree upon what they think a passing score should be; this is done with blinded scores (no student identification revealed). The Biostatistics faculty then meet separately to determine final results for Biostatistics students.
Scores are either “Pass”, “Conditional Pass”, or “Fail.” For the MS (1st-year) Theory exam, two passing lines are determined: MS pass level and PhD pass level. For PhD students, this pass level is for advisory purposes. Master’s students who pass at the PhD level may be encouraged by the faculty to consider applying to the PhD program.
For students with borderline performances on exams, the faculty consider performance in the relevant coursework as a possibly mitigating factor in issuing a Pass on the exam.
Conditional passes may be issued to students with borderline scores; the condition is usually to retake one or more courses with a better grade, thus fulfilling the exam requirement.
Students who fail an exam must retake the exam the following year. Students have two attempts to pass an exam. A second failure will result in a drop from the program.
Studying for exams/past exam copies: Students may review past exams. Copies are available online (pdf format): PAST EXAMS