Guidelines for the Qualifying Exams:

In the Public Policy Ph.D. Program exams are of two types: proficiency and comprehensive. A student must pass both before being allowed to move into the dissertation stage.

QUALIFYING EXAMS:

Proficiency exams are about the skills related to policy analysis. Can the student do benefit-cost analysis, use appropriately various parametric and nonparametric statistics, design quantitative and qualitative evaluations, and explain the strengths and weaknesses of basic approaches to policy analysis.

 The student would be tested on three areas of the core: Methods of Analysis, Economic Analysis and the Nature of the Field.

A student must have completed all of the required courses in the core and have no outstanding incomplete grades in order to take the Proficiency Exams. While not recommended, students may, with the permission of the Director, take the Proficiency Exams without having completed PPOL 8635, Ethics of Public Policy and the sequence of three required, one-hour seminar classes (PPOL 8690).

The faculty in each area of the Core would specify the set of skills that ALL students in the Program should know. These would be published on the Program website and updated as the faculty in each core area deem necessary.

Each test would last one day or less and the student would demonstrate the required skills at B level or better.

The faculty in each core area would be responsible for writing, scheduling, monitoring, and grading their exams.

A student must pass all three exams to move through the Program. No student may attempt the Comprehensive Exam without having passed all three core area exams.

A student may take each core area exam only twice. Failure on the second try for any core area exam would exclude the student from the Program.

Students failing two of the three core proficiency exams in one semester will be required to repeat all three exams when they sit for the proficiency exams again.

If a student fails any section of the qualifying examination, that student must sit for the re-take at the time of the next offering of the exam. For example, if a student takes the qualifyng exams in August but fails one section, then the student must retake that section when the qualifying exams are offered the following January.

A student must give notice of intent to take the exam in the fall by June 1. A student must give notice of intent to take the exam in the spring by September 15. The exams will be scheduled either during the week before or in the first week of classes in the fall semester and spring semesters.

 A student committing to take the proficiency exams must test in all three areas, unless they are retaking the exam in one area.
 

Preparing for the qualifying exams.