Comprehensive Examination in
Biomedical
Engineering
Nature
of the Examination
The comprehensive
examination
is administered near the end of the Ph.D. student’s course work period
and
generally covers topics related to the student’s plan of study. The examination involves a written part and an
oral part. Satisfactory completion of
this examination is necessary before the graduate student is admitted
to
candidacy for the Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering.
Examining Committee
The examination
will be prepared
by the members of the student's Advisory Committee. The Chairman will
take
responsibility for requesting members of the committee to prepare
questions for
subject areas based on the Plan of Study.
Generally each faculty member on the advisory committee will be
responsible for questions in one or two exam areas.
Written
Examination
The written exam is
conducted
in several sections, each section being conducted by a member of the
advisory
committee. It is the student's
responsibility to schedule the exact date for each part of the exam
with the
individual committee members. The faculty member has the option of
conducting
an oral examination rather than a written examination if appropriate to
the
subject matter.
Oral
Examination
An oral examination
will be
conducted before the entire committee after completion of all
individual
sections of the examination. The purpose of this oral exam is to enable
the
student to clarify or amplify answers to individual test sections and
to allow
the committee to evaluate synthesis and integration skills.
Scoring
of the Examination
Each section of the
exam will
be scored as 'Pass', 'Marginal', or 'Fail' by the responsible Committee
Members. The successful candidate must receive a 'Pass' grade over 60%
of the
subject areas with no more than 20% 'Fail'.
Retaking
the Examination
The comprehensive
examination
cannot be taken more than two times.
Preparation
for the Examination
The program faculty
recommends that Ph.D. students devote a minimum of six weeks in
preparation for
the comprehensive examination.