Logistics:
This year's qualifying exam will take place on 24 September 2024 in 273 Cahill.
The examination committee is: Fuller, Martin, Phinney, El Badry, Steidel.
Howard will sit in ex officio, as executive officer.
Schedule:
08:30 - 09:00 [committee pre-meeting] 09:00 - 10:00 Aniket 10:15 - 11:15 Luke 11:30 - 12:30 Hazel 13:30 - 14:30 Soumyadeep 14:45 - 15:45 Delina 16:00 - 17:00 Harshda 17:00 - 17:30 [committee discussion and review of notes]
Important: Do not talk with anyone else about the exam until after the last student has completed it.
Following the qualifying exam, we will hold a faculty discussion to review the committee's assessment of the exam results, and to gain further insight on student performance from research advisors and course professors.
Results from the qualifying exam process will be communicated to the examined students as soon as possible, but possibly not until after the discussion with the broader astronomy faculty. We aim to let you know within a few days.
As in previous years, the exam will have two parts:
Research:
Each student should submit a written report to the Option Rep at least one week before the examination, which will be made available to the faculty for review. We are all eager to learn about your research interests and progress! The committee members will read the reports in detail, in advance of the exam. Your report should be 4-10 pages long, with ``brief but complete" being the main guidance. Succint, persuasive writing is an important skill for you to develop.
First-year research submissions: directory
The student will give a 12-15 minute presentation on the research project, followed by a 5-15 minute question and answer session. The presentation should be clear and self-contained. No more than 15 primary slides are suggested, with perhaps some backups in anticipation of potential points of clarification. Students should be sure to describe their exact role in the project, especially if it involves more than just you and your advisor. Broader collaborative work is of course fine, but the committee needs to appreciate what aspects of the research you have carried out yourself.
Course and General Knowledge:
The committee will then proceed to ask the student questions intended to probe general knowledge of astronomy and astrophysics, at the level of the Ay 12X classes. There will be both qualitative and quantitative questioning, but we will not ask the student to carry out lengthy calculations that would be more appropriate for a homework set or a written exam.
The first question asked in the general knowledge section will come from this list. Subsequent questions also may be drawn from the list, but the conversation is likely to wander away from the list. The panel will probe breadth by asking questions of topics of current general interest, such as those potentially covered in colloquia or journal clubs, and probe depth by going in detail on processes and phenomena considered to be quite basic in astrophysics.
Some students, in addition to the standard Qualifying Examination, may be examined in greater detail on specific courses in which they underperformed (obtained less than B grade) during the first year. We would notify you after the conclusion of the academic year if this applies to you. The format of the additional scrutiny could be either in-depth questioning during the normal Qualifying Exam, or a separate written exam similar to the final exams offered for the Ay 12x series courses.
Philosophy:
The spirit of the exercise is evaluation of the research and scholarly capabilities of the student after approximately one year in graduate school. Your potential as a Ph.D. candidate will be assessed based on the submitted research document + presentation, and on the demonstration of comprehension of fundamental knowledge in astronomy and astrophysics. We are also interested in whether your mastery of standard material is at a minimum sufficient level such that we can anticipate your suitable performance as a Caltech TA.
Our work as faculty at the time of your admission to graduate school was to ``assess each applicant's potential as a researcher, potential as a learner and teacher, and professionalism and independence". One year later, you are at a point in your education where you have sufficiently demonstrated that you can do problem sets and take written exams, and you have gained research experience. As you move forward, however, it is increasingly important to be skilled in oral presentation. Genres include research talks on your own or others' work, as well as presentation of purely academic material to more junior and more senior audiences. The oral ``qualifying exam" is a chance to demonstrate these skills. By its very nature, an oral exam is open-ended, which allows us to work with you during the hour.
Outcome:
Evaluation of the student's accomplishment on the Qualifying Exam will lead to a pass/fail determination. We will also strive to deliver detailed feedback that is intended to help you as you continue your progress through the Caltech Ay graduate program, and into your career.
In some cases, the committee may determine at the Qualifying Exam juncture that the student has some deficiencies. At the discretion of the EO, a second exam may be held at a later time (three to six months) and could be similar to the original exam, or it could be focussed on a particular area. A decision based on this second assessment will be final. It is possible that some students will not be continued in the Ay graduate program after the end of their second academic year.