Comprehensive Examinations or Prelims

The comprehensive examinations, sometimes called prelims, consist of two basic parts: a computational part and a speciality part. The comprehensive exams serve to show that CS&E students have

1. the intellectual potential to do doctoral research,
2. the computational background to do CS&E doctoral research, and
3. the special area background to do doctoral research in the chosen speciality area.

Items one and two are verified by the computational exams and items one and three are verified by the specialty exams.

To ensure some uniformity while allowing for meaningful variations the format of the computational examination must be approved by the CS&E Director and the CS&E faculty committee.