The PhD qualifier exam is intended to ensure that students are ready for research work and have certain core knowledge at the Master's level. The PhD qualifier exam has two parts: a breadth component covering core knowledge in theory, systems, and programming languages; and an oral component where the student demonstrates ability to conduct research.

The breadth component is passed by taking certain core courses in special PhD sections. The oral component is passed by taking an oral exam. Both components must be passed under certain terms for the qualifier requirement to be satisfied.

Breadth component

The breadth component of the qualifying exam covers three subject areas: Languages, Systems, and Theory. Certain courses are allocated to each of the areas. To satiety the breadth requirement, a student must receive a certain grade in the relevant core courses while being enrolled in them in a PhD section. The PhD section is a special section for PhD students that may involve additional work and different grading standards. The following is a set of rules pertaining to the breadth component:

  1. Students must take one course in the PhD section of 3 core categories:
  2. Students must obtain at a minimum 2 "A" and 1 "B" grades in the PhD section of the 3 core categories while taking courses for the PhD degree.
  3. If a student took already a primary core course with "B" or better (at IIT or elsewhere) they must select another primary core course instead (e.g. cs535 instead of cs530). If another primary core course for a category does not exist (or if the student already took it), the student may seek approval for another core course in the same category in consultation with her/his advisor. This selection will have to be approved by the PhD coordinator and the graduate committee. The advisor will be the one initiating the approval process with the PhD coordinator and the graduate committee.
  4. In extreme cases where there are no relevant courses remaining in the primary core category (e.g. languages) the student may seek approval for one replacement core category in consultation with her/his advisor (e.g. computational intelligence instead of languages). This selection will have to be approved by the PhD coordinator and the graduate committee. The advisor will be the one initiating the approval process with the PhD coordinator and the graduate committee.
  5. If multiple core courses exist for a category, the student may attempt any number of them and select the course with the highest grade.
  6. Courses may be repeated to improve a grade subject to the normal course repeat rules. Note that the normal course repeat rules impose a limit on the total number of courses that may be repeated during a degree. The ability to repeat a course is also subject to advisor and department approval.

Oral Component

The oral qualifier component may vary depending on the research area of the student. Examination committees are composed of three relevant faculty members. There are two formats of the oral qualifier component depending on the area of reteach the student is involved with:

  1. Students involved with research in theoretical computer science: Students whose research is in Theory area receive a scientific paper to study. During the examination the student must answer questions regarding this paper.
  2. Students involved with research in all other areas: Students need to conduct research for one or more semesters at Illinois Tech and under a CS Illinois Tech faculty supervision. They must then summarize their findings in a research report which should be submitted to the examination committee at least one week prior to the examination date. The CS Illinois Tech faculty who supervised the research work must fill a form certifying that the work in the report was done under her/his supervision and that the work was done primarily by the student (noting any exclusions if any). During the oral examination students present their work and answer questions by the committee. The committee evaluates at a minimum the following aspects:

    It is expected that the student address these requirements by presenting one or more research problems. The student should carefully review each problem, exhibit knowledge of techniques required to solve the problems, propose partial or full solutions, and show prospects for further research, if possible. While the student may address more than one problem, the student should guard against simply reviewing a number of problems.

    It is possible that the student has published results based on the presented research. This would be additional evidence of the student's research capabilities. Students must present work mainly done by them and should not submit a paper where they are not the primary author. If parts of the work were done with others, the shared parts should be properly attributed. Not disclosing sources or taking credit for work done by others are grounds for failing the exam.

Rules common to both oral qualifier formats:
  1. There are two attempts given to pass the oral qualifier exam which must be completed according to the time requirements listed below.
  2. The oral qualifier exam is normally conducted by the 4th or 5th week of the Fall and Spring semesters. There are no qualifier exams in the summer semester.
  3. Students must register to take the oral qualifier exam by the first week of the relevant semester by submitting a registration form to the PhD coordinator. Registering to take the exam and not taking it counts as an attempt unless there is a justified reason.
  4. A review of the examination should be given to the student along with the result of the exam within a week of the exam.

Time Requirements

The time given to complete all qualifier requirements depends on the track the student is in:

Additional degree requirements

In addition to the qualifier exam students must satisfy other degree requirements and take core courses in other areas. Students with MS in CS have a total of 3 core courses they need to select whereas other PhD students have a total of 5 core courses they need to select. All core courses in all core areas must be passed with B or batter to satisfy core course requirements.

Transition Period

Before the Spring 2021 semester there was an option to pass the breadth component by taking a written exam instead of taking the PhD section of courses. This option no longer exist. The following pertains to a transition period for students who were in the program when written qualifier exams were conducted:
  1. For the purpose of determining qualifier pass only, a pass of a written qualifier exam is considered to be equivalent to an "A" in the respective primary core course. Thus, for example, if you passed the systems written qualifier exam, received "A" in cs530/535, "B" in cs536, and passed the oral qualifier, you pass the qualifier. Note that this statement does not mean that passing a written qualifier exam relieves you from a requirement to take a core course for your PhD studies.
  2. If the new rules result in you meeting the breadth requirement of the qualifier, you are done with this requirement, but you should check with the PhD coordinator (Peng-Jun Wan) to make sure this is information is recorded.
  3. Fall '21 will be the last semester written qualifier exams are offered.