Ocean Engineering PhD Program General Exam 1

Students in the Ocean Engineering PhD program are expected to take the General Examination 1 (PhD Qualifying Examination). The primary purpose of General Exam 1 is to evaluate the student's ability, not only to demonstrate a thorough knowledge of ocean engineering course material, but to evaluate original thinking.

General Examination 1 will be in three (3) parts: 

Part 1-   A written exam covering three core courses  (OCP 6050 Physical Aspects of Oceanography, EOC 6635 Engineering Data Analysis, EOC 5172 Math Methods in OE 1).  This be will be four hours in duration and will require four problems to be answered.

Part 2 – A written exam covering three elective subjects. This will be three hours in duration and will require one problem from each elective to be answered.

Part 3 -  A pre-proposal that consists of an oral presentation and written paper based on several articles selected by a committee (including the advisor). The student will identify knowledge gap(s), do a literature review (with guidance of the advisor). During the presentation, the questions will be limited to those that help demonstrate knowledge important to the research topic/area.

Students may be exempted from taking a written exam in all or some of the Parts (1, 2), based on the following criteria:

  1. Students with a cumulative GPA >=3.5 on all courses selected for the QE (minimum B+ in each class), will be exempt from Part 1 and Part 2 only.  These students will be allowed to take only Part 3.
  2. Students with a cumulative GPA  >= 3.5,  but with a grade of B or less on some of the courses that are part of the Qualifying Exam, will be required to take a written examination only for those courses in Parts 1 or Part 2.  These students will also take Part 3.
  3. Students with a cumulative GPA that is < 3.5 on all courses selected for the QE, will be required to take a written examination in all courses in Part 1, Part 2, as well as Part 3.

A new set of exams will be prepared and questions and problems from previous exams are not available to students. It is expected that the exam on the elective courses will focus on the student's area of specialization.

Grading

An overall grade of 70 percent on part 1 and part 2 of the General Examination 1 and a passing grade in the pre-proposal constitutes successfully completing General Examination 1. If the student fails any of the parts, the student will have one more opportunity to successfully pass the exam. The student must score 70 percent in each subject that is retaken. Alternatively the student may retake the entire exam when it is next offered.  General Exam 1 is scheduled immediately after the last day of the final examination period in the fall semester and in the spring semester each year. The preproposal can be defended during the last two months of the semester including the week after the final exams period, if the advisor indicates that the student is ready.

When to Take the Exam

Students who have obtained the MS in ocean engineering, or the MS in mechanical engineering at FAU, will be allowed to take the General Examination 1 at the end of the first semester, if the student has completed the pre-proposal. Otherwise, the General Examination 1 must be taken no later than the end of the second semester of Ph.D.study. Those admitted to the PhD program directly after the BS degree in ocean or mechanical engineering at FAU may take the exam after completing 24 credits of graduate coursework.