• Home
• About Us
• People
• Courses
• Undergraduate Students
• Graduate Students
• Curriculum and Program Requirements
• Coursework Phase
• Preliminary Examination
• The Dissertation
• Teaching
• Evaluation
• Financial Information
• Grievance Procedure
• Placement Service
• Miscellaneous
• Contact Information
• Appendix I: General University Policy Governing Consensual Relationships
• Office Hours
• Links and Resources

Graduate Students

Preliminary Examinations

The preliminary examination is designed to test your knowledge of the theories and substantive debates in the discipline of political science. You must sit for an examination in two of the four subfields (American, Comparative, International Relations, Political Theory); the content of each subfield is defined by the pro-seminar syllabus and core reading list, both of which are on file in the Department office. The exam is comprised of a written exam, and a subsequent oral exam, both of which are reviewed and evaluated by both members of the exam committee.

Graduate students are required to take their preliminary examination (a comprehensive written exam plus a comprehensive oral exam) at the beginning of their fifth full-time semester in the program, which will normally occur in the first semester of their third year. The oral exam typically falls within a week to ten days after the completion of your written exam.

Students must complete ten out of twelve courses before taking preliminary exams. These would include all core courses needed for exam preparation. No student with an incomplete shall be allowed to take a preliminary examination.

It is possible to fail one or both of the field examinations. Students who are judged to have failed all or part of the examination will be required to retake the exam(s) in question. You are expected to pass the preliminary exams by the end of the second semester of your third year in the program. Failing the prelims a second time is cause for your withdrawal from the program.

The Department recognizes that extraordinary circumstances -- e.g. illness, family responsibilities -- may necessitate exceptions to these rules. You may petition the DGS for an exception, and any and all exceptions must be approved by the Department's Graduate Affairs Committee.

The Examination Process

• The Director of Graduate Studies shall determine the scheduling of the written examinations and the selection of the examination committees.
• Prior to the beginning of the examination semester, the Director of Graduate Studies will ask second-year students to declare whether they intend to take their prelims on schedule and, if so, in which subfields. Based on the responses, the DGS will select an examination committee from each field, schedule the written and oral exam dates for each participating student, and communicate this information both to students and faculty members.
• The written preliminary examination shall be a 72-hour, take-home, open book examination covering both subfields. The completed exam should be about 20-25 double-spaced, typed pages per subfield.
• After completion of the written examination, each student shall be required to sit an oral examination for each sub field with that subfield's full exam committee.
• Immediately following completion of the oral examination, the examination committee shall meet in executive session to determine an overall grade for the preliminary examination (written examinations + oral examination).
• The only grading options available to a faculty examination committee are as follows: (a) pass with distinction; (b) high pass; (c) pass; (d) low pass; (e) fail. If the examination committee determines that a graduate student has failed both field examination areas, the student will be judged to have failed the prelims, and will be given the option of retaking the written examinations and the oral at the beginning of the next semester, under the supervision of an examination committee. If the examination committee determines that a graduate student has failed only one field examination area, the student will be judged to have failed the prelims, and will be given the option of retaking the written examination and the oral in that single field area at the beginning of the following semester, under the supervision of a two-person examination committee. Exam dates for students retaking their prelims will be set by the DGS in consultation with members of the Graduate Affairs Committee.
• A student is only allowed to fail examinations once. Failing the prelims a second time is cause for withdrawal from the graduate program.
• Once a grade has been determined, the committee shall inform the student immediately of its decision.
• The examination committee shall designate a faculty member who will be responsible for informing the DGS of the student's grade on the preliminary examination.