Qualifying Exams for PhD Students

The PhD qualifying examination consists of three exams: a required mathematics exam and two subject area exams chosen by the student from the list of subject areas below. All exams are based on undergraduate-level coursework.

• The following is the qualifying exam schedule:
  • Students that join in August: 1st try in January, 2nd try in May. An August admit may elect to take the August exam.
  • Students that join in January: 1st try in May, 2nd try in August. A January admit may elect to take the January exam.
  • Students that join in May: 1st try in August, 2nd try in January. A May admit may elect to take the May exam.
• All repeat attempts must be consecutive.
• All three test times are for first time and repeat test takers.
• Mathematics exam is required for all doctoral students.
• Exams must be passed with a score of 80% or higher
• The time limit on each exam is three hours. Only one exam is given per day, though, if necessary, a maximum of two exams may be taken in any one day.
• The GPC is the point of contact for questions about the exams.
• MS students who are interested are welcome to take the qualifying exams. The attempt counts as one of the two possible attempts. The same rules apply to MS students as PhD students.
• Qualifying Exams and Study Materials.
  1. Aeronautics - Study Materials.
  2. Astrodynamics – Study Materials.
  3. Dynamics – Study Materials.
  4. Fluid Mechanics – Study Materials.
  5. Heat Transfer – Study Materials.
  6. Mathematics – Study Materials.
  7. Numerical Methods – Study materials.
  8. Solid Mechanics – Study Materials.