Prelim exam instructions for the candidate

1. When to take the exam
   1. The prelim exam should be taken by the end of the third term of the student's program (counting Fall and Winter terms only). Example timelines are given in the table below:
      

      You entered the PhD program in	You need to take the prelim by
      Fall term	End of the following Fall term
      Winter term	End of the following Winter term

2. Formation of the committee
   1. The student, in consultation with their supervisory committee, should set up the prelim committee approximately two and a half months prior to the desired date of the exam.
   2. The prelim committee is composed of 4 faculty members:
      1. The supervisor and two other members chosen from the PhD supervisory committee. Note that co-supervisors count together as one member
      2. One faculty member from a different research area. This member will chair the prelim committee. (For a list of Physics faculty and their research areas, see https://www.physics.mcgill.ca/people/faculty-f.html.)
   3. The timeline for the exam, the list of the committee members, their consent to serve on the committee and to administer the exam on the requested date/time must be sent by the student to the GPD for approval using Preliminary Exam Committee form.
3. Written component
   1. Approximately six weeks prior to the date of the oral exam, the student submits to the PhD exam committee a 10 page document (including figures but excluding references) that describes:
      1. the context of the proposed research, including a review of relevant literature
      2. the purpose of the proposed research and its novelty
      3. the proposed methodology and timeline
      While preparing the document, students are encouraged to discuss the general content of the document with their supervisor. However, the supervisor should not give detailed comments on the document itself or make edits to the document.
   2. The prelim committee will prepare written feedback which will be collected by the chair of the committee and sent to the student within 2 weeks of submission of the written document. This will contain:
      1. Feedback on whether the level of the written submission is adequate
         1. If not, an explanation of what is not adequate should be given and specific suggestions should be made so that the student can make necessary corrections and resubmit.
         2. For accepted proposals, the committee will provide a list of feedback items that includes comments/questions about the proposal itself, that the candidate must explicitly address at their 30-minute talk at the oral exam.
      2. The scope of the oral exam: supervisor will inform the committee what Physics topic areas are relevant to the candidate's research. The Q/A session at the oral exam will focus on these topics.
         1. The committee will provide study materials from specified textbooks and papers, and a list of up to 4 questions per committee member, from which the questions for the Q/A part of the prelim exam will be motivated
         2. Questions for the Q/A session can be motivated by the proposal itself, but they should assess undergraduate knowledge of the physics.
         3. The committee will take into account that the student has one month to prepare for the oral exam
4. Oral component
   1. The student must give an oral presentation based on the proposed project, outlining their goals, methodology, the originality of the research, and the proposed timeline. During this presentation, the candidate must also address any feedback about the written proposal provided by the committee at the feedback stage of the written proposal (see 3(b)). The student can choose to have the presentation be in private session with the committee members only, or public (i.e. open to members of the department)
   2. Following the oral presentation, there will be a question period in private session with the committee. The committee will question the student on:
      1. The presentation and the proposed research, including the written document
      2. A wider range of related topics based on the list of topics and the related reading materials provided to the student in the feedback to the written component (see 3(b)
   3. The suggested length of the exam is approximately 30 minutes for the presentation and up to approximately 1 hour for the question period.
   4. The committee chair will keep a record of the exam which includes the questions asked and comments on the quality of the responses.
   5. The following is the rubric for assessment of questions in the Q/A session of the oral component of the Prelim exam
      Each answer is graded on a four-point scale
      1. Answered the question to the committee's satisfaction without help.
      2. Answered the question to the committee's satisfaction with some help and direction provided from the questioner or committee.
      3. Didn't answer the question to the committee's satisfaction, even after receiving help and direction from the questioner or committee.
      4. Didn't answer the question at all, and was not knowledgeable enough to make any reasonable progress, or exhibits a fundamental misconception[*] about basic knowledge.
         [*] fundamental misconception can mean something really fundamental, such as, for example, knowing the difference between the length scales on which Quantum mechanics can be applied to compared to Classical mechanics.
      Pass/fail criteria:
      1. Pass: A candidate with majority 1s and 2s
      2. Fail: Otherwise
5. Logistics
   1. The student should enroll in PHYS 700 in the term where they expect to take the oral exam. If the student passes the prelim exam, and should the committee and the student wish to, a progress tracking meeting can take place right after the prelim exam.
   2. According to the university policy on PhD comprehensive exams, the prelim exam must be passed by the end of the PhD 3 year. The schedule above takes this into account. (Note that most students start their PhD program as PhD 2. In some small number of cases, students start in PhD 1. PhD year can be verified on your transcript, in myProgress, or by contacting the Graduate Program Coordinator).

Students must upload their forms associated with their PhD Prelim to their My Progress page, where the GPD will login and sign electronically. This is how GPS keeps track and has access to the reports. Students should NOT submit the progress report directly to the GPD for manual signature