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PhD Qualifying Exam
The Qualifying Exam is an important milestone in the PhD program and is designed to assess your readiness to undertake independent research.
Within the first 24 months of admission or transfer to the PhD program, you are required to sit your PhD qualifying exam, which involves submitting a brief research proposal and defending it orally to your examining committee, which consists of your Supervisory Committee and an independent examiner. The examiner is a SEE faculty member designated by the Graduate Program Committee Chair and is not a member of the student’s supervisory committee. The supervisor chairs the examination. Before your qualifying exam, you should undergo at least one annual review leading to a Graduate Progress Report.
Your defence of the proposal will be evaluated based on the feasibility and scientific merit of your proposed research, as well as your sophisticated understanding (at a senior undergraduate or first-year graduate level) of general material in your major area of research.
The possible outcomes of the PhD qualifying exam are: satisfactory (S), satisfactory with concerns (SC), or unsatisfactory (U). If you receive a "satisfactory with concern" grade, you will have six months to resubmit and defend your proposal for the second and final time and/or complete additional courses. If you fail the exam, you will receive an unsatisfactory Graduate Progress Report, which may lead to program withdrawal.
Please see below for an overview of the steps leading up to your Qualifying Exam.
For more details on the Qualifying Exam requirements and procedures, please read through this document.
OVERVIEW OF QUALIFYING EXAM PROCEDURE
Step |
Responsibility |
Description |
1 |
Student | Confirms intent and readiness to undertake the PhD Qualifying Examination with their supervisor(s) and begins preparing a research proposal. |
2 |
Graduate Program Assistant / Student | Students are automatically enrolled in SEE 890 in their sixth term. Students who wish to complete the Qualifying Exam earlier must email the Graduate Program Assistant at faspgm@sfu.ca (copying their supervisor) at least two weeks before the start of the term in which they intend to complete the exam to request early enrollment. |
3 |
Supervisor/GPC Chair | The supervisor reaches out to the GPC chair to have an examiner assigned. |
| 4 | Student / Supervisor | Coordinates with the supervisory committee to confirm the exam date and time and requests room booking support from the Graduate Program Assistant. |
5 |
Student | Prepares the research proposal in consultation with their supervisor(s). The proposal must be the student’s original work. |
6 |
Student | Submits the final proposal to the supervisor and supervisory committee at least two weeks before the scheduled exam. |
7 |
Examining Committee | Conducts the examination following SEE 890 examination procedures and determines the outcome: Satisfactory, Satisfactory with Concern, or Unsatisfactory. |
8 |
Supervisor | Submits the completed Qualifying Examination Results Form to the Graduate Program Assistant or completes the Graduate Progress Report online. |