The Preliminary Examination is a written "entrance" examination intended to test the student's promise for successfully pursuing the Ph.D. program. It examines the student’s technical background, knowledge and skills considered necessary for the course work and research required for the program.

Students must successfully complete this examination after accumulating at least 24 semester hours beyond the baccalaureate degree.  It is in the student's best interest to take the preliminary examination as soon as possible after completing 24 but before 42 semester hours of graduate work. Students with exceptional performance at the master’s level may  be allowed to skip the Preliminary examination at the recommendation of his/her advisor, the committee of the master’s oral examination, and approval of the Department Chair.

Upon successful completion of the Preliminary Examination, a student may begin research for the dissertation.

The ECE faculty administers the Preliminary examination, grades it, and votes on the results.  If the student fails this examination, he/she may repeat it after a time lapse of at least three months.  This examination may not be taken more than twice.

Specifics of the examination are as follows:

1.     The examination is given twice a year, in October and in January; usually on Friday morning.
2.     A written announcement will be posted indicating the exact dates, times, and place.
3.     An application form (available in the ECE Department office) must be completed at least one week before the examination date.
4.     A student chooses three subjects upon which to be examined. An Electrical Engineering student may choose any three subjects from the ten listed below. A Computer Engineering student must choose at least two computer engineering subjects.

A student who has written a Master's thesis may be exempt, at the recommendation of the student's examining committee,  from taking a Preliminary examination on the thesis subject only. The student would then choose two subjects only ( excluding the  thesis subject) on which he/she will be examined. In very exceptional cases, the MSE examining committee may recommend to the ECE  chair to have the Preliminary examination waived for a student whose work on the Master's thesis is considered outstanding.

5.     The available subjects are:

Computer Engineering:

     1. Computer Networking
      2. Software System Architecture
      3. Hardware System Architecture
      4. Parallel Processing
      5. VLSI Design

Electrical Engineering:

      1. Communication, Radar
       2. Control Systems
       3. Signal Processing
       4. Electromagnetics, antennas
       5. Electronics
       6. Optics

6.     Sample examinations are available HERE.
7.     The examination is closed book, and a time of one and one-half hour is allocated to each subject.
8.     Results are announced within two weeks after the examination.
9.     Students are notified of the results in writing.
10.   To successfully pass the examination, the student must pass all subjects attempted.
11.    If a student fails one and only one subject, he/she must repeat the same or a different subject -not previously passed-at the next examination time. Repeating the examination in this case is considered as the second attempt.
12.    If a student fails two or more subjects, he/she must retake the whole examination and may choose different subjects.

Syllabi:   The syllabus for each subject is listed along with suggested books and relevant courses.  Note that the syllabi do not cover the concerned topics in detail; they only provide a broad outline of the topics.  Generally, the materials included in the syllabi cover materials form junior, senior and low-level graduate courses

Notice:  The ECE Department expects that all students taking the preliminary examination have mastered the standard undergraduate mathematics curriculum.  Therefore, a student taking the preliminary examination should be prepared to solve problems involving:
      Ordinary Differential Equations
      Linear Algebra
      Multivariable Methods
      Phasor Methods
      Fourier and Orthogonal Function Methods
      Laplace and Fourier Transforms

The foregoing represent a minimum.  Specific disciplines will of course have their own mathematical requirements beyond those listed above.  The student should therefore be certain that he/she understands the additional mathematical methods necessary for each examination he/she plans to take.
 

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