General Exam Policies

The General Exam is taken after the student has completed at least 60 hours of coursework. The General Exam consists of a written exam and an oral exam.

Note: students may register for as few as 2 credits during the quarter of their General Exam and not lose fulltime status.

 

The General Exam is administered by a four-member committee; the chair of the committee must be a member of the HCDE department. Members of the committee will be appointed to represent each of the four core areas (Theory, Research Methods, Society & Systems, and Media Design and Applications). Each member of the committee with be responsible for drafting and evaluating the question(s) in his or her subject area.

 

The General Exam Committee will be headed by a committee chair chosen by the student. The committee chair, together with the student, will choose the remaining members of the committee. Generally, this person is the faculty member likely to chair the student's dissertation; however, this is not a requirement.

 

Prior to the exam each student should consult with the members of the General Exam Committee to discuss his or her area of interest. The General Exam Committee will take into account the student's area of interest when drafting the questions to strike a balance between the breadth of the field and how it applies to each student's area of interest.

 

The Written Exam is a self-proctored, open book examination which will take place over four days (maximum five-hours per question) within a two week period. The student will answer four questions, one each day. The department encourages students to use the time for both writing and revising the answer for each question. In addition to books, students may bring to the exam notes or other preparatory materials they made while studying for the exam. If the student chooses to work on campus and does not have ready access to a location in which to complete the exam, the student is responsible for working with the department secretary to reserve a suitable room for their Written Exam. If the student plans to use a department laptop, the student should also request a reservation for this equipment through the secretary.

 

The student will receive the questions from and return their questions to the department staff adviser, who will forward the questions to the student's committee chair.

 

As students prepare for the General Exam, they may enroll for credits under HCDE 599.

 

You are required to have a Graduate Student Representative (GSR) at your Oral Defense. Should your GSR be unable to attend, there is a list of possible GSR's available through the Graduate School website (Graduate Faculty Locator). A faculty member must be endorsed to chair a doctoral committee in order to be eligible as a GSR. Eligible GSR's will have an asterisk by their name in the Graduate Faculty Locator.

 

Typically, the Oral Exam will occur within a month of completing the Written Exam. After a date for the Oral Exam is decided between the student and his/her committee, the student must submit the Doctoral General Exam Request form to the UW Graduate school three weeks prior to the Oral Exam date.

 

The Oral Exam will be evaluated by the members of the General Exam Committee. The Oral Exam will engage students in a discussion of issues related to the written component of the Exam. Committee members may use this opportunity to ask for further clarification on responses.

 

The General Exam committee will evaluate both the Written and the Oral components of the exam. Possible outcomes of the general exam are Pass or Fail. If a student fails the exam, he or she will be allowed one other opportunity to sit for the General Exam.