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  Graduate School-Newark 2004-2006 Programs, Faculty, and Courses Integrative Neuroscience 546 Examination Formats  

Examination Formats

Qualifying

The qualifying examination is composed of both general knowledge and research components, which are administered on different days. Each student takes a written examination to test his or her knowledge of broad areas of neuroscience, submits a paper focused on his or her early research project, and makes an oral defense of his or her research paper.

Research Component: Written and Oral Defense

The written component of the research consists of a write-up of the early research project in a form suitable for publication. The student is free to pick the journal format (e.g., Journal of Neuroscience, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, or Journal of Neurochemistry) that he or she will follow. The style, however-including the title page, abstract, citations, reference list, figures, and other components of the manuscript-must adhere strictly to the format of the journal chosen.

Since this paper is used to evaluate the student`s ability to prepare a scholarly work before being advanced to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree, it should represent primarily the work of the student. The conduct of experiments, analysis of the research data, and their interpretation can and should be discussed with the adviser. On the other hand, the manuscript itself must reflect primarily the organizational thinking and writing ability of the student and contain a minimum of input from the adviser.

The committee recognizes, however, that even some of the best manuscripts require revision before they can be published in a journal. Thus, the committee will accept certain manuscripts even if they need some revision and resubmission. Candidates must submit six copies of the manuscript to the committee chairperson no later than 5:00 p.m. on the first Friday in September of their third year in the program.

If the committee accepts the manuscript, the chairperson will schedule an oral examination and early defense of the manuscript. Typically, these oral examinations occur during the second or third week of September. The examination opens with an oral presentation of 15 to 20 minutes by the student outlining the early research project. This is followed by questions from the committee, which may range from technical, methodological, and conceptual aspects of the research and manuscript to literature that relates to the project.

Manuscripts deemed unacceptable by the committee are returned to the student for revision, and the oral portion of the examination may be postponed. At this time, the student may solicit the adviser`s advice in preparing a revised version. While the adviser may offer specific help on the organization, structure, style, and content of the manuscript, the actual writing is to be the student`s. Again, the student submits six copies of the revised manuscript to the committee.

To pass the qualifying examination, the student needs affirmative votes from four of the six committee members. Since the purpose of the qualifying examination is to identify weaknesses or deficiencies that a student must rectify before graduation, the school encourages faculty advisers to attend their students` presentations and subsequent examinations as silent observers.

General Knowledge Component

The general knowledge component of the qualifying examination consists of essay-type questions. Each year, the qualifying examination committee solicits questions from each of the lecturers in Foundations of Neuroscience and the core course, Molecular and Cellular Biology, who taught the student in the first year in the program. From these questions, the committee selects 14 on the subjects of molecular, cellular, systems, behavioral, and cognitive neuroscience to pose to the student.

The exam is held in three-hour periods over two nonconsecutive days, usually in the second or third week of September. Each of the two exams consists of seven questions, with the candidate required to pick any four to answer. Candidates have three hours to write their answers by computer and save those answers to a file. Each answer is graded by the author of the question, the committee chairperson, and at least one other appropriate faculty member selected by the chairperson. Grading is blind, with the answers identified only by student number. The code is not broken until the chairperson receives all grades from all the answers in the exam. To pass, a candidate must supply acceptable answers to at least three of the four questions posed on each day. To pass the qualifying examination, a candidate must garner at least a four-to-two affirmative vote from the qualifying examination committee.

Because one purpose of the qualifying examination is to identify weaknesses or deficiencies in the candidate that must be corrected, the school encourages faculty advisers to attend their students` presentations as silent observers.

No more than three weeks after completing the examination, the program notifies each candidate in writing of his or her results. This letter, which becomes part of the candidate`s permanent record, also will detail strengths and weaknesses that were identified by the examination and suggest steps to remedy deficiencies.

Policies Governing Reexamination

The student must pass both the research and the general knowledge portions of the qualifying examination to be admitted to candidacy. If the student fails either or both portions of the examination, he or she will be permitted to retake the failed portions one time only. Thus, the reexamination may involve the oral presentation, manuscript defense, one or both sections of the general knowledge examination, or any combination of these. Working with the student`s adviser, the qualifying examination committee sets the time for the reexamination. In no case should that date be later than December 20 of the year in which the initial examination was taken.

Terminal Master`s Degree

If the student fails to pass all components of the qualifying examination on the second attempt, that student must leave the program. Upon recommendations by the qualifying examination committee and with the approval of the director(s) of the graduate program, however, such candidates may be awarded a terminal master of science degree. Conferral of this degree is contingent upon the student completing at least 30 credits of graduate courses, including at least 24 credits with a B average. In addition, each of these students must submit to the qualifying examination committee an acceptable write-up of the early research project.

Under exceptional circumstances, students leaving the program who have completed the course requirements but not the early research project and/or its written component may be assigned a final paper topic by the chairperson of the qualifying examination committee. If after reviewing this paper, the qualifying committee finds it acceptable, the master of science degree is awarded.


 
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