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CS Prelim Requirements and Results

CS Prelim Requirements and Results. John Kubiatowicz CS Chair of Grad Study/Prelim Committee University of California at Berkeley 8/14/2012. Why Prelim Requirement?. Give you the tools to do your research Combination of course work and prelim exam More on this in a moment

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CS Prelim Requirements and Results

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  1. CS PrelimRequirementsandResults John Kubiatowicz CS Chair of Grad Study/Prelim Committee University of California at Berkeley 8/14/2012

  2. Why Prelim Requirement? • Give you the tools to do your research • Combination of course work and prelim exam • More on this in a moment • Resources for preparation: list of papers/books • Available on prelim information page • Also, makes sure you have exposure to sufficient breadth of concepts for your graduate student career • When combined with minor requirements, get enough exposure to innovate in your PhD • This is important! • If you are a systems student, you will learn about Theory and Machine learning • If you are a Theory student, you will learn how to do systems research • Etc.

  3. CS Prelim Breadth Requirement • Involves core classes, not specialized classes • Must come from the specified list of classes • Petitions for alternative classes usually not successful • One class each from three categories: • Systems: VLSI, Hardware Architecture, and OS • cs250, 252, 262A, or 262B; • Theory: Algorithms, Security, Complexity • cs270, 271, 273, 276, or 278 • Theory + Systems: Programming Languages, Parallel Algorithms, Probabilistic Reasoning, AI • cs263, 264, 267, 280, 281A, or 289; • GPA must average 3.5+ for all three courses; only one minimum grade of a "B+" is accepted toward fulfilling this requirement. • New students: Must be done with Prelim requirements by end of second year • i.e. your 4th term • If have master’s must be done by your 3rd term

  4. CS Prelim Exam • Oral Examination in front of 2 professors • Test your knowledge of the subject • Professors ask questions, you answer on whiteboard • Topic Areas: • Artificial Intelligence • Computer Architecture • Bio Engineering • Computer-Aided Design • Database Management Systems • Graphics • Human-Computer Interaction • Networking • Numerical Methods • Operating Systems • Parallel Processing • Programming Languages • Security & Privacy • Theory

  5. CS Prelim Exam (Cont) • Students expected to take exam during 3rd or 4th term (i.e in your second year) • If you have master’s, expected in 2nd or 3rd term • Any later, and you need to petition • Exams happen in third week of term • Must sign up at end of previous term • Expectations for exam (such as syllabus) available on department web pages • http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/GradAffairs/ • Expect to have most of prelim breath courses done before prelim • Thus – get cracking on prelim breadth courses during first year • Need to petition if you are deviating from normal procedure in any way • Including delaying exam or taking exam in other division (i.e. you are in EE and want to take CS exam)

  6. Passing the Exam • Take this seriously and you will do fine • Study! Often there are topic-specific study groups • For instance: OS students meet during summer to read papers from the recommended list (syllabus on web) • Rare instances that people fail: they don’t take it seriously! • They don’t study (????!) • They don’t know material on syllabus (????!) • They don’t know material well enough to think on their feet • This is not an exam that you can simply cram for you need to understand the material so that you can build on it • Failure is not the end of the world • Hopefully it is wakeup call, no more • You can take it more than once! • At least one more time, possibly more with support of advisor • I know students who took three times to pass and are now happily working as faculty • Don’t plan on this, however…

  7. Some Statistics • Prelim History from 1992: • 572 CS students have taken exam • 417 (72.9%) passed the first time • 120 (20.9%) passed the second or third time • 538 (93.8%) overall pass rate! • Breakdown by area across all exams (since 1999): Area # Students #Pass #Pass Rate AI 111 72 65% AR 44 30 68% DB 36 25 69% GR 44 29 66% HCI 30 26 87% NET 50 41 82% NM 11 4 36% OS 77 5 77% PL 47 3 70% PP 5 5 100% SEC 4 4 100% THY 68 67 99% Totals 527 395 75%

  8. Student Review Process • Once per term student and advisor sit down • Discuss expectations, current goals, concerns • You get to hear how your advisor thinks you are doing and get to give him or her feedback • You get to discuss your timeline and courses • Bring review forms with you – these get signed by you and your advisor • As an incoming graduate student you are assigned a temporary advisor • He or she can help you decide on prelim breadth classes, for instance • Faculty get together and do a collective review of students to make sure that everyone is making progress

  9. For Your CS Questions • Talk to Xuan Quach • 337 Soda Hall • She can give you details about procedure, your status, who to talk to about problems/issues • Graduate student Handbook: • http://www.eecs.berkeley.edu/Gradnotes

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