Transcript The Oceanic Data Utility: Global

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
– 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.
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
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:
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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
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)
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…
Some Statistics
• Prelim History from 1992:
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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
AR
DB
GR
HCI
NET
NM
OS
PL
PP
SEC
THY
Totals
111
44
36
44
30
50
11
77
47
5
4
68
527
72
30
25
29
26
41
4
5
3
5
4
67
395
65%
68%
69%
66%
87%
82%
36%
77%
70%
100%
100%
99%
75%
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
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