Academics

Graduate Program

Oral Qualifying Exam Questions

If you click on one of the links below, you'll be prompted for your username and password. Enter the user name quals (not your RCS or CS ID) and the password distributed by Terry Hayden. It is permissible to give the password to anyone else in the Rensselaer community, but it should not be made available outside. In particular, do not post either the password or any of the qualifying exam questions on any web page.

• Algorithms [html]
  Date: January 29, 2008
  2007-2008 Examiners: P. Drineas (Chair), V. Isler, C. Stewart.
  Format: 3-4 questions (plus follow-up), no preparation time.
  Textbook: Introduction to Algorithms, by T. H. Cormen, C. E. Leiserson, R. L. Rivest, C. Stein. McGraw Hill,2nd Edition, 2001.
  Registered Students
• Computability and Complexity [pdf]
  Date: January 15, 2008
  2007-2008 Examiners: E. Anshelevich, M. Goldberg (Chair).
  Format: 3-4 questions (plus follow-up), half hour preparation.
  Textbook: Introduction to the Theory of Computation, by M Sipser. PWS publishing company.
  Registered Students
• Operating Systems [html]
  Date: February 1, 2008
  2007-2008 Examiners: C. Carothers, M. Hardwick (Chair), B. Szymanski.
  Format: 2 questions (plus follow-up), at least 20 minutes preparation time.
  Textbooks: Operating Systems, Advanced Concepts, by Maekawa, Oldehoeft and Oldehoeft. Benjamin/Cummings, 1987.
  Operating System Concepts by A. Silberschatz and P. Galvin. Addison-Wesley, 1997, or later editions.
  Operating Systems: Internals and Design Principles by W. Stallings. Prentice Hall, 1998 or later editions.
  Registered Students
• Programming Languages [pdf]
  Date: January 25, 2008
  2007-2008 Examiners: R. Franklin, A. Milanova, C. Varela (Chair).
  Format: 1 question (plus followup), no preparation time.
  Textbooks: Programming Language Pragmatics, by Michael L. Scott. Morgan Kaufman, San Francisco, 2000.
  Essentials of Programming Languages, by Daniel P. Friedman, Mitchell Wand and Christopher T. Haynes. M.I.T. Press & McGraw-Hill, 1992.
  Concurrent Programming in Java, by Doug Lee. 2nd edition, Addison-Wesley, 1999.
  Registered Students

For students in the Computational Molecular Biology track

• Molecular Biology [pdf]
  Date: Tuesday, September 18, 2007
  Examiners: C. Bystroff, D. Crone, L. Newberg (Chair).
  Format: 5 questions (plus followup), no preparation time.
  Registered Students
• Probability Theory and Applications [pdf]
  Date: TBA
  Examiners: K. Bennett, M. Magdon-Ismail, L. Newberg (Chair).
  Format: 6 questions (plus followup), no preparation time.
  Registered Students

The following students have taken the oral qualifying exams and are willing to discuss the experience with students preparing for the exams:

• Jacob "Juda" Becker
• Avi Kelman
• Shawn Pearce

For the Computational Molecular Biology and Probability exams:

• Suzanne Matthews

Return to main Graduate Program page