Graduate Coursework and Qualifying Exams

On this page:

 

Official academic information

 

Department webpages about academic requirements

Administrative information

Class websites

  • Canvas (where your current course sites are)
  • Stellar (most old class websites can be found through this)
  • MITx (some classes use this for online homework, lectures)

Class Offerings

Cross Registration

 

Advising and Support Services

 

Your Academic and Research Advisors: Every graduate student is assigned an academic advisor in addition to their primary research advisor. You'll have an academic advising meeting on Registration Day at the beginning of every semester, but you can email this person for advice any time during the year. 

Graduate Student Advocate:  A person you can go to outside of your advisors is Claude Canizares, the department's Graduate Student Advocate. He works with graduate students to connect them to resources in the Department and around MIT, and to help them progress towards their degrees and develop professionally. Prof. Canizares is an X-ray astrophysicist who led the Center for Space Research (now the MIT Kavli Institute), served as Vice President for Research, and is deeply connected around MIT. His email address is crc at mit dot edu.

APO Staff: The staff of the Physics Academic Programs Office supports every aspect of the Physics education program at MIT. We are a friendly, welcoming team of professionals dedicated to the success of all students in MIT Physics degree programs or taking an MIT Physics course. From inquiries about the undergraduate major or questions about admission to our doctoral program, to overseeing degree completion and celebrating graduates, we are available at every step of the Physics education journey: providing information, interpreting academic policy, administering advising, organizing classes, and solving problems. As a part of your extended support network, we’re also available to help with non-academic issues as well, pointing you towards opportunities and resources of all kinds. If you have a question about any aspect of academic life at MIT, ask the Academic Programs Office and we’ll help you find the answers you need.

GradSupport: GradSupport in the Office of Graduate Education (OGE) is a place you can go to outside the department for advice and counsel about academic matters. It is the rough equivalent of the undergrads' S3. 

 

Core Course Tips

 

Resources and Advice

Oral Exam

 

Astrophysics

  • Students are provided with the 180 questions they could be asked in advance

Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics

  • Generally speaking, the exam covers all the material in Wolfgang Ketterle's two classes on Atomic Physics: 8.421 and 8.422.
  • Students typically take the exam during spring of their 2nd year or fall of their 3rd year and often will spend a full two to three months preparing.
  • Students will be given a topic one week ahead of their scheduled exam.
  • Students are expected to prepare a ~15 minute chalk-talk without any notes on their assigned topic.
  • During the roughly one hour and forty-five minute exam, the committee (made up of three AMO faculty, not including the student's research advisor) will interrupt and ask questions about the topic, the student's research, and/or other unrelated AMO topics.
  • See this document for the official list of topics students should be familiar with before the exam and a general description of the exam.
  • 1st-3rd year AMO students have a bi-weekly study group for students to practice giving presentations on AMO topics to their peers. Contact Alyssa Rudelis at rudelis@mit.edu to be added to the mailing list for this study group.

Biophysics

Condensed matter experiment

  • Students give a presentation about a topic they are assigned 1 month before the exam
  • The rest of the exam consists of questions from the committee
  • Expected to know the material in Introduction to Solid State Physics by Kittel
  • Graduate students in the division keep an archive of past oral exam questions, study materials, and guides - ask students who have completed their oral exam for more information

Condensed matter theory

  • General information on oral exams webpage
  • Your research advisor gives you one problem in advance and the rest are from the committee
  • Expected to know the material in textbooks: Solid State Physics by Ashcroft and Mermin, Introduction to Solid State Physics by Kittel, and Intro to Stat Mech by Kerson Huang

Nuclear/particle experiment

  • According to the department website as of fall 2019:
  • "The NUPAX oral exam consists of three parts: (a) a question prepared in advance based on a relevant topic in nuclear and particle physics, (b) a portion focusing on the student’s current research program, and (c) a broad set of questions in nuclear and particle physics.  Passing of the exam will depend on the student’s performance in the assigned question, as well as their proficiency in nuclear physics, particle physics, and detectors and experimental techniques.  The topics and questions are drawn primarily from material covered in the NUPAX required graduate classes (8.701, 8.711, and 8.811). The exam is a total of 90 minutes in duration and results are communicated to the student at the completion of the exam."

Nuclear/particle theory

  • Students give a short presentation about a topic they are assigned a few weeks before the exam
  • The rest of the exam is questions from three professors
  • "The topics and questions are drawn primarily from material covered in NUPAT graduate classes, with emphasis on 8.325 and Field Theory of the Standard Model." - from 2019 CTP graduate student handbook
  • The graduate students in the division keep an archive of old oral exam questions, study materials, and guides in a shared Dropbox folder. Ask a friend or officemate for access!

Plasma physics

  • Students give a ~30-minute presentation on a topic (often a paper) assigned a few weeks before the exam by the student's official (senior) supervisor
  • The committee often asks questions about the presentation for ~30 minutes, then general questions (total time of the exam is ~2 hours)
  • Expected to know the material in Introduction to Plasma Physics by F. Chen; additional material from Hutchinson's Principles of Plasma Diagnonstics, Friedberg's Ideal MHD or Fusion Energy may be requested depending on the breadth of courses the student has taken
  • Senior graduate students in the division can share notes and tips from past oral exams - get in touch with one of them to rehearse your presentation and answer some practice questions on the blackboard!

Quantum information

  • Students give a short presentation on a topic assigned 2+ weeks before the exam
  • According to the 2019 CTP graduate student handbook, "The topics and questions are drawn primarily from material covered in the textbook by Nielsen and Chuang."