The qualifying exam process is surprisingly humane. You pick three faculty (one of whom can be your advisor), submit a 10-page proposal, and then have a 90-minute oral on the proposal plus general field knowledge. Most students pass on the first try; the failures I've seen were all about not being able to explain *why* a particular technique was the right choice for a particular question, which is the actually-important skill.

The committee is generous about rescheduling. I had to reschedule mine twice and nobody acted weird about it.