The student will also be expected to become fluent in spoken English. In particular, any student who expects to gain teaching experience while pursuing a degree will need to do this as soon as possible. If English is not the student's native language, he or she must pass an oral English proficiency exam or ESL 170 with a grade of B or better before qualifying for a Teaching Assistantship or teaching. All students are expected to fulfill the language requirement during their first two years of graduate study. One is a series of four written tests covering a range of topics, and one is an oral exam on two selected topics.
Doctoral candidates take an additional one-hour exam which covers the entire sequence.
To pass the qualifying exam in one of the four areas, the student must pass the three hour combined exam. Because each sequence varies somewhat in content from year to year, it is recommended that the student take each set of exams at the conclusion of the sequence in which he or she is enrolled. No advantage is gained by delaying the exam for a year. It is desirable to make every effort to finish all four exams by the end of the second year of study. Some students will enter the Ph.D. program with previously acquired expertise in one or more of the four basic sequences.