Students are, of course, encouraged to take more than the minimum required courses.
Every organic student, including first-year students should take cumulative examinations each month. A student who tests out of CHM 5225 may start these exams immediately. An M.S. student should pass two exams no later than the end of the second year, before the fifth regular semester starts. Thus, a student has fifteen chances to pass five exams in the first two years. A graduate student working on a master's degree in a program that requires a thesis must register in course CHM 6973 or CHM 6971 when engaged in research, data collection, or writing activities relevant to the master's thesis.