Evaluation and Assessment of the Relevance of the Qualifying Exams in Chemical Engineering Graduate Students

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: Academic Writing Difficulties and Motivation (Table 7)

Abstract

This qualitative study focuses on the perspectives of Chemical Engineering graduate students regarding their Ph.D. qualifying exam process. We seek to understand how graduate students perceive the exam process, what challenges they confront, and how they feel about the experience. Qualifying exams are a key part of the Ph. D. process in engineering, but there is little research on their effectiveness as perceived by the students who go through them. We present our findings across eight graduate student interviews on how their qualifying exams performed in terms of being a good assessment criterion using Suskie’s five key characteristics of "Good" assessments as the theoretical lens.

Authors

• Himani Sharma, Arizona State University Polytechnic
  Presenting Author

• Mayra S Artiles, Arizona State University - Polytechnic
  Non-Presenting Author