FAQ on Written QE in Computer Science
--------------------------------------

Compiled on March 7 by Graduate Division, SoC
----------------------------------------------

1. Basic Information

   -> Two papers --- Theory and Systems 
    
   -> Written, Open-book, 3 hour exam for each paper
  
   -> Check the Graduate Division page for more details.
      http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/graduateprog/
          Click on "Programme Structure" and then
                   "PhD Qualifying Examination".


2. But all these topics may not be relevant for my research !

   -> The topics covered in each of the two papers form the 
      foundations of our discipline. 
  
   -> We expect our students to develop good foundations, before 
      building a house on top of it.


3. What if I did not take all the relevant courses in my undergraduate ?

   -> You can check out the reading list, and the list of topcis covered 
       in each area. For these topics, you can do self study. 

   -> Or you can sit through some of the corresponding undergraduate modules
      even though this is not necessary.

   -> Further, each paper has 4 areas, and the students answer any three.


4. The reading list looks formidable, one has to read 4 books for 
   each paper !!

   -> Usually, solving exercises is more helpful than just taking a book
      and reading it.

   -> You can even form study groups of 2-3 people if you like. This 
      may help, depending on your style and temparament.


5. OK, this gives us a good idea about the topics. What kind of 
   questions can we expect?

    -> The questions are always long questions, not multiple-choice
       questions.

    -> In general, understanding the principles and concepts is more 
     helpful than reading about the details.


6. That does not say much. Can we look at past year papers to get 
   a better idea ?

    -> Yes, past year papers may give a general idea. But of course
       they do not form a definitive guide to future papers.

    -> You can look at the CS 5201 and CS 5202 pages to retrieve the 
       past year papers.
  
    -> A rough analysis of the past 2 years questions on CS 5201 appears
       in the CS 5201 webpage.


7. I found some past year papers from the NUS Libarary website. But
   they do not seem to be closely related to our QE !

    -> It is always best to visit the Graduate Division page and follow
       the links from there to get information about the exam.

    -> AN IMPORTANT NOTE OF CAUTION: The exam papers are also being
       made available from the NUS Library Website 
               http://lib.nus.edu.sg
       However, if you retrieve the past year papers from here, please
       look at exams from 2005 onwards. In the past, the module code
       CS 5201 and CS 5202 was used by different modules unrelated to
       the QE. So, these papers are **not** relevant for QE.