The Examination Committee consists of a subcommittee of the Applied Statistics program committee (other faculty may be appointed as needed because of teaching assignments). This subcommittee consists of two faculty from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and two faculty from the Department of Applied Statistics and Operations Research.

This is a three part Exam, which is usually given twice a year: during the middle two weeks of June and during the last two weeks of September. The three parts of the exam are as follows:

1. Applied Statistics - This segment of the exam covers the material from STAT 502, 506, and 508. This is a four-hour written exam, and is open-book.

2. Mathematical Statistics - This segment of the exam covers the material from MATH 641 and 642. This is a four-hour written exam and is closed-book.

3. Oral Exam - This is a one or two hour exam which covers material that the candidate performed marginally on for the above two written exams. If needed, one hour will concentrate on the Applied Statistics deficiencies, and, if needed, one hour will concentrate on the Mathematical Statistics deficiencies.

Construction of the Exams

1. The Applied Statistics exam will be constructed by faculty from the Department of Applied Statistics and Operations Research who most recently taught each of the three courses being covered on the exam. Equal weight will be given to each of the three courses in constructing the exam.

2. The Mathematical Statistics exam will be constructed by a group of faculty from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

Grading

The faculty responsible for constructing the exam are also responsible for grading the exam.

• One numerical score will be reported for the Applied Statistics segment and one numerical score will be reported for the Mathematical Statistics segment.
• From this information the Examination Committee will classify the results on each of the two written segments as "Pass", "Must take oral" or "Fail".
• Candidates who receive a "Pass" for both the Applied Statistics and the Mathematical Statistics segments will be exempted from the oral exam and will pass the comprehensive exam.
• Candidates who receive a "Fail" for either the Applied Statistics or the Mathematical Statistics segment will fail the comprehensive exam.
• Candidates who do not receive a "Fail" on either segment, but who do receive a "Must take oral" on one or both segments will be asked to take a one-hour oral exam over each segment so identified.
• The Examination Committee will administer the oral exam.
• One member of the Examination Committee will be designated as the contact person for the Mathematical Statistics oral.
• One person will be designated as the contact person for the Applied Statistics oral.
• Candidates will be told to address all questions to these designated contact people.
• Following the oral exam, the Examination Committee will assign a grade of pass or fail for each of the two segments (Mathematical Statistics and Applied Statistics).
• Three or more of the four oral Exam Committee Members must agree if a grade of "Pass" is to be assigned.
• A candidate must pass both segments of the comprehensive exam.
• Candidates who pass only one segment of the exam will be required to repeat only the segment which they did not pass.
• The result of the Comprehensive Exam will then be reported to the Graduate College by the Chair of the Master of Science in Applied Statistics Committee.
• Candidates for the Master of Science in Applied Statistics will have at most two opportunities to pass the Comprehensive Exam.