BME PHD STUDENT HANDBOOK

The Graduate Board Oral Examination

The Graduate Board Oral Examination (GBO) is a University examination, required of all doctoral students at the Johns Hopkins University. Doctoral programs are free to use the GBO as either their qualifying examination or as the final thesis defense. The Biomedical Engineering Program uses the examination as its qualifying examination.

Purpose of the examination

The GBO is used to examine the student's fund of basic engineering, mathematical, and biomedical knowledge. At the same time, students' ability to think and present their ideas clearly is tested. The examination covers basic coursework taken at Hopkins rather than research plans. However, questions are occasionally posed by the committee in a format designed to simulate research problems.

Composition of the graduate board oral examination committee

Members of GBO committees are usually chosen from faculty members whose courses have been taken at Hopkins by the student. The committee usually consists of five members. The majority of the examiners (three on a five-person committee and five on a seven-person committee) must have primary appointments outside of the Biomedical Engineering Department and must not be members of the Biomedical Engineering Committee. Most instructors in Continuing Education and the Applied Physics Laboratory cannot sit on GBO examinations without special permission from the Graduate Board. Such permission has been granted less frequently in recent years, and students seeking such permission should discuss this matter with the program director at least three months before the proposed date of the examination.

Examination committee members are chosen in consultation between the student, the student's primary advisor, and the program director. An attempt is made to choose a committee that reflects both the student's coursework and his/her professional interests, while maintaining an appropriate balance between engineering/mathematics and biology. The program director must approve the composition of all committees before they are submitted to the Graduate Board. Please allow plenty of time in this process. Students should not expect departmental and Graduate Board approval to occur at the last moment before a scheduled exam. Exams may not proceed without Graduate Board approval.

In addition to the regular members of the GBO committee, two alternates must be chosen in case regular members are unable to attend. The Graduate Board now allows one of these alternates to be a Department or Program faculty member. The other must be an "outside" examiner.

Timing of the examination and selection of the committee

Students normally take the GBO between the end of their fourth and fifth semesters. Therefore, students should be discussing the composition of their committees with their advisors and the program director during their third or fourth semesters.

Except in unusual cases, students are examined by faculty members who have taught them courses at Johns Hopkins. Students may visit faculty members who they feel are appropriate examiners, if the student has not taken a class from that faculty member. The purpose of this visit is to make sure the faculty member knows enough about the student's background to ask appropriate questions. However, students may not attempt to limit the range of questions asked by the faculty member and they may not ask faculty what subjects will be discussed. Faculty members can ask any questions they wish and attempts to limit the range of questions or inquiries about the range of questions to expect will be strongly resented by most faculty.

When a student has been able to arrange a date, time, and place that are satisfactory to all primary and alternate examiners, he/she should bring these details to the director's office, give them to Ms. McCann. The proper forms will be submitted to the Graduate Board requesting approval to hold the examination. Students are informed by the director's office when approval of the committee and approval of the examination schedule have been granted.

Format of the examination

After a brief executive session, the student is invited to join the examination committee. Faculty members usually take turns asking questions of the student, spending about twenty minutes each. In some cases, after each committee member has had an opportunity to question the student, follow-up questions may be asked. When the committee is confident that they have adequate information, the student is asked to leave the room, and the committee judges the student's performance and, by a simple majority, decides on an action. The student is then advised of the committee's decision. There are four possible outcomes of a GBO examination:

A student may pass the examination unconditionally. An unconditional pass means the committee feels the student has an adequate academic background and ability to begin the bulk of his/her dissertation research. It does not mean that the student need not take additional courses. This determination is made by the student's thesis advisor in consultation with the program director. Nearly all students continue to take courses, especially advanced graduate courses, after passing their GBO examination.

A student may pass the examination conditionally. In this case, the student's performance is considered to be adequate in most subjects but is deficient in some specific area(s). The student is required to meet whatever condition is set by the committee to ensure that he/she has made up the deficiencies. Resolving a conditional pass should not prevent a student from beginning (or continuing) dissertation research.

A student may fail the examination with the option to retake it. In this case, the student's performance is considered to be deficient in enough areas that the committee decides that a pass is inappropriate. However, the committee feels that the student should be given another chance to prove him/herself. The committee will designate whether the re-examination should be given by the same committee or by another. Students are permitted to fail their GBO exams only once. Students who fail the GBO twice will be required to leave the Program.

A student may fail the examination and not be given the option to retake it. In this case, the committee feels that it is unlikely that a period of additional study or a change of committee will improve the assessment. Students who fail their GBO examination without the option to retake it will be required to leave the Program.

Studying for the graduate board oral examination

Students normally study for one to three months for the examination, emphasizing material from their courses. Students are strongly advised to take practice GBO examinations during the time when they are studying for the examination. These examinations are given by students who have already passed their GBOs. It is important that at least three examiners be assembled for these practice examinations so that the atmosphere will be as similar to the actual examination as possible. At least two practice examinations should be scheduled, one quite early in the study period and one during the final stages of studying.