When will I take and pass my Comprehensive (A) Exams for my PhD?
2
8
180
2026
24%
Spring 2025
61%
Summer 2025
26%
Fall 2025
24%
Spring 2026

For your information: I have already begun reading through my major field list, and intend to work on the other two this summer and fall 2024.

From my department's website and handbook:

The Examination for Admission to Candidacy (‘A’ exam):  Ph.D. candidates usually take the ‘A’ exam following two years of coursework.  This exam must be completed sometime between the end of the second year and the beginning of the fourth year.  The ‘A’ exam must cover one major and two minor concentrations, and is partly oral and partly written.  The written section shall consist of at least a four-hour examination in the major concentration and two-hour to four-hour examinations in each of the minor concentrations.  It is suggested that these be given on separate days, and that the candidate not have access to notes or source books; however, the format of the exam will be determined by the committee.  The oral examination is two hours in length (with one hour normally devoted to the major concentration, and 1/2 hour to each of the two minor concentrations).  The oral exam should be scheduled at least three days following the last of the written examinations.  A dissertation prospectus may be expected by the special committee in order to discuss research plans at this meeting.
      Students must have resolved all incompletes before being permitted to take the ‘A’ exam.  Fulfillment of the foreign-language and other requirements (including further language requirements in some concentrations) as a student’s committee may set must also be demonstrated before a candidate for the Ph.D. may take the examination admitting to candidacy.  The examination is taken after a student has earned at least two residence units of credit.

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