Exam Scheduling Guidelines

***A exams should be scheduled by 7th semester (4th year). The graduate school will place a hold on your registration if you have not met this milestone before the 7th semester.

You are responsible for submitting your schedule form WITH approvals 7 days prior to the exam. The Graduate school is VERY STRICT with this DEADLINE. If it’s a weekend, plan accordingly. If you do not make this deadline you will need to reschedule the exam for a later date!

Scheduling your A or B exam

Please send your announcement of your your exam 7 days prior to cs field members and phd students.

Exams be be given either in-person or remotely. Students giving exams in-person must provide a zoom link in the exam announcement so that anyone unable to attend in person may do so remotely.

Forms for Scheduling either A or B Exam

A Exam Form(Online)**

B Exam Form (Online)**

Forms to take to exam

A Exam:

Field Summary Form

A and B Results:

*On the day of your scheduled exam, you will receive an email from the Graduate School instructing you to intiate the results submission process immediately after your exam takes place. A direct link to the online results submission form is included in the email. Once signed and submitted by you, the results form is sent automatically first to your chair for official recording of your results, then to your committee members for review and confirmation that the results reflect the consensus of the special committee. The form will then go to the Director of Graduate Studies to indicate the graduate field accepts the results of the exam. Once the electronic review and approval process concludes, the completed form is routed to Becky Stewart to review and acknowledge. Once this step is completed the form will be automatically routed to the Graduate School.

Process for needing a Proxy:

Your minor member on your committee requiring a proxy can submit the name of the field member serving as a proxy within the online exam scheduling form. The field faculty member serving as the proxy must be representing the same graduate field and concentration as the minor member requiring the proxy on your committee.

As students approach their B exams, we encourage fields and committees to consider these options:

Defense exams should be scheduled and held only when the dissertation and all required academic research is complete. Defense exams should not be conducted with the expectation that students will enroll for additional terms following the exam.
If unexpected significant revisions, edits, or additional research are required, the committee should record the exam results as a conditional pass, and document specific requirements for a full pass on the results form

**Notifications and tracking of scheduling forms:

Students receive email notifications of each approval (GFA, committee members) and receive a final notification when all members of the committee and the DGS have approved informing them that the schedule form has been submitted to the Graduate School for processing.
Students and GFAs can track the approval process by following this link to login to Dynamic Forms. The link is also provided in the email notification by the Graduate School once the student has submitted the form.
Both the student and GFA receive an email from the Graduate School when the schedule form has been processed and approved.
Students are responsible for ensuring committee approval and sign off so please encourage them to track the progress if it appears to be stalled.

Preparing for your A Exam

Please see this link.

Preparing for your B Exam

Typically the B exam looks like: 1 hour for a presentation plus questions from the general audience. It usually starts a little late so in reality the talk usually is 45-50 minutes plus the rest for questions. Then the audience is asked to leave. The next 30-60 minutes will be spent on two sections. First, the committee and optionally other members of the field ask the candidate additional questions. Then the committee, without the candidate, discusses the outcome of the exam and what feedback to provide to the candidate. These two sections don’t usually take more than 30 minutes. You should schedule 2 hours for the exam.

Upon Graduation/Accounts

Please see the following information regarding your accounts as you graduate in May/August/December.

Cornell Access: Please See: " IT Services Available with Your New Relationship to Cornell"
Data left at Cornell will be deleted in time, please back up or relocate it to a space you control.
Students can work with their advisor to sponsor a NetID extension or re-locate data @CS address is forwarded to Cornell NetID. If you would like to change your mail forwarding, please refer to "Cornell Email Delivery Options (Alumni)"
If they were provided/made use of a dept web space, they will lose the ability to edit that space one their NetID is transitioned. They should go in ahead of time to “close out” the space.
If they have/set up an @dept vanity email name (PhD Students only), the current CIT policy is to continue the forward to their NetID email indefinitely
Computer: You will need to turn in your department issued computer(s) to ITSG. If you would like to retain your computer, please contact the Associate Director of the MS/PhD Programs.
Please be aware of Cornell policies concerning Data Stewardship and Use of IT Resources

Helpful Links

Degree Deadlines and Dates
Graduate School Thesis & Dissertation Guidelines