The InfoQual

Ph.D. Qualifying Exam in Database and Information Systems

Effective August 2009
The InfoQual consists of two parts:
  1. Basic -- The Database portion of the Systems Qual

  2. Advanced -- A one-hour oral exam on material drawn from the InfoQual Reading List. If a large number of students are taking the exam in a given year, a two-hour written exam may be used instead.
The Basic part is administered following the schedule of the Systems Qual. The Advanced part is administered in the same week as the Basic part. Students must take both parts of the exam in the same year. Typically, a student must pass both parts in order to pass the InfoQual. In special cases (e.g., performing very well on one part while narrowly failing the other), a student may be granted an exception to retake only one part the following year.

By tradition, the students passing the InfoQual each year will, in colloboration with InfoLab faculty, update the reading list for the following year.

Old Database Quals