The written portion of the preliminary examination will be administered once a year, shortly before Fall semester classes begin, i.e. at the end of August. Students may choose one of the options below as the set of courses on which they are to be examined:

• Pure Mathematics: Math 303, Math 307, Math 315 and Math 340
• Applied Mathematics: Math 303, Math 310, Math 313 and Math 340
• Actuarial Science: Math 322, Math 395, plus two out of the following:Math 303, Math 307, Math 310, Math 313, Math 315, Math 340

Students will be expected to take the exams according to the following schedule:

• For students who enter the Department in the Fall, two exams are expected to be taken before the third semester. For students who enter the Department in the Spring, two exams are expected to be taken before the fourth semester. To remain in good standing a student is expected to pass at least one exam at this time and to perform satisfactorily in teaching and academics.
• For students who enter the Department in the Fall, all four exams are required to be taken before the fifth semester. For students who enter the Department in the Spring, all four exams are required to be taken before the sixth semester. To remain in good standing a student is expected to pass at least three exams at this time and to perform satisfactorily in teaching and academics.
• In order to remain in the Ph.D. program, students who enter in the Fall will be required to pass all four exams before the seventh semester, and students who enter in the Spring, before the eighth semester. The Department will make an effort to support students who fail to meet these requirements for one additional semester.
• In principle, an exam can only be taken twice. Once an exam is passed it need not be retaken.

• The role of prelims must be distinguished from the role of final examinations in courses. Prelims, as a collective examination, require the student to gather together knowledge, skills and insights from a diverse collection of mathematical areas. Traditionally, exams in all areas are given during a short time period. This has the effect of forcing the student to study different areas concurrently. The desired effect, proved over the years, is for students to develop a sense of mathematical ideas that span the discipline and, thereby, to prepare the student for independent research.
• The UConn implementation of the prelims requires students to take two or more exams after one year of study. Among the reasons to do so, is to speed along those students with unusually strong preparation and to start the process of students being actively involved in mathematics. Contrast is drawn here with the passive activity of taking courses.
• In general, the Graduate Committee will be unreceptive to requests for winter prelims from students who have not passed three exams and established, in some way, that they are likely to pass the fourth. Further, it should be established that the main effect of the year wait for the next round of prelims is to delay their entry into research. Students who have not passed three exams, in general, have not demonstrated that study during the fall semester will result in a sufficiently strong passing grade as to constitute the achievement of the goals of the prelims as set forth above. One other exception will be permitted for entering students who are very well prepared. The latter exception will be permitted only with the approval or at the suggestion of the Graduate Program Coordinator in consultation with relevant instructors.
• Graduate study in mathematics is a rigorous enterprise and requires a sincere commitment. The faculty has a responsibility both to the student body at large and to the profession to maintain adequate standards for the Ph.D. degree. Piecemeal passing of prelims over an extended number of years is not, in the opinion of this committee, generally compatible with the goals of a mathematics Ph.D. program.
• At times, individual circumstances will dictate that the pace and/or content of the doctoral program should be altered. The graduate committee welcomes serious petitions containing explicit personal or professional reasons that the program be altered for the petitioner.
• With the approval of the Graduate Program Committee, students may be permitted to take the prelims during or beyond the third year of study under either of the two following circumstances:
  • A clearly defined individualized course of study has been established for a student with a non-standard background or life circumstances which preclude the usual progress toward degree.
  • It has been demonstrated, on previous tries and/or in course work, that the candidate should be afforded an unusual opportunity.