The purpose of the preliminary examination is to test the student's knowledge of undergraduate
fundamentals in Petroleum Engineering. The Ph.D. student must take this examination
at the latest after the end of the first year of the student's enrollment in the Ph.D.
program. Students with degrees in fields other than Petroleum Engineering must complete
all "Additional Requirements" listed in Section 5 and take the examination no later
than the end of the second year of their enrollment. The exam will be scheduled twice
a year, prior to the beginning of the Fall and Spring Semesters. These times can be
adjusted at the discretion of the Graduate Program Coordinator. A student must notify
the Graduate Program Coordinator of his/her intention of taking the examination within
the first month of the semester prior to the exam. If the above time-lines cannot
be met, the student should submite postponement request form to to the graduate program coordinator for an extension. After consultation with
the student’s research and/or academic advisor, the Graduate Program Coordinator will
inform the student of the decision to delay the exam in two weeks after submission
of the request.
The Graduate Program Coordinator will:
- inform all graduate students of the requirements and policies of the Petroleum Engineering
program
- inform the research and/or academic advisor of the student request for taking the
exam or exception.
- Coordinat the exam schedule between the students and faculty providing exam sections
- Administ the exam, collecting the results and presenting the outcome to the PE faculty
The examination is a written examination of the following five basic subjects:
| Subject |
Pertinent Courses |
| Drilling Engineering |
Drilling Engineering, PETR 311
Well Design, PETR 413
|
| Well Completions |
Well Completions, PETR 425 |
| Well Performance |
Production Engineering, PETR 424
Well Performance, PETR 450
|
| Reservoir Evaluation & Petroleum Economics |
Reservoir Evaluation, PETR 370
Reservoir Management, PETR 472
Engineering Econ, ES 316
|
| Reservoir Engineering |
Petroleum Fluids, PETR 245
Reservoir Engr. I, PETR 345
Reservoir Engr. II, PETR 445
|
The grade on each subject will be PASS or FAIL determined by the faculty giving the
test. Overall pass/fail criteria, consequences, and the required actions, if necessary,
for the student, faculty, and department are:
Pass: Pass all five subjects.
Conditional Pass: Fail any one of the five subjects. The student is required to do make-up work for
the failed subject. The faculty member responsible for the subject needs to:
- determine the nature of the make-up work (e.g., retaking the course, directed study,
...),
- inform the academic advisor and chairman of the department about the nature of the
make-up work, and
- provide a pass/fail grade to the department chairman after the completion of the make-up
work. If the student fails again, the entire preliminary examination is equivalent
to "Fail" as described below.
- Studnet will recive the conditional pass form, signed by the faculty member responsible for the subject and the graduate program
coordinator.
Fail: Fail any two or more categories. The student is required to repeat the entire examination
at the next scheduled time. If a student fails the examination a second time, the
department will terminate his/her continuing of the Ph.D. program.
The written examination will include questions and problems on petroleum engineering
fundamentals and their applications as addressed in the core courses listed above.
The examination will be prepared and administered by the regular Petroleum Engineering
faculty under the supervision of the department chairman or his designate. Each professor
is responsible for preparing and grading his or her portion of the exam.
The individual instructors decide upon the design of the questions for the test; however,
the test time allocated for each category is approximately 3 hours and should be adhered
to. The procedures of the test are determined by the department chairman or his designate
and should be communicated to the students well in advance of the test.
Each instructor has one weeks from the day the exam question was given to grade and
return the results to the chairman/designate. The chairman/designate has two weeks
after that date to compile and present the results to the faculty for approval.
The Students have the opportunity to appeal their PhD preliminary examination result.
To appeal, the student needs to complete and submit appeal form to the graduate program coordinator.
The preliminary examination must be cleared completely from the department to be eligible
for Candidacy Examination.
