The General Examination
The pre-thesis requirements fall under the heading of the General Examination. This consists of several parts to be discussed individually below. (Note that it is common usage in the Department to use the term ``Generals'' to refer to the Advanced Part only.) University regulations require that each student take all parts of the General Examination by the end of his or her second year. The Physics Department offers all parts of the exam in May, the experimental part in October, and all but the experimental part in January. While it is understood that students will spend a lot of time and effort preparing for the exams, it is very important that the first two years be productive on the research side as well. Students are encouraged to maintain or form contacts with the research groups, work in the labs, and attend research seminars and colloquia.

• Preliminary examination. Prelims here are much like those at most schools. There are written exams on mechanics, electricity and magnetism, quantum mechanics, and thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. These exams are all taken at the same time and must be taken in January or May of the first year. Students should take courses in the areas they need the most work in and are encouraged to join the study groups that form during the term.
  

• Experimental requirement. All students are required to perform an experimental project at Princeton and take an oral examination on the project by October of the second year. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the project by May of the first year. The October deadline allows for work on the project in the summer following the first year. (It possible to have the oral in January or May, but this is strongly discouraged since it often leads to conflicts and overload with the other parts of the General Exam. Consult with the DGS before October if you plan to take the experimental project oral at a later date.) There are several ways to meet this requirement, listed below. In each case, a written report will be submitted, at least several weeks prior to the oral exam.
  
  Almost any work done in an AR positon with an experimental group can be written up as a project. (The "almost" is included because one can imagine doing purely theoretical work for an experimental group.)

  Whatever the scope of the work, the student is expected to be well versed in its general experimental background. For example, if the student has done work analyzing data already available, the student is expected to be familiar with the apparatus used to take the data.

  • The advanced undergraduate laboratories are another source of projects. Ask the lab instructor if there are labs that need development or improvement.

  • An independent project (not an AR) with one of the experimental faculty. The general level of effort expected is about 100 hours.

  • Students with first-year fellowships are encouraged to assist one of the experimental groups. Again, the general level of effort expected is about 100 hours.

  • There are no formal rules about the write-up. The length and format are flexible, but typically comparable to a Letter-type journal, although there are no restrictions, and it is advisable that the level be aimed at physicists who are not expert in the field.

  • Blackboard, overhead transparencies or laptops can be used for the oral presentations. Prepared remarks should be brief, though, no more than 10 minutes, since the main purpose is for the Committee to ask questions. (The Committee has received the written report prior to the oral presentation.)

• The advanced part. This consists of four written sections and an oral exam all taken together in either January or May. The sections are condensed matter, high energy and nuclear, general relativity, and general and atomic physics. It is expected that the content and identity of these sections will evolve in parallel with the interests of the Department. At the beginning of each academic year, the committee responsible for preparing the exam will distribute a syllabus for each section of the exam. The same syllabus will apply to both the January and May exams. It is expected that each syllabus will be no longer than a page, including references. These can be modified each year, if desired, with the advice of the various research groups. The goal of the exam is to provide each student with a broad background in the techniques and areas of interest in the various subfields of physics. It is a distribution requirement, and it is not expected to be sufficient background for specialists. As with prelims, students are encouraged to join together in study groups for generals. It is our experience that students studying in isolation run into difficulties. It is important to note that if a student fails the written portion of generals, he must take it again the next time it is administered. If he/she fails again, the student may not take it again, and degree candidacy automatically terminates.
  

• The pre-thesis project. This is a research project in the student's area of interest, to be done with contact with a faculty advisor. The final product is a written report composed by the student alone (e.g., not a paper co-written with an advisor or other collaborators) in a language accessible to physicists outside the field and a seminar/oral exam given to/by a faculty committee three times a year: in October, January or May.

  The goals of the pre-thesis projects are:

  1. to give the student a serious introduction to his or her final area of specialization
  2. to get the student involved with the faculty in the research group of interest
  3. to get the student known by the faculty in the research group of interest

  We envision several ways for students to find topics for the projects:

  • by direct discussion with a faculty member. This is often the way that theory students connect up with thesis advisors anyway - discussions leading to an introductory project. However, we want to emphasize that the project does not have to be directly related to one's eventual thesis topic, nor is doing such a project to be construed as a commitment to a thesis by either student or advisor.

  • by arranging to research a topic to be covered in one of the advanced courses and giving the lecture or seminar on this topic.

  • if one has already embarked on what is likely to turn into a thesis project, by developing the introductory chapters; for example, the theoretical physics background for your experiment would be a good project.

  • There are no formal rules about the write-up. The length and format are typically comparable to a journal article. It is advisable to include a substantial introduction aimed at physicists who are not expert in the field since the paper will be reviewed by a broad Committee.
  
  We would like these projects to be the stepping stone between academic requirements and real research. We encourage students to either give a class lecture or a research seminar as practice for the oral exam, or vice-versa.

• Finding a thesis advisor. This is, of course, a matter of individual negotiation. All students are expected to have advisors and to be embarked on thesis research by the beginning of their third year.

• Syllabi.
  • Elementary Particle and Nuclear Physics syllabus (ps, pdf, TeX)
  • General Exam Syllabus: Condensed Matter Physics (ps, pdf, TeX)
  • General Relativity Syllabus (ps, pdf TeX)