General and Special Examinations

All students are expected to pass Examinations no later than the fall semester of their fourth year. The two General Examinations are written exams that focus on two areas:

• An examination testing knowledge of the field. On the decision of the faculty in the field, this exam may be split into two parts, the first of which will be common to all students in the given field (Ancient Near Eastern studies, Hebrew Bible, Jewish Studies, Arabic and Islamic studies), and the second which will be determined by the student’s advisors in consultation with the student.
• An examination on that field's major language(s) and on texts in the major language(s).

The Special Examinations are also written exams. They relate to the student’s particular field of study, and will focus on two areas of his or her expertise. They may center on subjects related to the student’s proposed dissertation. The exact configuration of these exams will be determined by the student’s advisors in consultation with the student. One of the Special Examinations may involve a related field or discipline outside of NELC, such as Linguistics, Anthropology and History, which are common areas of study for NELC students.

The Examinations will be administered over a three-week period: the General and Special exams over the first two weeks, and an oral review, based on the written exams, during the third week. The exams will be taken during one of the two set times during the academic year: late October or Reading Period in Spring. To register for the exams, you must file a petition form with the student coordinator.

The student’s advisors are expected to assist the student in preparing for the examinations by defining the scope of the examinations and indicating the literature the students are expected to have read and the degree of familiarity with this literature that is expected. If a student fails any part of the General or Special Examinations, permission to repeat all or part of them will not be granted automatically, but will be considered in each individual case by the examining committee. If permission to repeat the examinations is not granted, the student will be offered the possibility of taking a terminal A.M., if the appropriate conditions are met.

Exams in The History and Culture of Muslim Societies (for cohort beginning in 2025) 
In the Spring term of their second year, PhD students must register for an independent study course with their primary advisor. The objective of such a course is to prepare for their General Examination, taken in the Fall term of their third year. 

The General Examination will be held in the Fall term of a student’s third year. It will last 2 hours. The exam consists of four parts: 
(i-ii) Two disciplinary oral exams (30 minutes each). This will involve agreeing with one or two faculty members on two theme-based exams and agreeing on a reading list before the Spring term of their second year. Reading lists should not be too ambitious, and it should be realistic for a student to read all items on the reading lists closely in one term plus summer. Students and faculty are encouraged to agree on 3-4 possible questions per list beforehand, so that the student can read the material in view of possible questions. The exams will be oral only. For each of the segments, the student will choose by lot one of the exam questions agreed on beforehand (one question per exam), will be allowed 5 minutes to prepare, and then give a 15-minute presentation, followed by Q&A. 

(iii) One oral language exam (30 minutes). The student will be presented with an unseen primary-language text (from a genre relevant to their prospectus) and will be asked to read, paraphrase, and explain select passages. The student will be allowed 5 minutes to prepare. No dictionaries or grammar books will be allowed at the oral exam. 

(iv) A research paper of 8,000-10,000 words on a topic relevant to the student’s planned dissertation (30 minutes). The topic will be chosen in coordination with the student’s primary advisor by the end of the Fall term of the second year, and the paper will be submitted before the first day of classes in the Fall term of the student’s third year. The research paper will be discussed orally at the exam. It will consist of a brief (5-10 min) presentation by the student, followed by Q&A. It is expected that the paper will be continuous in topic with the student's prospectus.