Info on first-year comps

First-year comps are administered in late June and early July. There is one comp for each of the core subjects: micro, macro and metrics. You have four hours for each.

Every comp is cumulative; every comp has three sections, one for each quarter in your first-year coursework.

Your marks should arrive a few weeks after you take a comp. Often the marks arrive late, especially if any of your professors are traveling while they grade, or if they are feeling sleepy. You only get an overall score, though if you beg and plead sometimes the professors will reveal which section you might want to look over. The scale is

Requirements

In short, a master's pass will get you a degree, but you can only stay if you get a PhD pass. If you get an M or NP on any of the exams, you are given a second chance to pass in September, just before school starts. You risk losing your privilege to a TA position if you get an M or NP on any exam. (This goes for second-years as well.)

If you do not get the P in September, you must speak to the department about your options; it is likely you cannot stay. This does not happen often. It is far more likely that students will leave for their own reasons than fail comps twice. You were admitted because you demonstrated aptitude to do material at this level. Usually only zero to two (at most) students don't pass the second time around. During the second year, usually nobody fails the second time around. (By then they're sufficiently invested in us to hesitate before letting anyone go.)

There is a limit on the number of comprehensive exams you can take here. UCLA's graduate school permits graduate students to sit a total of nine during their tenure. That means you can't fail too many exams during your stay or else you run out of tries. For example, if you fail all three comps the first year, but pass them the second time, you will have used six of your nine sittings. This may constrain what classes you may take second year, because you get only three more comp sittings. See info on second-year comps for more. Nobody's ever failed all three, so this is extremely unlikely.

Dates

The department generally announces the comp dates late in the third quarter. They delay the announcement to provide an opportunity for young econometricians to practice forecasting. Here are the comp dates for the past few years.

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Studying

Do start study groups early in your second quarter. Past groups have met once a week to do old comp questions. These groups often have members solve a question on the board while the others watch and ask questions. Do not delay studying for comps; it sucks to cram during the comp weeks, and you don't really learn the material well. Do not run out of steam third quarter like Corey did in metrics.

When the GEA's incentives Through the student's blood shall run, No power function dominates by any criterion. Does there exist an infinitum of the feeble strength of one? The GEA makes us strong.