The Area II Committee expects most students planning to obtain a Ph.D. to take the OQE during their fourth term of graduate study. The OQE is normally taken around the time that a student is completing the MS program (or equivalent research experience if the student comes to MIT with a Master's degree). It is not necessary to have completed the MS in order to take the OQE. However, students whose research is not sufficiently under way to be assessed by their research supervisor will be at a disadvantage in the examination.
In addition, the student must have qualified in two of the core fields within computer science-programming languages, artificial intelligence, computer architecture, and theory of computation and algorithms-before taking the OQE.
After consultation with his/her graduate counselor, a student may choose to postpone the OQE until the fifth term of graduate study. Such a decision might be based on the need to make up for a weak undergraduate background in computer science or on slow progress in Master's thesis research. Students wishing to postpone the OQE past the fifth term must provide by Registration Day an acceptable written explanation to the Area II Committee, approved by their graduate counselor, of the postponement and a proposed schedule for taking the exam.