Introduction

The written portion of our qualifying exam is the first major milestone you will meet on your way to the Ph. D. in physics here at FIU. Some would argue that passing both of these written exams is the most challenging one of these milestones. It is challenging as any exam in physics is because it requires a lot of upfront knowledge, a significant amount of preparation, the ability to interpret questions, and solve problems using somewhat sophisticated mathematical tools. There is also uncertainty in the kind of questions you will be asked so a lot of preparation is required to adequately prepare. But it is precisely these attributes that we are testing for as being able to demonstrate your theoretical understanding of the broad range of phenomena that is the purview of physics, the ability to solve intricate and complicated problems with mathematics and do all of this in a relatively short period of time is exactly what we aim to test.

The following material, recommendations, copies of old FIU quals, and links to books and other resources are provided in an attempt to help you prepare for this important task.

Information

• About the exam: Here you will general information on what to expect when you take the exam; the dates, how long you have what topics cover those sorts of exam metadata.
• Past Exams: Below is the list of old FIU qualifying exams.
  • 2024: Classical Physics and Modern Physics
  • 2023: Classical Physics and Modern Physics
  • 2022: Classical Physics and Modern Physics
  • 2021: Classical Physics and Modern Physics
  • 2020: Classical Physics and Modern Physics
  • 2019: Classical Physics and Modern Physics
  • 2018: Classical Physics and Modern Physics
  • 2017: Classical Physics and Modern Physics
  • 2016: Classical Physics and Modern Physics
  • 2006 – 2015: Classical Physics and Modern Physics
  • 2001 – 2005: Classical Physics and Modern Physics
• The exam problems are collected from faculty in the department mostly from those currently teaching intermediate and advanced courses. Below is a table of topics with associated faculty who are currently teaching the related courses, the primary textbooks they use, and additional information.
• Notes collected on problems solved by FIU students
  • Link to Google Drive with solutions