PhD Comprehensive Examination

All PhD students at the University of Waterloo are required to successfully complete the PhD Comprehensive Exam milestone. A comprehensive exam serves multiple purposes, specifically to ensure that:

• PhD students have the appropriate academic background – a foundation and breadth of knowledge in the field of study– to be successful in their PhD program;
• PhD students have the capacity to engage in scholarly communications – both oral and written – necessary to be successful in their PhD studies;
• PhD students have developed a novel research topic to be evaluated during their PhD studies.

In the Faculty of Engineering, the PhD Comprehensive Examination consists of an oral examination conducted at the University of Waterloo with the candidate and members of the Comprehensive Examining Committee present. The examination consists of the following two parts:

• An examination of the research proposal that the candidate intends to develop into a successful PhD research thesis which is presented by the candiate in an oral presentation at the beginning of the comprehensive exam (max. 30 min.),
• An examination of the breadth of the candidate's knowledge of the academic field of the thesis and the adequacy of the candidate's background preparation to pursue the proposed research.

Note: The following programs have implemented a two-part comprehensive exam:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Conrad School of Entrepreneurship and Business
• Electrical and Computer Engineering

For further details, refer to the appropriate program website as linked above.

All students should review the guidelines surrounding Academic Integrity and the Comprehensive Exam prior to booking their examination.

Students admitted to the PhD program from a completed Master’s degree (PhD2) must complete the Comprehensive Exam by the end of the fourth cumulative term of their PhD program. 

Students admitted to the PhD program from an incomplete Master’s degree or directly from a Bachelor’s degree (PhD3) must complete the Comprehensive Exam by either four terms from the first term registered in the PhD program or in term seven from the beginning of your master’s – whichever occurs first.

Students who have previously completed studies in another PhD program at the University of Waterloo or at another university, are required to successfully complete the comprehensive exam no later than their fourth term of studies in their current program or their seventh term of studies at the PhD level, whichever is longer.

Students who anticipate not meeting these requirements may seek an extension to the deadline to complete the comprehensive exam. The student is required to submit a petition providing evidence of extenuating circumstances to the student's Associate Dean, Graduate Studies 

All PhD students must complete a research proposal which will consist of a double-spaced report of no more than fifty (50) pages including tables, diagrams, and references. The proposal will identify:

• The research problem
• Review the relevant literature
• Describe the tasks planned to solve the problem, and 
• Propose a timetable for the completion of the project and defence of the PhD thesis.

There are no formatting guidelines for the Research Proposal, however, students are welcome to follow the thesis formatting guidelines published by the GSPA.

With approval from your supervisor, you may wish to distribute background working papers to members of the Committee to provide further evidence of background preparation.

A copy of your proposal (paper or digital) will be given to each of your committee members at least 2 weeks before your Comprehensive Exam. The EGSO does not require a copy of your research proposal.

You will need to prepare an oral presentation for your thesis proposal which will be shared with your committee at the beginning of your comprehensive exam and should last no longer than 30 minutes.

*There is a blackout period for comprehensive examinations and defences in the last two weeks of Fall term. Comprehensive examinations or PhD thesis defences will not be scheduled during this period. UW Space final uploads are acceptable.

Blackout dates count toward the 25 business day display period, holidays do not.   

Fall 2026: Wednesday, December 9 - Wednesday, December 23

To begin preparations for the Comprehensive Examination you must follow the steps provided below:

1. Select your Committee Members following Faculty of Engineering and UWaterloo guidelines. Additionally, no more than 1 adjunct faculty member may serve on the Committee.
2. Normally, the Committee will be comprised of;
   • Your supervisor(s)
   • 2 tenure or tenure-track faculty members from your home Department (internal)
   • 1 tenure or tenure-track faculty member from another department (internal/external)
   • For CHE PhD only, please contact your Department Graduate Coordinator for a Chair assignment

Note: In some cases in may be appropriate for a student to have 1 tenure or tenure-track faculty members from their home Department (internal) and 2 tenure or tenure-track faculty member from another department (internal/external). This is based on approval from the Associate Dean. Interested students should contact their Department for more information

3. Submit the PhD Comprehensive Examination Form to your Departmental Program Coordinator/Advisor. But leave the date/time blank as this will not be decided until after the chair has been assigned. 
4. Your Departmental Program Coordinator/Advisor will submit your forms to the EGSO
   • The composition of the comprehensive examining committee will be approved by the Associate Dean, Graduate Studies.
   • Once your committee is approved your exam chair will be assigned
5. Set the date for your examination in consultation with your committee members and Chair (Please see the blackout dates below). The date of the exam must be at least 2 weeks from your committee approval date.
6. At least 2 weeks prior to the Comprehensive Examination date you must provide a copy of your research proposal to each member of your Examining Committee.
7. The comprehensive exam shall be chaired by a tenured or tenure-track faculty member at the University of Waterloo with Sole Supervisory Privilege Status (SSPS2 ).

The faculty provides the option for students to complete their comprehensive examination in person, in a fully remote, or hybrid format. The decision on the format of the comprehensive examination will be upon agreement between the supervisor and student.

Chairs should be prepared to support either an in-person or remote comprehensive examination. It is the responsibility of the Chair to ensure the structure of the comprehensive examination supports the integrity of the process and all can participate appropriately and equally either in-person or virtually.

Chairs will receive, regardless of format of delivery, a standard Chair package in electronic format from the department graduate coordinator, prior to the comprehensive examination.

Chairs will document the decision of the examination on the "Report of PhD Comprehensive Examination". This form will be made available in Word format and/or in fillable .pdf so that defence Chairs can complete them electronically and then send to the Administrative Coordinator, PhD.

Outcomes of the comprehensive examination, regardless of format of delivery, will be communicated orally to the student by the Chair on behalf of the committee at the conclusion of the deliberations.

Participation through electronic media (remote participation)

In situations where a student and their supervisor collaboratively decide to hold the comprehensive examination in a remote format, the student and supervisor(s) will be responsible for setting up the electronic media.

As there are limitations to supporting hybrid comprehensive examinations, the expectation is that only one participant may participate remotely, with the balance of the committee in-person, unless there has been specific approval from the Faculty Associate Dean, Graduate Studies. The Chair, student, and supervisor(s) must all be present in person for any hybrid comprehensive examination arrangement. If any one of these individuals are not able to be physically present, the comprehensive examination should be held in a remote format with everyone participating remotely.

Any member of the Committee, participating by remote connection must make allowances for the possibility of a failed connection.

In the event that remote connection is lost, the Chair will determine whether or not the duration of the disruption has had a material impact on the committee member's ability to assess the candidate's comprehensive examination. If there has not been a material impact, and the connection has been reestablished, then the member may cast their vote as if the loss of communication had not occurred. If there has been a material impact, and there was a report submitted in advance, the report will be read by the Chair and the vote indicated in the report will be counted. When there is no such report, the vote may be nullified. The Chair’s report must note the lost connection, including the timing and whether or not the vote was included in the decision. The decision as to when to postpone the comprehensive examination, if the technology fails, will be up to the Chair of the comprehensive examination.

On a candidate's first attempt at the comprehensive exam, the outcome will be one of:

Category 1: Passed

The candidate successfully completed all requirements of the examination

Category 2: Passed conditionally

Students who receive a category 2 will be given an amount of time, up to a year after the date of their examination, to complete the conditions of their pass. Conditions may include taking additional graduate courses, preparing a report on specific aspects of the proposal, and/or presenting a seminar on the revised proposal. The conditions will:

• be communicated to the student in writing;
• contain the date by which the conditions must be satisfied; and
• identify the member(s) of the examining committee responsible for determining that the conditions have been met. Normally, this determination will be made by at least one member of the committee other than the student's supervisor or co-supervisors. 
• Failure to satisfy the conditions within the designated time limit shall result in an outcome of re-examination.

Category 3: Re-examination required

Students who receive a category 3 will be required to repeat the exam, no earlier than six weeks after, but within one calendar year of their unsuccessful attempt. Students who fail to meet this condition will be required to withdraw.

The student shall be provided written communication that identifies the deficiencies in the exam that led to this outcome and the deadline by which the re-examination must take place. In the case of re-examination it is anticipated that the committee membership will be the same as the initial committee. Any change in membership must adhere to committee guidelines and be approved by the student's Associate Dean, Graduate Studies.

When a candidate is re-examined, the outcomes are limited to:

• Category 1: Passed
• Category 4: Exam Unsuccessful

Category 4: Exam unsuccessful

Students who receive a category 4 will be deemed to have failed to satisfy the program's comprehensive exam requirement. In this case, the student shall receive written communication identifying the deficiencies in the exam that led to this outcome.

A student who fails their comprehensive exam will be required to withdraw from the PhD program in the term immediately following the term in which the examination took place. The student may seek admission to another PhD program or to any Master's degree program at the University of Waterloo.

For more information regarding the outcome of the comprehensive examination, please see the Graduate Studies Academic Calendar

Majority Rule

The outcome of the exam is determined by the majority vote of the examining committee. The following rules govern the voting process:

• In the case where the student is co-supervised, the co-supervisors' votes shall count collectively as one vote. In the case where co-supervisors vote for different outcomes, these votes shall count as 0.5 votes for each outcome.
• In the case where only two outcomes receive votes and the number of votes is equal for both outcomes, the decision shall be for the less positive outcome, provided that the outcome is not exam unsuccessful.
• If the previous case results in an exam unsuccessful outcome, or if no majority is obtained, the case shall be referred to the Associate Dean, Graduate Studies, who shall make the final determination of the outcome of the exam.