Please note that all students must be registered for their exam(s) by the application deadline date in order to sit for the exam(s). Application deadlines are clearly noted in the online application.

The Core Exam Application

All exams are held at the Loop campus and begin at 6:00 p.m. Specific building and room locations will be posted on the CTI home page the day before the exam. If one exam is taken it will last 1 ¼ hours. Two exams will last 2 ½ hours. All three exams taken will last 3 ¾ hours.

Core Exam Dates

Fall Quarter 2004-2005: Exams administered November 30-December 2, 2004
Tuesday, November 30, 2004: Exams for all students in IS or MIS programs.
Wednesday, December 1, 2004: Exams for all students in DS, ECT or CINS programs.
Thursday, December 2, 2004: Exams for all students in CS or TDC programs.
Application deadline for Fall 2004-2005 exams is November 18, 2004.

Future exam schedule:
Winter Quarter 2004-2005: Exams administered March 22-24, 2005
* Spring Quarter 2004-2005: Exams administered June 13-15, 2005

The online application for each exam date will be available after all grades have been posted for the previous exam date.

* Spring Quarter 2004-2005 is the last chance to complete a core exam. Exams will not be administered after this date. Students are encouraged to meet with their faculty advisors to develop a new degree completion plan if they are not able to complete the cores exam by spring 2004-2005.

About the Core Exam

The Core Knowledge application form is available online only. Exams are given during the week after finals week for fall, winter and spring quarters. Exams are not administered after summer session I or II.

The core examinations cover the subject matter of the Core Knowledge Phase courses. Students in the Computer Science, Distributed Systems, E-Commerce Technology, Information Systems and Management Information Systems degrees have the option of taking one, two, or three core exams at one time after completion of the applicable course or courses. Students in the Telecommunications degree are required to complete all three core courses prior to taking the Telecommunications core exam.

Possible grades on the Core Examinations are Distinction, Pass, and Fail. Students who fail an exam once are allowed one more attempt at that exam. The possible grades for the second attempt are Pass and Fail. Two failures on one exam result in dismissal from the graduate program.

To be eligible for core exam application, a student must have completed all prerequisite courses or be registered for the final prerequisite course in the quarter before the core exam for which the student is applying. Additionally, a student must successfully complete all prerequisite courses (B- or better required) before being allowed to sit for any core exam. Failure to successfully complete a core class (grade of C- or better required) may result in an administrative cancellation of the student's core exam(s).

Core Study Guides

Computer Science: CSC 447 Concepts of Programming Languages; SE 455 Software Development Methods; CSC 491 Design and Analysis of Algorithms; SE 450 Object-Oriented Software Development
(SE 450 is substituted for SE 455 for students on the CS 2002 or later degrees)
E-Commerce Technology: CSC 449 Database Technologies; DS 425 Distributed Systems Fundamentals/
DS 420 Foundations of Distributed Systems; ECT 555 Design and strategies for Internet Commerce
Information Systems and Management Information Systems: IS 421 Information Systems Analysis; IS 422 Information Systems Design; IS 483 Information Systems Management
Telecommunications: TDC 461-3 combined study guide (40kb RTF)
Distributed Systems: DS 420 Foundations of Distributed Systems; DS 421 Foundations of Distributed Systems II; SE 450 Object-Oriented Software Development; TDC 463 Computer Networks; CSC 449 Database Technologies
Computer, Information and Network Security: DS 420 Foundations of Distributed Systems; SE 450 Object-Oriented Software Development; TDC 463 Computer Networks

Core Exam Grade Challenge

A student who wishes to challenge his or her score on a Core Exam must do so prior to the next Core Exam administration. The procedure for challenging an exam result are as follows:

Make an appointment with your faculty advisor.
Download the Core Exam Grade Challenge Form form and bring it with you to your appointment.
Review and discuss the exam with your faculty advisor.
If you wish to proceed with the challenge, complete the form and submit all necessary documentation to your faculty advisor.

The Core Exam Review Committee will consider your challenge and notify you in writing of their decision.

Phasing Out of Core Exams

Due to changing curricula, it is necessary to phase out Core Exams from time to time. The process for phase-out is this:

A notice will be posted on the CTI homepage stating that a course and exam are slated to be discontinued.
Those students who have taken the core course but have not yet sat for the corresponding core exam will be sent an email reminder to take the exam as soon as possible.
The Core Exam will be offered for two quarters after the last quarter in which the core course is offered.
For example: A core course will be offered for the last time in spring 2002-2003.The last quarter that the corresponding Core Exam will be offered will be after the winter 2003-2004 quarter.

If a student does not successfully pass the Core Exam by the time it is phased out, he or she will be required to take the new Core course and its corresponding Core Exam.

Failing a Core Exam

After receiving a grade of Fail on a Core Exam, each student must make an appointment with his or her faculty advisor to formulate a plan for attempting the next exam. The student’s eligibility to enroll during the next registration period will be removed until the student has met with the advisor.

Following a second failure, the student must again make an appointment with his or her faculty advisor as soon as possible to review the exam. The student’s record will then be reviewed by The Core Exam Review Committee and a decision will be made regarding the student’s future in the program. The student will be contacted in writing once the committee has made its decision.

Last Modified: Tuesday May 26, 2009