[Golden Rule]

School: Columbia

Required prelims: Macro, Micro, and Econometrics

When taken: First attempt early May, less than a week after courses end. One chance to retake in September

Score required to pass: Allegedly an absolute standard. Graded on high pass, pass, marginal pass, fail. Marginal pass becomes a pass if the other two exams are passes (marginal fail - what it's called at UMich - is a much more accurate description)

Link to old prelims: Prelims available upon request (PM), they're all on a gated site.

Field exams: Pass prelims in May tied to five courses, of which some subset of 2 or 3 constitutes a "primary field." Same schedule as first-year exams. Also have to do an econometrics paper, a field paper, and a colloquium presentation all in the second semester of second year. (System is new this year, and could change -- last year we just had the usual two fields and one econometrics paper. I'm interested in what other schools are doing, since I'm more or less in charge of providing feedback to the faculty now.)