M.I.T. Graduate Qualifying Examination

Instructions

Read each question thoroughly. Answer all questions. Time limit--four hours. Begin immediately.

History

Describe the history of the papacy from its origins to the present day; concentrate especially but not exclusively on the social, political, economic, religious, and philosophical impact on Europe, Asia, America, and Africa. Be brief, concise, and specific.

Medicine

You have been provided with a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a bottle of Scotch. Remove your own appendix. Do not suture until your work has been inspected. You have fifteen minutes.

Public Speaking

2,500 riot-crazed aborigines are storming the classroom. Calm them. You may use any ancient language except Latin or Greek.

Biology

Create life. Estimate the differences in subsequent human culture if this form of life had developed 500 million years earlier, with special attention to the probable effects on the English parliamentary system. Prove your thesis.

Music

Write a piano concerto. Orchestrate it and perform it with flute and drum. You will find a piano under your seat.

Psychology

Based on your knowledge of their works, evaluate the emotional stability, degree of adjustment, and repressed frustrations of each of the following: Alexander of Aphrodisias, Ramses II, Hammurabi. Support your evaluation with quotations from each man's work, making appropriate references. It is not necessary to translate.

Sociology

Estimate the sociological problems that might accompany the end of the world. Construct an experiment to test your theory.

Management Science

Define management. Define science. How do they relate? Why? Create a generalized algorithm to optimize all managerial decisions. Assuming an 1130 CPU supporting 50 terminals, each terminal to activate your algorithm, design the communications interface and all the necessary control programs.

Economics

Develop a realistic plan for refinancing the national debt. Trace the possible effects of your plan in the following areas: Cubism, the Donatist controversy, the wave theory of light. Outline a method from all points of view. Point out the deficiencies in your point of view, as demonstrated in your answer to the last question.

Political Science

There is a red telephone on the desk beside you. Start World War III. Report at length on its socio-political effects, if any.

Epistemology

Take a position for or against the truth. Prove the validity of your position.

Physics

Explain the nature of matter. Include in your answer an evaluation of the impact of the development of mathematics on science.

Philosophy

Sketch the development of human thought; estimate its significance. Compare with the development of any other kind of thought.

Mathematics

Settle all unproved conjectures made between 1854 and 1867.

General Knowledge

Describe in detail. Be objective and specific.




Back to Dino's homepage
Back to Geocities
1