For many graduate students of physics the written qualifying examination
is the last and one of the most important of the hundreds of grueling
examinations that they have had to take in their career. I remember vividly
my own experience in 1947 at the University of Chicago. After the qualifying
examination, I knew I was finally free from all future examinations,
and that generated a wonderful feeling of liberation and relief.
Be that as it may, the written qualifying examination does serve a useful
purpose, both for the faculty and for the students themselves. That is why
so many universities give these exams year after year in all parts of the
world.