


	Oral Examination Procedure

	S. D. Mason, from Proceedings of the IRE, May 1956 p 696.

	In these brief notes the purposes of an oral examination are set
	forth and practical rules for conducting one are given.  Careful
	attention to the elementary rules is necessary in order to assure a
	truly successful examination.  From the standpoint of each
	individual examiner the basic purposes of the oral examination are:
	to make that examiner appear smarter and trickier than either the
	examinee or the other examiners, thereby preserving his self esteem,
	and to crush the examinee, thereby avoiding the messy and
	time-wasting gproblem of post-examination judgement and decision.

	Both of these aims can be realized through diligent application of
	the following time-tested rules:

	1. Before beginnning the examinataion, make it clear to the
	examinee that his whole professional career may turn on his
	performance.  Stress the importance and formality of the occasion.
	Put him in his proper place at the outset.

	2. Throw out your hardest question first.  (This is very important.
	If your first question is sufficiently difficult or involved, he
	will be too rattled to answer subsequent questions, no matter how
	simple they may be.)
        
	3. Be reserved and stern in addressing the examinee.  For contrast,
	be very jolly with the other examiners.  A very effective device is
	to make humorous comments to the other examiners about the
	examinees performance, comments which tend to exclude him and set
	him apart, as though he were not persent in the room.
	
	4. Make him answere each problem your way, especially if your way
	is esoteric.  Contrain him.  Impose many limitations and
	qualifications in each question.  The idea is to complicat on other-
	wise simple problem.
	     
	5. Force him into a trivial error and then let him puzzle over it
	for as long as possible.  Just after he sees his mistake but just
	before he has a chance to explain it, correct him yourself, disdain-
	fully.  This takes real perception and timing, which can only be 
	acquired with some practice.

	6. When he finds himself deep in a hole, never lead him out.
	Instead, sigh, and shift to a new subject.

	7. Ask him snide questions, such as, `Didn't you learn that in
	Freshman Calculus?`

	8. Do not permit him to ask you clarifying questions.  Never repeat
	or clarify your own statement of the problem.  Tell him not to
	think out loud, what you want is the answer.

	9. Every few minutes, ask him if he is nervous?

	10. Station yourself and the other examiners so that the examinee
	can not really face all of you at once.  This enables you to
	bracket him with a sort of binaural crossfire.  Wait until he turns
	away from you toward someone else, and then ask him a short direct
	question.  With proper coordination among the examiners it is
	possible under favorable conditions to spin the examinee through
	several complete revolutions.  This has the same general effect as
	item 2 above.

	11. Wear dark glasses.  Inscrutability is unnerving.

	12. Terminate the examination by telling teh examinee, `Don't call
	us; we will call you.`
