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Core Requirements

All degree-seeking students at UM SPH are required to complete core biostatistics and epidemiology coursework. Additionally, M.P.H. and M.H.S.A. must also complete coursework related to other disciplines in public health as part of the Breadth, Integration, and Capstone requirements.

Exemption Exams

Exemption from the SPH biostatistics and/or epidemiology requirements may be attained by successful completion of the exemption examination for these subjects. All questions regarding content of the exams should be directed to the relevant department (Biostatistics, 734-615-9817 and Epidemiology, 734-764-5415).

The biostatistics exemption exam is open book and a calculator is required. View a sample exam, or you may request a sample exam by contacting the Office of Academic Affairs at 734-764-5425. You may also view solutions and tables. Students who pass the entire exam will be exempt from the biostatistics requirement. Students who pass all problems except those dealing with multiple regression and analysis of variance will not be exempt from the biostatistics requirement entirely, but may elect Biostatistics 513 or 523 (both second-level courses in biostatistics) to fulfill the requirement. Please note that if a student's program requires Biostatistics 560, the student must take Biostatistics 523 instead of 513.

The epidemiology exemption exam is a closed book test and a calculator is required. It will be given twice each year – before the fall and winter terms – and it can be taken only once. Students planning to exempt Epid 503 are encouraged to take the exam in their first year of study. Questions on the exam are based on material from the third edition of Epidemiology (Elsevier, 2004) by Leon Gordis, which is the text used in Epid 503. The algebra test and both exemption exams will be given more than two days before fall term begins. The epidemiology exemption exam will also be offered prior to winter term.

Fall, 2008 Exemption Exam Dates

  • Thursday, August 28 from 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
  • Friday, August 29 at 8:00 a.m., 10:00 a.m., and 12:00 noon

Exemption exams are given in room 1690, SPH I Crossroads. Students need a UM picture ID to take an exemption exam.

No pre-registration for these exams is required. These exams are not given at any other time; it is your responsibility to allow time on one of these days to take the exams.