Students must satisfy several requirements in order to graduate with a Ph.D. degree. Each student is required to pass at least eight (8) graduate level courses numbered 600 and above with a grade of B- or higher. These courses will be in dynamic, synoptic, physical, tropical meteorology, oceanography or other closely related fields. At least five (5) of these courses must be completed at the University of Hawai‘i. Students with a MS degree from our department will need to take at least five (5) graduate level courses numbered 600 and above that are not counted toward his (her) MS degree requirements with a grade of B- or higher. The courses taken either here or elsewhere need to cover the core requirements ATMO 600, 610, 620 and one of ATMO 412 or ATMO 416. A student must pass each of these core courses with a grade of at least B-. A student must obtain a minimum 3.0 GPA in the core courses taken at Manoa. A student must also maintain a GPA of at least 3.0 for all the courses taken in the Ph.D. program at Manoa. After these eight (8) courses are successfully completed, but no later than the 24th month in the Ph.D. program, each student must pass a two-part comprehensive examination. The purpose of this exam is to ascertain the student's comprehension of the broad field of meteorology and so to insure that the student is well prepared for Ph.D. research. The first part of the comprehensive examination is a set of written exercises, this is followed by an oral examination.