system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What are Ph.D. qualifying exams like at your university?

I'm a Ph.D. student getting ready to take my qualifying exams next month in mechanical engineering and I'm wondering what the exams are like at your university and in your department? 

For example: I will take 3 exams (both written and oral) in which I must demonstrate a graduate level understanding of courses taught at the undergraduate level.
gpt
We (in a theology department) are given year to read four lists of books (a common "paradigmatic" list, a "major" and "minor" list, and one on the planned dissertation topic), and then we do a 12-hour written exam with one question from each of the lists, followed by a two hour oral defense with the four-person committee.

Basically, the sort of thing you stress out about outlining a book a day for a year, and then get hit with a wave of relief once you see that the questions are nowhere near as bad as you imagined they could be.