2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Oral communication is a critical engineering competency. Typically, this skill is developed and evaluated using individual or group presentations. However, students will use this skill in a variety of professional settings not related to presentations such as team meetings, one on one meetings with clients, and technical interviews. An oral exam is a more authentic assessment for these situations and serves to prepare students for these professional settings in the future. This "how you teach it" paper will cover tips and tricks to giving oral exams in two common materials engineering courses. These tips and tricks include determining when oral exams take less time than written exams, coming up with questions, designing rubrics, and scheduling. Additionally, this paper will provide sample questions, handouts, and rubrics for oral exams in materials thermodynamics and electronic materials.