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Tim's right, there have been many threads here where Rose students have discussed his teaching (and Starker students discussed his teaching, etc.). It's actually a fascinating question.

Regarding graduate exams, especially oral exams, at many institutions the purpose of the exam is to test the student's overall knowledge of a field, particularly including things that were not covered in any specific course. The idea is that on the graduate level, courses are only one part of the student's learning process, and that there is a lot of independent self-initiated learning, and that the student is responsible for developing broad knowledge. When I was finishing my Bachelor's degree at Peabody, the Master's orals were infamous for all sorts of trivia questions regarding arcane details of music history. A sort of "gotcha" mentality can develop on exam committees. It was my sense then (30 years ago) that this had developed among some of the Peabody faculty, with one piano faculty member infamous for asking piano majors questions about medieval and Renaissance vocal music.

Another purpose of graduate exams, especially those with questions specified in advance, is to test the student's ability to do research quickly, absorb the information, and then be able to coherently present and discuss it.

Meanwhile, the first place to start with research of this sort (when you are not having luck on your own) is your music librarian. Unfortunately some MM programs do not require a music bibliography course which teaches research skills. But your librarians are there to help show you how to do this.

Good luck!

Eric