Exams if Master Before PhD?

[marios]

For fellow European applicants who will have a master degree before entering PhD program in the US do we still have to take the various classes, exams and qualifying exams that US students who do not hold a master have to take?

[Forte]

You will always need to take qualifying exams. A master's degree is independent of a PhD, although in most cases you earn a masters on the way to a PhD. You aren't going to go into a program and start your thesis, even with a masters degree.