This policy applies to all Ph.D. students who enter in the Spring 2006 and beyond. Students enrolled prior to Spring 2006 will have the option of taking the comprehensive examination according to the previous format or selecting the current version. Comprehensive examinations will be given twice each year, once each during the Fall and Spring semesters. The examination will be administered on or about the 9th week of the semester. Exact dates will be published before the beginning of each semester. Students must notify the department chair in writing of their intention to take the examination by September 15 for Fall Semester or February 1 for Spring Semester.
Session A - This examination for all program areas includes concepts explored and or related to the research are.
Session B - This examination for all program areas includes concepts explored and or related to the major/cognate/specialty area.
Session C - This examination for all program areas includes concepts explored and or related to the major area.
Session A - Research Area
Session B – Major/cognate/Specialty Area
Session C – Major Area
A student’s committee members will determine the content of the examination items and the scoring of the responses. It will be the decision of the committee whether to discuss and to distribute examination questions in advance.
An oral exam will be part of comprehensive exams for all sessions. Content is established by the student’s committee.
Students may pass or fail any session (A, B or C) of the exam. All sessions must be passed in order to pass the examination. Each examiner for sessions A, B, or C will grade the examination on a pass/fail basis. Consensus of the student’s committee is required to pass all sessions.
A student who fails a session may sit for that session a second time. The committee will determine the time of the retest. After two failures on any session, the student is not eligible to retake that session, has failed the comprehensive examination, and is not eligible to continue doctoral studies.
Examinations may be written with a word processor approved by the department. A student may initially elect to write the examination by hand and to transcribe or to have the examination transcribed within 48 hours of completion of the examination. The handwritten examination shall be copied before leaving the department for transcription. Both the handwritten and transcribed copy must be turned in.
Notice of the examination results will be forwarded to the Office of Academic Assistance by the end of the semester.
Sample examination questions for each session are available to assist students in preparing for the examination. Sample examinations are not intended as practice exams, as study guides, nor as an indication of content of a session. Rather, sample examinations are to provide an indication of the types of questions which might be asked on the examination. Types of questions on an actual examination may differ from those on the sample examination. The department provides a sample examination for all sessions.