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Comprehensive Exam Dates - Fall 2011
Application Deadline (in Graduate School): July 15, 2011
Exams: October 24-28, 2011
Comprehensive Exam Dates - Spring 2012
Application Deadline (in Graduate School): November 15, 2011
Exams: March 19-23, 2012
Who’s Required to Take Comprehensive Exams
A written comprehensive examination will be required of all candidates for master’s degrees except candidates for the Master of Business Administration degree, the Master of Arts in Teaching, and the Master of Education in Curriculum & Instruction and Educational Leadership. Regulations governing comprehensive examinations for doctoral programs are detailed within program descriptions for individual doctoral programs of study.
What’s Covered in Comprehensive Exams
The comprehensive examination will cover the major area and the minor or related areas, and the candidate must pass both areas. To be eligible, a student must file an application to take the comprehensive examination with the Graduate School according to the semester/term deadlines. The student must have completed all courses shown on the approved degree plan or be enrolled in them. All grades of ‘I’, excluding graduate recital, graduate research, thesis, field study, and dissertation, must be completed at the time the candidate takes the written comprehensive examination. The written and oral comprehensive examinations should be scheduled within the testing dates given in the University Calendar. These dates do not apply to the oral examination given as the field study, thesis, or dissertation defense. The Dean of the Graduate School must be notified in writing of any exceptions.
The Written Examination
The written comprehensive examination for all candidates will be constructed and administered by the candidate’s graduate advisory committee or the departmental/school committee as determined by individual departments/schools. After all examinations have been scored and recorded, the questions and answers are to remain in the academic unit office. The major professor will report to the Dean of the Graduate school, in writing, the candidate’s performance on the comprehensive examination as satisfactory or unsatisfactory. This report must contain the specific parts of the examination covered, e.g., major only, minor or related areas only, major and minor, and oral. The major professor will notify the candidate, as soon as possible, of the results of the comprehensive examination. At the conclusion of each semester, the respective department or school may forward to the University Library copies of the student’s examination for deposit in the reference section, or house the copies within the department for 10 years. A candidate majoring in education whose minor area is in related areas will have the comprehensive examination assembled from appropriate sources, constructed, and administered by the appropriate department/school. When nine or more hours in the minor areas, including related areas, are from a single college, the Graduate Coordinator in that college is responsible for coordinating that portion of the examination and reporting the results to the Graduate coordinator of the College of Education and Human Development and the Dean of the Graduate School.
When the candidate is majoring in a subject matter field and minoring in education, it is the responsibility of the Graduate coordinator of the college representing the major field to coordinate that portion of the examination and report the results to the Graduate Coordinator in the College of Education and Human Development and the Dean of the Graduate School.
The candidate must pass both the major area portion and the minor or related areas portions of the written comprehensive examination. If the candidate passes on portion and fails the other, only that portion which was failed must be repeated. No one will be permitted to take any portion of the comprehensive examination more than three times without revisions to the Student Plan of Study. Before a third examination can be administered, the candidate must complete a revised program of study outlined by the graduate advisory committee and approved by the Dean of the Graduate School.
The Oral Examination
An oral examination will be required of all candidates for advanced degrees who submit a field study, thesis, or dissertation. An oral examination may be required of other candidates for advanced degrees as determined by each department or school. The oral examination will be taken only after the candidate has satisfactorily completed the written comprehensive examination. Copies of the field study, thesis, or dissertation must be submitted to the candidate’s graduate advisory committee at least five days before the oral examination. The oral examination is the responsibility of the candidate’s graduate advisory committee and the examining committee, who may invite other faculty members and administrators to participate in an ex officio capacity. The candidate’s performance on the oral examination must be reported, in writing, by the major professor to the Dean of the Graduate School as satisfactory or unsatisfactory. When the oral examination is the thesis, field study, or dissertation defense, this reporting requirement will be satisfied by the graduate advisory committee’s approval of the field study, thesis, or dissertation.
Retaking Comprehensive Examination
If the candidate’s performance on the major area, the minor or related areas, or the oral examination is judged to be unsatisfactory, the candidate must wait until the next comprehensive examination period to apply to retake any part or all of the comprehensive examination.
The candidate is advised to confer with the graduate advisory committee and the appropriate Graduate Coordinator regarding procedures and structure of the comprehensive examination. |
