COMPREHENSIVE EXAM SCHEDULE AND INFORMATION

Comprehensive exams will be due by the sixth week of each term and administered by your program coordinator.

About written comprehensive examinations for MSEd students

Written comprehensive examinations are graded as follows: With Distinction, Pass, Unsatisfactory, or Fail. If you receive a failing grade you must retake that section of your examination. If you receive Unsatisfactory, a committee of three faculty members will schedule you for a one-hour oral review. The oral will focus on the section(s) evaluated as unsatisfactory. Every attempt is made to have at least one member from your program on the oral committee. A team of professors write the general knowledge/general education component. Your answers are graded by a team of readers. Your advisor and/or professors who usually teach courses listed on the student’s Plan of Study often write the subject matter or specialty area questions. These questions are based on the courses you took as part of your degree. Faculty who wrote the questions in the subject matter or specialty area usually read and rates the responses.

Comprehensive examination questions are authored by faculty and subject matter experts from your program. You have generally had one if not all of these faculty members during your coursework. These questions are designed to elicit your understanding of your content area; the questions are designed as prompts that demand both a comprehensive and specifically detailed response to show what you have learned during your graduate studies, how it connects with your current or future field, and how you are able to connect theory and research to your daily work and practice.

The comprehensive exams are graded in the following process:

1. Each faculty member scores each question individually as Fail, Unsatisfactory, Pass, or With Distinction. Scores of individual questions should not be confused with the holistic, final score for the exam. If faculty members score questions with Unsatisfactory or Fail, they should provide some specific questions and feedback to the student via anonymized comments on the grading rubric or an attached sheet.

2. Having read the entire exam, each faculty reader provides a holistic, final score for the exam: Fail, Unsatisfactory, Pass, or With Distinction.

3. Exams with one or two questions scored Unsatisfactory must have an oral exam. Depending upon faculty evaluation of the work, exams with three questions scored Unsatisfactory may be require an Oral exam or may be scored as Fail. Exams with four or more questions with Unsatisfactory are failed.

4. After scoring the exam, faculty return exams to the program coordinator. The program coordinator then determines the final outcome based on the faculty evaluation. The program coordinator reports this score to the Graduate Office.

5. The Graduate Office reports the final scores to the student via email.

Outcomes

• If you receive a fail, you must retake the exam. (Students are only allowed one retake before an alternative capstone project will be required)
• If you must take an oral exam, a committee of two or three faculty will schedule a one-hour oral review. The oral exam will focus on areas that were scored as Unsatisfactory. Every attempt is made to have at least one member from your program on the oral committee.
• If you pass, congratulations!
• If you pass With Distinction, hooray hooray!

Notes to students: Students may only repeat the test once before being required to provide a new exit option to complete their master’s degree.

About written comprehensive examinations for MA CJ students

Comprehensive examinations are administered after all courses have been completed and the student has successfully submitted a research proposal detailing his or her area of concentration.  Dates for comprehensive examinations are established by the university and are offered during Fall, Winter, and Spring terms.  Individual test dates are not allowed.  Building on the professional core, comprehensive exams allow students to tailor their studies by taking coursework in three academic areas: research methods, criminological theory, and a combination of electives (See Course Catalog) in an area of individualized concentration. The Criminal Justice Graduate Coordinator will assist students in selecting an area of concentration and in developing a research question.

Students who elect to take comprehensive exams answer three probing questions, which are presented as robust descriptive essays.  Students will submit their essays online during one of the comprehensive periods (See the Criminal Justice Graduate Homepage for additional informational). The first question focuses on research methods and is based on material presented in the student’s research methods class (CJ-612).  The second question focuses on criminological theory and is based on material presented in the student’s criminology theory class (CJ-660).  The third question focuses on an area of concentration based on the academic or professional interests of the student and illuminates or explores aspects of the policies, programs, operations, administration, or history of a criminal justice or social service agency (CJ-606).  Answers must demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of relevant material.

Grading for the exam (each essay answer) will be based on the following criteria:

• Grammar (syntax, sentence structure, and language rules)
  • 15%
• Presentation (clear and logical writing style)
  • 10%
• Content (answer the question(s) completely)
  • 60%
• Paraphrased (use a minimum of direct quotations)
  • 5%
• Cite sources using APA or MLA citation format
  • 10%

Students who receive a grade of 79/100, or less, on an exam will be given a program of self-study.  After this course of study, they may retake the area(s) failed at another regularly scheduled examination date.  Students may retake the written comprehensive examinations only once.