Experience It.

Written Comprehensive Examination

Purpose

The comprehensive examination serves the following functions, the primary one being the measure of academic attainment:

1. Academic Excellence. The primary function of the Master’s comprehensive examination is to ensure that students demonstrate competence in the field of study. The Master’s examination not only assesses student achievement, but it also motivates the student to perform competently and rewards this performance.

2. Integrating Function. Another function of the examination is to provide students with an opportunity to review, synthesize, and integrate the material that has been learned in coursework, readings, research experience, applied settings, and informal interactions with the faculty and other professionals.

3. Diagnostic Function. The comprehensive examination serves this function in two ways: (a) students and their advisors ascertain their strengths and weaknesses in the conceptual knowledge base and research skills required by the department. (This is particularly true for the Individualized component of the examination described below); and (b) Mental Heatlh faculty, by reviewing the collective quality of the students' responses in different areas, can determine how the curriculum may be improved.

The comprehensive examination consists of two components: (a) The Core/Departmental component, and (b) The Individualized component.

1. The Core/Departmental component is administered at the department level under the auspices of the Graduate Committee. It consists of a total of 3 hours of written examination consisting of a three-hour written examination requiring the student to demonstrate a comprehensive grasp of the literature in any one of three core content areas in Mental Health (i.e., biological, cognitive, social) is administered during the AM portion of the exam. The question within each of the three core areas will be written and evaluated by a team of three faculty. These faculty examination teams are designated on a yearly basis by the Graduate Committee.

2. The Individual component of the Comprehensive Examination encourages and evaluates the student's proficiency and development of professional skills within his or her own area of interest. The specific nature and content of this component of the Comprehensive Exam is determined by the Program Committee, which consists of the student’s advisor and two additional members of the Mental Health faculty. The primary intent of this component is to encourage clarification and refinement of the student’s research interests. Some possible formats for the individualized component include, but are not limited to, the following: preparing a grant proposal; writing a target research review; conducting a mock review of a manuscript submitted for publication; presenting a poster or paper at a professional conference; creating an original course curriculum in Psychology; etc.

The Core/Departmental component of the exam will be administered at the Department level twice each year (once in the Fall semester and once in the Spring semester) from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm (with a one hour lunch break). Petitions to take the exam on an alternate date due to conflicts arising from religious practices need only advisor approval and subsequent registration. Extenuating circumstances, such as personal health or residency at great distance from Medaille College, may warrant special arrangements by the advisor and be subsequently approved by the Graduate Committee.

Reading lists for the core areas in Mental Heatlh (Biological, Cognitive, Social) and the research methods component of the Comprehensive Exam are available from the Graduate School (see advisor for details). To prepare for the examination, the student is encouraged to review the material on these reading lists beginning at least one semester prior to the semester in which he or she plans to take the exam. It is also recommended that the student be familiar with material that has been covered in classes, current research in books and journals in the field, and participate in study groups that may be organized by fellow students prior to the exam. Questions asked on prior exams can be obtained from the Graduate School.

Evaluation of Master’s Comprehensive Exams

  1. Written Exam

1. Core/Departmental Component

Faculty evaluate examination responses to the core/departmental component without knowledge of the student's identity. To preserve this anonymity, students will be assigned an examinee numeral, which will be used to identify their examination answers.

The faculty teams appointed by the Graduate Committee to write the comprehensive questions pertaining to each of the three core areas is also responsible for evaluating student responses to their respective core areas. For example, the faculty team responsible for writing the question(s) concerning cognitive psychology scores student responses in that area. The student's responses to the Core/Departmental component are evaluated as follows:

a). The student's response to the examination is reviewed by two faculty members from the team who prepared the question(s). Performance is graded as "High Pass", "Pass", or "Fail".

b). When the student’s performance is graded "Fail" by one reader, then one additional faculty member from the team who prepared the question(s) for the core area being examined will independently read and score the student's response.

c). A student who receives a grade of "Fail" from two readers fails the comprehensive examination. Likewise, a student who receives a grade of "High Pass" from two readers receives a grade of "High Pass" on the comprehensive examination.

2. Individual Component

After receiving notification that a student has passed the Core/Departmental Component of the Comprehensive Exams, he or she should obtain approval of the Individual Component of the Exam. A brief memo from each of the members of this committee can be submitted as documentation that this Component has been approved.

Student Feedback

After all examination results have been summarized, the Graduate Committee Chair conveys the results to each student by letter. Students usually receive the letter about four to six weeks after the examination date. Should students fail either component of the examination, they MUST confer with their advisor about options available to them.

** Failure of the Master’s Comprehensive Examination: Students who fail either the Core-Departmental or the Individualized component may re-take that component (or both) once. Students who fail one or both components a second time are dropped from their degree program.