Once each semester, the chair of the Graduate Committee schedules the Master's degree examination for students in speech-language pathology. During the last semester of graduate study, or at some time after 75 percent of a student's program has been completed, he/she will sit for a comprehensive examination over his/her program of graduate studies. This examination will require students to integrate material from the various graduate courses. The student's Advisor will obtain questions from specific faculty members and oversee the evaluation of the written responses. The Advisor will normally communicate the results of the student's performance within 2 weeks after the examination is completed. Unsuccessful performance on one or more of the areas sampled will necessitate a rewrite of the examination. If half or more of the total examination is considered to have been failed, the student will need to retake the entire written comprehensive examination. Such a rewrite cannot be scheduled again until the following semester. A student will not be allowed more than three attempts to pass the written examination.
Guidelines Master's degree students in Speech-Language Pathology are given three options for completing their Comprehensive Examination.
Option 1 is a written comprehensive exam with a follow-up oral exam only if the student fails portions of the written exam.
Option 2 is an oral comprehensive exam with a follow-up oral exam if students fail portions of the comprehensive exam.
Option 3 is oral exam defense of the student's thesis.
Students are required to notify the Graduate Governance Committee in Speech-Language Pathology at least one month prior to the comprehensive exam date regarding their choice of a comprehensive exam option. The date of the comprehensive exam is on the Tuesday before the American Speech Hearing and Language Association Board Examination during the Fall and Spring terms (unless there is a conflict with University Schedule, then the exam will be held on the Tuesday following the ASHA Board Exam.) During the Summer term, the comprehensive exam is to be completed during the second week of the second summer session. Student's applications to take the comprehensive examination must be filed with the graduate school 4 weeks prior to the examination date.
Written Comprehensive Exam
The written comprehensive examination consists of two parts. The first is a series of integrated questions reflecting the material covered in core graduate courses. The second portion of the exam is a series of specialty area questions. Students can select questions from a group of options in order to focus the exam in their areas of specialization. The total written examination requires four hours and is to be completed in a singe morning session. All students who are students not on campus because of student teaching or externships would be responsible for making arrangements to be present when the exam was administered.
Oral Exam
The oral comprehensive exam covers similar content to the written exam. The oral exam is administered by at least two faculty members with at least one being a fellow of the Graduate Faculty. The oral examinations are not to exceed 1 1/2 hours and are administered on the same day as the written examination.
Follow-up Oral Examination
For students who fail a portion of their written or oral comprehensive exam, a follow-up examination will be administered. This examination covers only those areas that were judged to be deficient during the comprehensive portion of the examination.
Thesis Defense
Students completing a master's degree thesis are exempted from the written or oral comprehensive examinations. Upon completion of a thesis, there is an oral examination to address the defense of the thesis. The defense of the thesis is administered by the student's thesis committee.
Preparation for the Comprehensive Exam
A three-person rotating Comprehensive Examination Committee is appointed by the Graduate Governance Committee of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology. The examination committee will prepare the comprehensive exam questions. The committee will consist of at least three faculty members, one of whom is a Graduate Faculty Fellow.
Grading Committee
The Graduate Governance Committee in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology appoints committees to administer the oral examinations and the follow-up examinations as necessary. The Graduate Governance Committee also appoints three member committees, with at least two members being Graduate Faculty members (one of whom is a Graduate Faculty Fellow), to read and judge the written comprehensive exam questions. The responses are judged as Excellent, Satisfactory, and Unsatisfactory. Students will be notified at least one week in advance regarding the Faculty Members who have been assigned to administer the oral comprehensive exam. The results of the written comprehensive exams will be reported two weeks after the exam is taken.
Policies and Procedures
1. Students should take the comprehensive examination in the last semester of their program. Students completing a master's thesis DO NOT take the general comprehensive examination.
2. Normally, the comprehensive examination date for the fall and spring semesters is determined by majority vote of those students taking comps that semester. However, the target date for comps is the Tuesday prior to or following the Saturday when the ASHA examination is given. The ASHA exam is a part of the national Teachers Exam (NTE). NTE test dates can be obtained from the TC Student Services Center and are usually posted on the bulletin boards on the first floor of the Barkley Center.
3. Taking comps in the summer is possible. However, students taking comps should contact the Chair of the Communication Disorders Governance Committee. That person will assist students in setting the date for the comps in the summer.
4. Students taking comps will need to decide if they are taking an oral or written exam. All written and oral examinations are given between 8:00 a.m.-12:00 noon on the selected test date. Oral exams last one hour while the written exam lasts a maximum of four hours. Regardless of which format is chosen, all students receive the same set of questions.
5. A faculty member of the Communication Disorders Governance Committee will organize and manage the comprehensive exams. That faculty member must have the names and current addresses of all students taking comps five weeks prior to the examination date. All students taking comps should provide to the graduate program secretary in 318 Barkley, with their name, address, phone, and selection of a written or oral exam.
6. The graduate program secretary will complete the Final Examination Report form that needs to be filed and sent to the graduate office within four weeks of the comprehensive exam date in the regular semester and three weeks in the summer. The student should NOT complete this form and send it to the graduate office. The Barkley graduate secretary will enter all information into the graduate database, and send the report to the Graduate Studies office. For students taking oral examinations, a committee of three faculty members will be chosen by the examination committee. The student's advisor must be a Member of the oral exam committee. Two other faculty members will be selected for the oral committee based upon availability at the time of the oral examination.
7. Students who take orals will learn immediately after the oral if they have passed or failed. Students taking written examinations will learn the results by phone or letter within two weeks after the examination. If a student fails half or more of the total examination, the student will have to retake the entire exam again the following semester.
