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University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Special Education & Communication Disorders

College of Education & Human Sciences

Comprehensive Exams

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.  Examinations will cover the same questions and may be taken as a written or oral exam. This examination will require students to integrate material from the various graduate courses.  The Chair of the Speech-Language Audiology Governance Committee will obtain questions from specific faculty members and oversee the evaluation of the written responses.  The student's Advisor will normally communicate the results of the student's performance within 2 weeks after the examination is completed.  Unsuccessful performance on one or two of the areas sampled will necessitate a more extensive rewrite of the questions missed (this must be in written form).  If half or more of the total examination is considered to have been failed, the student will need to retake the entire comprehensive examination at a later date.  Such a retake cannot be scheduled again until the following semester.  A student will not be allowed more than three attempts to pass the comprehensive 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 extensive rewrite of failed questions only if the student fails one to two questions of the written exam.

Option 2 is an oral comprehensive exam with a follow-up written rewrite of failed questions exam if students fail one - two questions 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 usually on the Tuesday after 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 before 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 three integrated questions reflecting the material covered in core graduate courses.  The second portion of the exam is a series of specialty area questions.  Students select three questions from a group of options in order to focus the exam in their areas of specialization.  The total written examination (total of six questions) 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 have the exam proctored by a responsible professional or be present when the exam was administered.

Oral Exam

The oral comprehensive exam covers the same content as the written exam (3 integrative questions and 3 chosen specialty questions for a total of six questions).  The oral exam is administered by at least two or three SLPA faculty members.  The oral examinations are not to exceed 1 hour and are administered on the same day as the written examination. Students should plan to be at the exam site 15 minutes early to look over questions and prepare for oral presentations of answers written.

Follow-up Written Examination

For students who fail one to two questions 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.  Students will contact the person responsible for grading the missed question (i.e. the governance comps chair for the integrative questions or faculty member responsible for specialty questions) within two weeks. The student will write more extensive answers (recommended - 2-3 pages) to the questions using references and available materials.

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 and evaluated by the student's thesis committee.

Grading Committee

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 Governance Committee member.

The responses are judged as High Pass, Pass and No Pass.  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. Oral exam results arre available at the end of the exam. Students have a two week deadline to finish rewrites of questions failed in either oral or written exams.

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 the Governance Committee.  However, the target date for comps is the Tuesday 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, but it is recommended that students graduating at the end of August or December take their comprehensive exams in March if possible.
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.


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