To complete the Master of Science in Education or the Master of Arts in Theological Studies program, students must choose to either write and defend a comprehensive examination or complete a capstone project. The comprehensive examination is NOT an option for the Master of Science in Educational Administration or the Master of Science in Special Education degrees.
Choosing the Comprehensive Examination
Students who choose this option complete 27 credits of coursework as outlined in the respective program plan.
Description of the Comprehensive Examination
The comprehensive examination is a written exam consisting of three questions. The student is provided the questions in advance, one question at a time, and the student has two weeks in which to research and respond to each question in a highly comprehensive manner. The student’s committee will score the comprehensiveness of the student’s responses according to a rubric.
After all three questions have been submitted to the committee, the student will meet with the committee and orally defend questions that the committee may have regarding any/all of the student’s responses. The entire process from start to finish will take at least fifteen weeks.
- Application to Test (test created) – 4 weeks minimum
- Answering three questions – 6 weeks
- Preparation for oral defense – 3 weeks
- Exam evaluation – two weeks
Description of Examination Questions
Exam questions are designed to evaluate the Learner Outcomes of the respective programs, such that every graduate from the program demonstrates the ability to meet the outcomes. (See pages 8 and 11 of this bulletin.)
MS in Education
Question 1: Master’s Required Core – Reflects educational research (EDU5005), educational issues (EDU5001), or assessment (EDU5106) – Aligned with Goal #2 and Goal #3
Question 2: Emphasis Elective – Aligned with Goal #4
Question 3: Open for all Courses – Aligned with Goal #1
MA in Theological Studies
Question 1: Master’s Required Core – Aligned with Goals #1, 2, 3, or 7
Question 2: Master’s Required Core – Aligned with Goals #1, 2, 3, or 7
Question 3: Elective – Aligned with Goals #4, 5, or 6
Examination Committee
The committee collaboratively writes and scores the student’s comprehensive examination. Committee members consist of the student’s advisor and three faculty members who are arranged by the student in consultation with the advisor. One of the committee members could also be the student’s advisor. Committee members meet two criteria:
- the student has taken their courses, and
- the courses represent the types of questions needed for the exam
Note the following requirements:
- A 3.0 cumulative GPA is required to apply for the comprehensive examination.
- A student may take the exam while completing his/her last 3-credit course, as long as the course is an elective and no questions related to the course appear on the comprehensive exam.
Applying for the Comprehensive Examination
- The student and advisor meet to discuss his or her goals and purpose for earning their degree, and how they can apply their knowledge to their ministry. At this meeting, they will also discuss what type of questions will be included, from which courses the questions will be formulated, and the Goals that each question will fulfill. Three faculty committee members will be decided upon.
- The student will complete and submit the Application for Comprehensive Examination and fee payment to the Director of Graduate Studies.
- The Director of Graduate Studies approves the application and confirms the committee members. The director contacts the student and advisor to let them know.
Preparing the Comprehensive Examination
The advisor and committee members meet to discuss the student’s goals and purpose and develop the exam questions, based on the discussion from the advisor and the student’s initial meeting (allow four weeks).
Taking the Written Portion of the Exam
Once the exam questions are compiled in consultation with the advisor, the advisor will email the first question to the student along with a due date. The student will have two weeks to submit the response. The response for each question should
- range between 2,000 – 2,500 words,
- answer each portion of the question.
- draw upon the graduate program learning and literature,
- be generously and properly cited using appropriate formatting (see below), and
- Meet the criteria as outlined in the rubric.
Conducting the Oral Defense
After all questions are submitted and the advisor and committee members have an initial discussion regarding the student’s responses, the advisor will schedule an oral defense approximately four weeks from the final submission. The oral defense may last one hour. The advisor will reach out to the student to let them know what will be expected of them at the oral defense, areas to further explain, or provide examples, based on the committee’s initial review of question responses.
The oral defense will proceed as follows:
- The committee will require the student to provide a brief overview of the answers to each of the questions.
- Committee members will ask the student additional follow-up questions and ask for clarification and/or examples to support their written response if needed.
- Once the student has answered the committee members’ questions, the student will be asked to leave the meeting so that the committee members can discuss the scoring of answers and come to a consensus. Committee members will welcome the student back to the meeting, and the advisor will notify the student if they passed or failed any questions and if any remediation is required.
- Remediation will require the student to complete a different question; repeat abbreviated steps 4 – 8.
Notes about Formatting
- All questions should be written in APA or SBL formatting (depending on degree)
- Include a cover page to introduce the Comprehensive Exam.
- Each exam question is bolded and typed at the top of the page; a new page for each exam question.
- Page numbers are used.
- Double-spaced; 12 pt. Font using Times New Roman with 1” margins
- Appropriate headers
- In-text citations
- Reference Page
- Questions that blatantly lack appropriate formatting will be returned to the student to reformat and resubmit.
- If multiple resubmissions are required, this will take away from the student’s 6-week submission deadline.
- If multiple resubmissions are required, the committee may choose to discontinue the Comprehensive Exam process and require the student to attempt the exam the following semester.
