Comprehensive Exam

5th semester exam to assess the Ph.D. student’s knowledge of their research area and to specifically evaluate a student’s research proposal

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Overview

Version 05/19/2005
During the semester in which a student plans to take the Comprehensive Exam, an Admission to Candidacy application must be completed and approved by the faculty advisor and the Graduate Director and submitted to the Graduate School by the posted deadline that is usually AT LEAST two weeks before the Comprehensive Exam. The Graduate Coordinator will also submit a Doctoral Exam report at this time that will inform the Graduate School about the date of the exam and the composition of the committee.

The comprehensive exam in ENVS is intended to assess the Ph.D. student’s knowledge of their research area and to specifically evaluate a student’s proposal for his or dissertation research. The exam should be taken in a student’s fifth semester, and no later than the sixth semester, of graduate study in ENVS. Any exceptions to this rule will require the permission of the Graduate Committee. The exam format consists of a 15-page document that describes the dissertation proposal in detail, a 15-20 minute oral presentation by the student and an oral examination by the student’s dissertation committee. The combination of the presentation and oral examination will take approximately 3 hours. The student is responsible for scheduling the meeting and for reserving the room in which the exam will be held. The student’s committee should complete the Doctoral Examination report after the meeting and return this to the Graduate Coordinator following the meeting.

Written Component (15 pages, single-sided and single-spaced):

The student must submit to the dissertation committee a 15-page (NSF-type or NIH-type format) research proposal on the dissertation topic. A copy of this proposal must be submitted to every member of the committee no later than 2 weeks before the scheduled meeting. Students are strongly encouraged to consult with committee members and particularly their advisor as they are preparing this document. The research proposal should include the following categories:

· Abstract of proposed work
· General introduction that puts the proposed project into perspective and reviews the relevant literature in the field
· Rationale for and importance of the research
· Relevant preliminary research already completed or in progress
· Research design, including proposed methods and research plan
· References

This document must be limited to 15, single-spaced pages, including figures and tables, but excluding references.

Oral presentation (20 minutes):

The student should prepare a 20- minute formal presentation on his/her research progress and research plan. The presentation should be of a format acceptable at a national professional meeting, should highlight the questions addressed by the student’s research, and include sufficient details on methods to be analyzed by the committee.

Oral examination:

The oral examination will include a discussion of the research presented by the student, but will also probe the student’s knowledge of the contemporary and historical literature relating to the student’s proposed research. Students are encouraged to seek advice from all Comprehensive Examination Committee members about their expectations concerning subject matter and level of knowledge for this exam. No restrictions are placed upon committee members with regard to subject matter relevant to the dissertation topic.

Committee Membership:

The comprehensive exam committee is made up of 5 people, including the student’s primary advisor and four other members that are approved by the ENVS graduate committee and who are in a field related to the student’s area of research. Three of the members must be CU-Boulder Graduate Faculty and one must be from outside the ENVS program. The primary advisor and outside member of the committee must have regular or tenured Graduate Faculty appointments. The other committee members must have either regular or special Graduate Faculty appointments.

Examination criteria and possible outcomes:

Pass: no additional requirements. Successful candidates must receive affirmative votes from a majority of the members of the committee.

Conditional Pass: A student receiving a conditional pass will be required to take additional requirements as required by the examining committee and will not pass the exam until they complete these requirements. A conditional pass will be assigned if a student 1) fails to demonstrate a sufficient understanding of the literature in their core research area, 2) fails to articulate the motivation and design of their Ph.D. research in either the proposal or during the oral examination.

Fail: A Student who fails the comprehensive exam will either be asked to leave the program or required to retake the comprehensive exam. A student may only retake the exam once.