Education Commons^™

Adding Value To Graduate Education: The Comprehensive Examination, John L. Lindquist, Samuel E. Wortman, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Virtually all graduate study requirements for MS or PhD degrees include a written comprehensive and an oral exam, the latter most often a presentation of thesis or dissertation results. The written exam takes many forms, but the goals are to test the candidate for technical competence and affirm that the prior program course work has been effective in bringing the candidate to an acceptable level of understanding of the discipline in which she or he has been immersed. Although long accepted as a useful hurdle on the path to a degree, for some exceptional students who have already demonstrated competence …