Oral Comprehensive Examination
Format
The oral comprehensive examination, held after the completion of all three written comprehensives, consists of an examination of approximately two hours with the members of the supervisory committee. The Associate Chair (Graduate Studies) will preside or appoint a member of the Department to act as his/her delegate; neither has a vote. On occasion, extra committee members may be added. The order of questioning may be determined on the basis of the various fields or of the committee members (who are often involved with more than one field). Normally, there are two rounds of questioning, with each member being allotted twenty minutes in the first round and ten in the second.
Focus and assessment
The questioning may relate to both the questions that the student answered in the written comprehensive examinations and the questions that he/she chose not to answer, and the purpose is to determine the candidate’s command of the material in an oral format. In addition, aspects of the written answers that were deemed to be deficient or at least worthy of further discussion may be brought up, and it is at this stage that an assessor who reserved judgment about the written examination in a given field will be able to see if the candidate should be failed in that field or does have sufficient knowledge of the field to warrant a passing assessment.
Process in case of failure
In the event of a failure, the determination of the examining committee will normally be that (1) the oral examination alone is to be repeated, (2) the translation section(s) and/or the interpretive section(s) of the language/literature examination(s) and/or the special topic examination must also be retaken, or (3) the student is required to withdraw from the program. Any re-examination will normally begin six months later. In the event of a second failure of the oral examination, the student will be required to withdraw from the program.