Written Comprehensive Examinations
Timelines
It is expected that students will take the comprehensive examinations by the middle of their third year. Both written and oral portions must be completed at least six months before the final oral examination of the thesis. The written comprehensive examinations may be taken over a period not to exceed eight weeks.
Fields
A PhD student in Classical Languages writes three comprehensive examinations, one in each of three fields chosen in consultation with his/her supervisor and committee. The fields should be decided as early as possible in the student’s program, and students are reminded of the large amount of independent work necessary for the reading lists. The three comprehensive fields are as follows:
- Greek language and literature.
- Latin language and literature.
- A special topic not related to the student’s general field of research (for example, oral theory, Latin epigraphy, ancient epic, fifth-century Athenian history). The topic is established by the student in consultation with his/her supervisor and committee, who will then draw up a reading list. The thesis supervisor may not be one of the assessors for the topic.
Examiners
The written examination in each field is set and assessed by at least two members of the Classics division (except in cases when it is necessary to draw upon someone in the History division or another department). Those who set and assess the written comprehensive examinations are usually members of the supervisory committee, to which other faculty members are added when appropriate.
Reading lists
The reading list for the two language/literature examinations is available from the Graduate Secretary. The reading list for the special topic is drawn up by the student’s supervisor and committee.
Format (language/literature)
The examination in each of the two language/literature fields consists of two sections. The sections in each examination are to be taken separately on consecutive days (that is, two days for Greek and two days for Latin, with an interval permissible between the two fields). Each section may not exceed two hours.
- The first section tests the student’s ability to translate several passages. The student is to be given three pages of prose and three of poetry (each passage should consist of approximately one-half page of printed text), and two of each group must be translated. Use of a dictionary is not permitted.
- The second section tests the student’s general knowledge of the development of literature, in particular (but not exclusively) with reference to specific authors and/or genres. The student will answer two questions chosen from a list of at least ten. No external aids are permitted.
Format (special topic)
In this examination, which is not to exceed three hours, the student will answer from one to three broad questions from a list that must contain at least one more question than the number to be answered.
Assessment
The written answers will be given by the student to the Graduate Secretary, who will distribute copies to all members of the supervisory committee and place the originals in the student’s file. The committee members must return their assessments in writing within one week of receiving each examination. The translation sections will be assessed as either (1) pass or (2) fail. The non-translation section of the language/literature examinations and the special topic examination will be given one of three assessments: (1) pass, (2) reserve judgement to the oral examination, or (3) fail.
Process in case of failure: If two assessments of failure are given in the special topic examination or in any of the two sections of the language/literature examinations, the oral comprehensive examination is cancelled. In this event, the examining committee will either require the student to withdraw from the program or permit a second attempt. If a second attempt is permitted, the normal procedure is that after an interval of at least five months the student will write a second examination containing new questions in the failed field(s). If both assessors of a given field fail the examination a second time, the candidate will be required to withdraw from the program.