Comprehensive Examinations
PLEASE NOTE: Please note: This page has now been updated for the Fall 2007 Semester. Questions should be addressed to the Exam coordinator, Exam Coordinator, Dr. Shah.
The Department is in the process of modifying the MA Comprehensive Examination. Although the Comprehensive Examination will remain a requirement for the non-thesis option, the nature and format of the questions will change to combine knowledge across areas of the discipline. Students admitted to or entering the graduate curriculum to obtain an MA degree in Speech-Language Pathology in or after Fall 2008 will take the revised comprehensive examinations and will be given updated study guidelines to prepare for the modified Comprehensive Examination. Click here to view the new format.
The information on this webpage applies to those students taking the comprehensive examination in the Fall 2008, 2009 and Spring 2008, 2009 semesters. Students who were admitted prior to Fall 2008 and who will be taking their exams in Spring 2010 will be tested under the old format (as described on this webpage).
M.A. Students in Speech-Language Pathology who choose the non-thesis option must pass written comprehensive examinations. The following is intended to help you prepare for this process. Please contact the exam coordinator for additional information when necessary.
Table of Contents:
Prerequisites
The following prerequisites must be met in order to take
the comprehensive examinations:
- Completion of all prior academic course work. No incompletes.
-
Final approved candidacy paper. The first and second
reader of the candidacy paper must have signed the candidacy
paper approval form before the
deadline.
- Not on academic probation.
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Topic Areas
The M.A. comprehensive examinations cover 7 topic areas.
There will be one hour exam per area. Five topic areas are
required and two areas the student will choose. Topic areas
depend on a student's major, as follows:
| Area |
Speech-Language Pathology Major |
Audiology Major
(only M.A. students admitted before 2002)
|
Required (5) |
- Aphasia
- Child language disorders
- Fluency disorders
- Phonological disorders
- Voice disorders
|
- Aural Rehabilitation
- Hearing Measurements
- Hearing Aids
- Pediatric Audiology
- Electrophysiology
|
| Electives (1) |
- Aural rehabilitation
- OR Hearing measurement
|
|
| Basic Science (1) |
|
|
Note: Students writing their MA SLP comprehensive examinations in Spring 2007-Fall 2009 choose their Basic Science question. Currently, there are no questions on elective disorder courses.
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Location
The M.A. Comprehensive examinations are administered via
computer in the BSOS Open Labs in Lefrak Hall, Rooms 0225, 0227, 0229
and 0231. Only one or two of these rooms
will be used for the exams. A door sign, posted on the day
of the exam, and the definite testing schedule, will indicate
which one(s).
Students are expected to type responses to comprehensive
examination questions, using MS Word on the BSOS network
(note that Word Perfect is not available because it is/was
phased out from the network during the Fall of 2001). Students
are strongly encouraged to familiarize themselves with the
computer instructions and with the Open Labs in Lefrak Hall
prior to their comprehensive testing date.
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Schedule
The comprehensive examinations are administered on two
testing days, typically separated by one or two non-testing
days (for example, Testing day 1 on a Friday, Non-testing
days Saturday and Sunday, Testing day 2 on a Monday). Testing
typically takes place in the 1st-2nd week of November for Fall candidates and in the 1st-2nd week of April for
Spring candidates. The re-take day is typically scheduled
10-16 days after the second testing day.
Comprehensive examination dates for Fall 2007 are Friday, November 9, 2007 and Monday,
November 12, 2007.
The re-examination day for failed questions will be announced shortly.
Click here for Fall 2007 schedule (pdf).
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Study Guides
Some faculty supply a study guide for the M.A. Comprehensive
exams, while other faculty do not. Should new study guides
become available, they will be posted here.
Electives:
*PLEASE NOTE that study guides provided for the comprehensive examination are only general guidelines and do not in any way guarantee which topic areas/questions will or will not be covered on the examination.
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Computer Instructions
The proctor will use the first hour of the first comprehensive
testing day to give you the following computer instructions.
However, you are encouraged to read them prior to the comprehensive
testing days.
You are not allowed to bring your notes or books with
you; please store them somewhere else. Neither food nor
drink will be allowed inside the open labs. You will be
assigned a PC. You will use the same PC throughout the entire
examination day. Only you and the proctor will have access
to it.
What you will receive from the proctor?
-
A code number, which will be unique to you, to preserve
your anonymity. This will be given on the first day of
the exam. You will use the same code number for all topic
areas for both exam days.
-
A USB memory stick
-
A blank sheet of paper to organize your thoughts, which
will be collected with your answer.
How to save your answers?
-
Your answers in each topic area should be saved in a
single file. The file name of each topic area will be
a combination of the topic area and your code number.
For example, if you are writing on Aphasia and your code
number is 02, your filename will be Apha02. The examples
below provide you with a model to follow for each topic
area. The example is for code number S02 (it is not your
code)
| Topic Area |
Filename |
| Aphasia |
Apha_S02 |
| Child Language Disorders |
Chla_S02 |
| Fluency Disorders |
Flue_S02 |
| Voice Disorders |
Voic_S02 |
| Articulation Disorders |
Artic_S02 |
| Aural Rehabilitation |
Aure_S02 |
| Brain & Language Mechanisms. |
Brla_S02 |
| Research Design |
Rede_S02 |
| Acoustic & Perceptual Phonetics. |
Acpe_S02 |
- Use a header to number all your pages and label the
top of every page with its filename.
When you're done
- When you have finished answering the questions in a topic area, save your file and return the memory stick to the proctor. Also return the question sheet and scrap paper to the proctor.
Exam Taking Tips
- Read carefully: For example, answering
a question about a 5-year old client as if it were a 10-year
old client is likely to result in a failed question, even
when the answer is correct for the 10-year old client
and even when after the test the professor finds that
the student knows the correct answer for the 5-year old
student.
- Be specific: Most questions ask for
specific information about a topic. However, on occasion
some students may answer such questions by writing down
everything they know about the topic. This gives the impression
that the student did not read the question, may result in a failed
question, and unnecessarily takes up precious exam time.
For example, a question about the language symptoms of
aphasia patients should not provide information about
their non-language symptoms (e.g., hemianopia).
- Be complete: Provide all specific information
asked for in a question. For example, a question about
the phonological, morpho-syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic
comprehension difficulties of adults with Broca's and
Wernicke's aphasia should address these difficulties at
each of the information processing levels mentioned.
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Grading System
Will grading be anonymous?
Yes, faculty members will not know your name or any other
identifying information for grading purposes. This is why
you will be assigned a unique code number on the day of
the test. Should a re-test be necessary, then a new unique
code number will be assigned to the student taking the test.
The coordinator will let a faculty member know what grades
they assigned to each individual student but only after
that faculty member handed in their final grades.
What grading system will be used?
Each topic area will be graded on a pass/fail basis. Within
the pass category, a distinction is made among a "high
pass", "pass", and "low pass".
See the retake policy below.
When can I expect to get my grade?
Please allow for a few weeks to receive your grades. Faculty members receive the answers to their topic area(s) on the day of examination and are given one-to-two weeks to complete their grading.
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Retake Policy
-
A student who fails more than two examination areas
will be judged to have failed the comprehensive examination.
-
Any student who fails either one or two comprehensive
examination questions may re-take those areas during the
same semester on the scheduled re-take date (for the re-take
date see the
deadlines for graduate students). New questions
will be administered which follow the general procedural
format of the questions which were failed.
-
Students who fail to pass any re-administered question
areas will be required to take the entire comprehensive
examination over during a subsequent semester.
-
Any student may take the entire comprehensive examination
only twice. Failure to pass any questions on the second
full administration of the comprehensive examination will
result in termination from the program.
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Academic Honesty
All students taking the MA comprehensive
examinations are expected to adhere to campus policy on
academic integrity. In particular, cheating and/or plagiarism
on the examinations will result in immediate referral to
the Student Honor Council.
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Exam Coordinator
For further questions please contact the Department's
Coordinator of the M.A. Comprehensive Examinations:
Dr. Yasmeen Shah
yshah@hesp.umd.edu
Information you must provide to the Exam Coordinator:
-
What information?
- First name
- Last name
- Phone
- Email
- Address
- Semester
- Year of your comps
- Your first elective
- Your second elective
- Name first and second reader of your candidacy paper
- Name of your academic advisor
- Status candidacy paper (approved or to-be-approved)
- Preferred way to be informed of your comprehensive examination grades (email or phone)
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