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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 Exam Taking Tips
Topic Areas Grading System
Location Retake Policy
Schedule Academic Honesty
Study Guides Exam Coordinator
Computer Instructions Info You Must Provide

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
  • Aphasia
  • OR Child Language Disorders
  • OR Other
Basic Science (1)
  • Neurological Bases of Communication
  • OR Acoustic & Perceptual Phonetics
  • OR Research Design
  • Neurological Bases of Communication
  • OR Acoustic & Perceptual Phonetics
  • OR Research Design
  • OR Instrumentation

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.
  • Save your answers on the C: drive AND on the USB memory stick. For your safety, save your file every 10 minutes on both drives.

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

  • Consult the study guides: Feel free to contact faculty members for study tips if you have questions about their study guide or if they don't provide a study guide.
  • 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.

How will I find out about my grade?

Once all grades from the various topic areas have been received, the comprehensive exam coordinator will communicate your grades to you either by email or phone, whichever you prefer (see information to provide to the exam coordinator).

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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:

  • When? During the semester you will be taking the comprehensive exams and by the deadline for final approval of the candidacy paper
  • 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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