Comprehensive Exams

New for the 2006-2008 Catalog

All graduate students must pass a comprehensive examination which may be scheduled though the Graduate Coordinator any time after the student has been admitted to candidacy and has completed 24 sch including the 4 required courses. The exam will be made available to qualified students on Blackboard and will be graded instantly upon completion. Students who have completed at least 18 hours of course work including the 4 required courses may also request a practice exam be made available in the Blackboard format through the Graduate Coordinator.

Exams will consist of 200 multiple choice questions. Students must score a minimum of 70% to pass.

If a student does not pass the Comprehensive Exam the first time, they must retake the entire exam on the next date when the exam is offered. A student who fails their second attempt may petition (must show significant cause) the Graduate Coordinator for a third attempt. The student can expect one of 3 outcomes from their petition:

1. Student will be required to take remedial course work – to be determined in consultation with the CJ faculty – before taking the exam again.
2. Student will be allowed to take the exam a third time with no other requirements.
3. Student will not be allowed to take the exam again and will be removed from the program.

Comprehensive exams are designed to demonstrate how well the student has integrated the knowledge gathered throughout their studies in the master's program. While the questions come from specific areas, they generally reflect broader issues than what a student will find in a single class.

The following Study Guides are designed to assist graduate students in studying for comprehensive exams. All students will be required to answer a question from each of the three core areas: legal, theory, and research methods. Students under old catalogs and taking the comps in the old format will need to use all four sections of the study guides.

The questions on the study guides are representative of the issues that will appear on the exams. Exam questions are not limited to the study guides but may also represent questions coming from coursework. Students who combine these guides with the suggested reading lists and review of course materials should be adequately prepared to take the exams.

Any Student under an old catalog may elect to take either the old 4 section written comps or the new 3 section multiple choice comps.  Students under the new 2006-2008 catalog must take the new multiple choice exams.For further advice or assistance with the comprehensive exam process please see Dr. Rubenser, the Graduate Coodinator. 

Comprehensive Exam Study Guides were last updated February 1, 2006