Doctoral Comprehensive Exams

Doctoral students take two comprehensive exams covering foundations and research coursework. Exams are now solely offered as take-home, open-book exams. Direct any questions to the Associate Director for Graduate Programs (AD).

Open-book Comprehensive Exams

Take-home, open-book exams are offered once per academic quarter on the first Monday of October, February, May, and June. 

Examinees have 4 weeks to complete the exam and must sign up for the exam at least four weeks in advance of the next exam date. Examinees will receive their exam from the AD on the scheduled exam date. Exams are distributed to SPU email.

Cancellations must be received in writing at least five days prior to the exam date. Email the AD at soe-grad@spu.edu to cancel. Students may not cancel or withdraw once the exam has been distributed. Students' inability to submit a distributed exam will result in a non-passing grade.

To register for the research exam, students are required to have completed EDU 7972, 7973, and 7974 with grade B or better.

Students who are taking the open-book research exam should have R or SPSS installed on their computer. Each of these programs is accepted to complete the research exam.

A free version of SPSS may be downloaded at the SPU Student Software Instillation wiki page. If you are using a Mac computer and are experiencing download issues with SPSS, follow these directions. Here is a second article about SPSS compatibility with Mac software and hardware.

Scheduled Dates for the 2024-2025 Academic Year

Sign-up

To register for the research exam, students are required to have completed EDU 7972, 7973, and 7974 with grade B or better.

General Instructions

Questions will not be released to students in advance (since this is an open-book exam). In answering the questions, students may use any relevant resources. However, answers and questions should NOT be discussed with anyone else. Exam questions will be randomly selected by the graduate program’s office. 

• Read the prompt carefully. Unpack the verb and consider what that verb expects you to do. Consider and address each portion of the question adequately and thoroughly.  
• Define all terms that you use. Be as clear and specific as possible. For example, saying you are a constructivist means you should define and describe what a constructivist educator is and does.  
• Illustrate a concept or key term with specific examples; for example, when you mention the history of Horace Mann and common schools, you need to offer us insight into that history.   
• Provide relevant theories and citations to support your claims. Do not cite research that is not peer-reviewed or well-known, as research should be foundational. 
• Write concisely and clearly. Evaluate if your answer follows in a logical sequence.  
• Check for typos and stylistic errors.  

Foundations Procedures

There are 2 parts to the foundations comprehensive exam:  

• Part 1 constitutes articulating and describing your philosophy of education  
• Part 2 is focused on writing prompts focusing on broad themes of foundational course work in education 

Page length for Part I and 2 combined: double spaced, 15-20 pages including references; Times New Roman, 12-point font size with 1-inch margins on all sides.  

Each part carries equal weight and should receive equal attention and effort. Examinees are required to earn a passing grade for both parts to pass the comprehensive exam. Should examinees fail any part(s), they will be asked to re-do the part(s) in the following exam cycle in order to pass the comprehensive exam.  

An anonymous grading system will be used. To protect double-blind grading, please do not include any identifying information on your exam, and please do not discuss the comprehensive exam with any faculty member during the exam process (including after submission). 

It will take approximately 4-6 weeks for the exam to be graded. The exact timeframe may be adjusted depending on the number of exams that need to be reviewed and the availability of reviewers during that cycle.  

Research Procedures

To register for the research exam, students are required to have completed EDU 7972, 7973, and 7974 with grade B or better.

There are 3 parts to the research comprehensive exam:  

• Part 1 consists of scenario-based problem solving.  
• Part 2 is focused on philosophical and ethical discussions in education, and  
• Part 3 evaluates examinees’ competency in statistical analysis and interpretation of results.   

Page length for Part 1, 2, and 3 combined: double spaced, 15-20 pages including references; at least 11-point font size with 1-inch margins on all sides.  

Each part carries equal weight and should receive equal attention and effort. Examinees are required to earn a passing grade for all three parts to pass the comprehensive exam. Should examinees fail any part(s), they will be asked to re-do the part(s) in the following exam cycle in order to pass the comprehensive exam.  

An anonymous grading system will be used. To protect double-blind grading, please do not include any identifying information on your exam, and please do not discuss the comprehensive exam with any faculty member during the exam process (including after submission).  

It will take approximately 4-6 weeks for the exam to be graded. The exact timeframe may be adjusted depending on the number of exams that need to be reviewed and the availability of reviewers during that cycle.

Students who are asked to revise their exams may benefit from watching the exam review session available on the doctoral canvas site.