Comprehensive Exams

As required by the university, to advance to Ph.D. Candidacy, the student must pass three Comprehensive Examinations, which include: I. Comprehensive Oral Exam, II. Comprehensive Written Exam, and III. Final Thesis Defense.

For M.S. candidacy, the student must pass either the Comprehensive Oral or Written Exam.  A Final Thesis Defense is not required. For more information, please refer to the Masters Degree Requirements section.

For timelines of when the oral and written exams need to be scheduled, please refer to the Important Deadlines section.  The Final Thesis Defense is completed at the conclusion of the student's graduate work.

I. Comprehensive Oral Exam

The Oral Examination (defense of the initial thesis proposal) will stress the dissertation proposal and related areas in an effort to ascertain the student's understanding of the research project that he/she is undertaking. The student is customarily asked to present the dissertation proposal in the format of a grant request followed by a site visit with extensive questioning and discussion. It is within the Committee's authority to propose that additional course work be taken by the student if the members feel that the student shows weakness that could be corrected by further instruction. A student who fails the examination may take it a second time after a lapse of six months; a third examination may not be taken without special action of the Administrative Board of the Graduate School.

II. Comprehensive Written exam

The comprehensive written exam is an open-book exam to test your knowledge, comprehension, and analytical ability. Passing is required to remain in the program.

The exam comprises of two sections:

Section 1)     Biophysics, Enzymology, Structural Biology

Section 2)     Molecular and Cellular Biology

Each section will have two separate exams, and each with two types of questions:

A-questions:  probe comprehension and ability to critically evaluate scientific work

B-questions:  analyze and interpret scientific experiments, and/or devise experiment(s) to address unresolved issues.

You must answer all exam questions in the section that is your major area of study (both A & B questions).  In the alternate section, you answer one question from either exam.

III. Final Thesis Defense

The final oral thesis defense will be held only after all members of the committee have had adequate opportunity to review a draft of the doctoral dissertation. The dissertation advisor is responsible for determining that the draft is in an appropriate form for committee evaluation. If substantial revisions are necessary, they should be completed before the final oral defense is scheduled. All committee members are expected to be present at the defense. 

The final oral defense may be open to the public or limited in attendance to the candidate and the committee. Questions that relate the dissertation to the field are appropriate. A dissertation is accepted only after the approval of a majority of the examining committee members. At the conclusion of the final oral defense, all committee members should sign Part III of the Doctoral Exam Report Form.

At the time of the final oral defense, but no later than the oral, the committee may require alterations and corrections, but these should constitute relatively minor changes agreed to by a majority of the committee members. The dissertation advisor is responsible for verifying that the changes required by the committee have been made. When changes have been verified, the advisor should sign Part IV of the Doctoral Exam Report Form.  

For more information, please refer to the Graduate School’s Thesis and Dissertation Guide.