M.A. Comprehensive Exam

The comprehensive exam consists of one five-hour exam that is administered on a single day. It is given once in September and once in February, on the fourth Saturday following the first week of classes. A signed notice of intent to take the exam must be submitted by the end of the first week of classes. No examinations are offered during the summer. Students must take examinations on campus.

To take the exam, M.A. students must have:

• Fulfilled the foreign language requirement.
• Achieved a grade point average of at least 3.0 on all graduate work taken beyond the Bachelor's degree. All courses carrying graduate credit, including transfer hours on the approved plan of study, will be calculated in this grade point average.
• Finished, or be enrolled in, their last semester of course work
  in the approved plan of study on file with the Graduate College and with the English Department Graduate Director.
• Submitted an Intent to Take Comprehensive Examinations form to the English Department Graduate Director three weeks before the exam begins.

Exam Areas. Students must answer four questions from the following three areas:

• Technical Writing Theory
• History of Scientific and Technical Writing
• Document Design

Reading List. Reading lists for each area are published each year. Copies of past exams are available from the English Graduate Office. The reading lists for an MA with a Technical Writing Option are available at:

http://english.okstate.edu/grad/guidelines/07_08/readinglists/techwr.htm

Evaluation. Each question, including those in the same area, will be evaluated separately by three readers from each subject area. Student anonymity will be maintained. The readers will first evaluate the exams individually, then meet to discuss the responses and will give each question a rating of "Pass with Distinction," "Pass," "Pass/Terminal M.A.," or "Fail." To be eligible for the M.A. in English, students must pass all four questions in all three areas.

Retakes. Students may take the exams only twice. If a student passes one question in each area, but fails one question in the "double" area (the area in which two questions are to be answered), he or she may retake a question in any area on the second attempt. The student can only retake the number of questions failed on the first exam.

Appeals. Normally, a second failure on any section of the MA Qualifying Exam will result in termination of the student's work toward the degree. However, when course work has been of exceptionally high quality, a student may, after a second failure, petition the Graduate Studies Committee for permission to take the exam a third and final time. To petition, the student must have a grade point average of 3.50 or higher in graduate courses taken at O.S.U. In addition, the student's petition must be supported by favorable end-of-semester evaluations from at least three professors.