At The University of Texas Pan American, we had 3 sets of exams, no
books/notes were allowed except for one research methods article critique
question. The exams were a week apart, approximately 5 hours, with Research
Methods on Friday, International Business on Saturday, and the concentration
area (Management, Marketing, Finance, Accounting, Economics) the following
Saturday. The questions were submitted to the student's committee by the
graduate faculty, and the committee decided on which questions to include,
although the Research Methods section was pretty much uniform with slight
variations between students concentrating in Management/Marketing and
Economics/Finance. There was an expectation that all the questions would
come from the courses the students took, but there was no guarantee, as it
was in my case: I had a few questions which were not discussed in any of the
courses I took. We were expected to have an understanding of the literature
in each of the three areas, whether we enrolled in the specific course or
not.
The exam format was modified a couple of years ago. Now the Research Methods
exam is taken when the students complete the required Research
Methods/Multivariate Stats courses - which I think is better because it
serves as a preliminary comps and the knowledge is still fresh.
I hope this helps.
Karen,
No matter how silly you think the idea of "comps" is, please remember that
it is also a rite of passage... After all, how silly do you think is the
academic regalia? :) We are all a little silly in that sense that we all
play the Glass Bead Game...
Sincerely,
H. Ulas Ograk
Assistant Professor of Management
The University of Louisiana at Monroe
700 University Avenue
Monroe, LA 71203
(318) 342 1201 - office
(318) 342 1101 - fax
ograk@ulm.edu
-----Original Message-----
From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv
[mailto:
OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu] On Behalf Of Karen Moustafa
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 1:14 AM
To:
OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
Subject: Comprehensive exam format
The Univ of Memphis, where I graduated recently, has a similar exam format
for the Major concentration: Three days with 6 questions each day (where
you pick 3) -- five hours each day. The first day consists of the core
courses for all Ph.D. students, the second day is OB, and the third day is
HR.
I think the system is silly. It would be much more sensible to have to
write a comprehensive paper for publication than exam.
As I told the professors, if I made an A in the class, then why do I then
have to prove that I made an A in the class again? If I don't pass a part
of the exam, is that a reflection of my lack of interest in a particular
part of OB/HR or is it a lack of training by the professors who were
teaching me?
Since the teachers were excellent, I think it would have been more an
evidence of a lack of interest in a particular area of the OB/HR program.
However, I passed, but the stress and illogic of the situation still
irritate me, as you can tell.
I encourage all those considering revampting the comprehensive exam to
consider alternative methods which make logical sense rather than subjecting
the student to such an exam.
By the way, as you can imagine, the thoughts I express are my own, and not
those of the Univ of Memphis! : )
Regards,
Karen
Karen Moustafa Leonard, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Management
Doermer School of Business & Management Sciences
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, IN 46805-1499
Phone: 260-481-6491 or cell 260-417-8692
Fax 260-481-6879
Email:
moustafk@ipfw.edu
________________________________
"If we keep doing what we're doing, we're going to keep getting what we're
getting." - Stephen R. Covey