Final Comprehensive Examination
Each academic unit granting degrees requiring a final, comprehensive examination determines the content of the examination. Such examinations may be written or oral or both. A faculty committee shall represent the academic unit granting the degree in preparing the questions, administering the examination, and scoring the results. Through the comprehensive examination, the faculty provides an opportunity for the master's degree candidate to demonstrate analytic ability and knowledge of the discipline. Students may not enroll for courses in preparation for the comprehensive examination or take the comprehensive examination unless they have been advanced to candidacy for the master's degree or unless advancement to candidacy will occur in the semester in which the enrollment takes place.
An academic unit granting the degree may allow a candidate who has failed the final, comprehensive examination to take it a second time, and the student should contact the departmental graduate advisor for specific procedures for the second attempt. In order for CSULB to award a candidate the master's degree for a particular semester, the department must report the results of the comprehensive examination to Enrollment Services prior to the end of that semester.
