All MPA students must successfully complete a comprehensive examination as a part of their degree requirements. The examination may be taken in the semester in which the student completes all course work (with the possible exception of the graduate school research tool, alternate plan paper or thesis) or in any subsequent semester. The student's examining committee must approve any exceptions. The examination will consist of two questions coming from either the core courses in the program or from a case study (at the discretion of the MPA faculty member evaluating exams) and one question from the student's track (American Administration or International Administration). Students who take a majority of their coursework via Extended Learning may obtain permission from the examining faculty to substitute the track question for an additional MPA question. The written examination may or may not be followed by an oral examination. The choice to follow up with an oral examination is at the discretion of the student's examining committee. Students should note the following steps and details about the process.
1. Students must file a comprehensive exam registration form with the Department Office Manager to be eligible to take the comprehensive examination before the end of the third full week of the semester. This form includes the student's address, telephone number, email, MPA track (American Administration or International Administration), and student's faculty advisor's name. Students must also have a completed plan of study form on file with the department to be eligible to take the comprehensive exam. Questions about registering for the comprehensive exams can be directed to the Department Office Manager Patricia Davis, telephone: 507-389-2721, e-mail: patricia.davis@mnsu.edu.
2. The comprehensive examination will be administered during fall and spring semester of each academic year. For each semester the examination is given, students are to receive the examination questions at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday of the fifth week of instruction with answers to examination questions being returned by the student to the Department of Political Science Office Manager by 4:00 pm that same day. If the examining committee requires an oral defense, the student will be notified of the time/date of the oral defense.
3. Prior to the comprehensive examination, students will be mailed confirmation of their acceptance into the examination process and a confirmation of the time and place of the examination.
4. The student's written examination may not exceed 20 pages. The finished product must follow a standard and acceptable style manual format (e.g. APA, APSA, Chicago), be double-spaced, with standard margins and fonts (no exotic fonts), proper annotation, and in-text citations that clearly identify the source (e.g. author, title), however no formal bibliography is required. Students are to return two copies of the examination in sealed envelopes to the Department of Political Science Office Manager by the designated time.
5. Each student must submit their own individual exam. Students may utilize and access outside materials during the examination. The final product must be comprehensive and address the given questions. A successful written examination will be clear, concise and will illustrate the student's familiarity with the relevant literature and theories.
6. Each student examination will be administered by two department faculty. Of these two, one of the faculty members will be an MPA program faculty member, who will be scoring the two MPA-related questions on the exam. MPA faculty members administer comprehensive exams on a rotating basis, and are responsible for scoring the first two questions on the exam. The second faculty member will be a faculty member who teaches in the student's track (American Administration or International Administration), and this second faculty member will score the one question relating to student's track. Students will be given a set of several possible questions related to their track (American Administration or International Administration), of which they will be given the option to choose only one question from the possible list of questions to answer. The faculty member who authored the track question the student chooses to answer will score the student's answer on that question. Faculty comments on individual examinations are available on request.
7. Scoring of exam questions will be conducted using a point system. Each of the two MPA-related questions are worth 33 points, for a total of 66 points possible for the MPA section of the exam. The track question will be worth 34 points, making a total of 100 points possible for the comprehensive exam as a whole. Total scores below 80 points results in an automatic failure on the comprehensive exam. Students scoring between 80-84 points on the comprehensive exam will require an oral examination. Students scoring more than 84 points may be subject to an oral examination at the discretion of the examining faculty members.
8. Students will be notified of the results of the written part of the examination by mail, usually within three weeks of the final exam date. If the examining committee requires an oral examination, the student will be notified by mail with the date/time of the oral exam. Oral exam format is determined by the examining committee. A mark of "fail" ends the MPA student's comprehensive examination process for that semester.
9. Students who fail the examination may retake the entire comprehensive examination once. After the first fail, the student may be advised to take additional course work and other advice might be given. Failure to successfully pass the examination the second time will result in dismissal from the MPA program.
10. Collaboration with other students on any of the track questions of the comprehensive exam is strictly prohibited. Collaboration on the MPA questions is strictly prohibited unless specifically granted by the MPA program faculty member who is evaluating the examination. Violation of any of these policies by the student, including plagiarism of any kind or form, will not be tolerated. Penalties may include automatically failing the comprehensive examination, removal from the program, and/or university disciplinary action.
