Southeast Asian Studies Written Comprehensive Examination Student Guidelines

The procedures for the written comprehensive exam are as follows:

1. All written comps in Southeast Asia Studies will be scheduled at one time each semester, normally during the seventh week of classes.
2. Each student wishing to take the written comprehensive examination must:
   1. Select a three-person faculty committee, including one chair and two additional faculty members, one from each of three academic disciplines in which the student will have taken “core” Southeast Asian courses. Ideally, all three should be Southeast Asia specialists, but exceptions can be made in consultation with the Director of Southeast Asian Studies. Once these faculty members have agreed to served on the committee, but no later than the end of the student’s second semester of study, the student must submit the Program Capstone Form to the Program Director.
   2. By the second week of the semester in which the exam will be taken, the student must submit the Notification of Intent Form to the Southeast Asian Studies Program Director listing the names of the three faculty members on the exam committee. The student will also submit a Comprehensive Exam Reading List Form which lists each faculty member along with assigned readings for each discipline covered on the exam.
   3. Appear at the designated time and place prepared to write the examination. A computer and blank diskette will be provided by the Southeast Asian Studies Program.
3. The examination committee members will prepare several essay questions designed to test the candidate’s understanding of disciplines studied. Essay questions, so far as possible, will be interdisciplinary in nature, addressing the interrelationships to be found among the disciplines selected for the program. The questions should be collected and collated by the Committee Chair and sent to the Assistant Program Director at least one week prior to the exam. The Assistant Director will have responsibility for administering the exam.
4. Students will be given eight hours for the total written comprehensive examination. During this time period, students will have two hours per section: one section for each discipline and one section which requires the student to synthesize material from all three disciplines. For each section, students usually are allowed to choose to answer one out of two questions. This formula, however, is at the discretion of the faculty members. In all cases, variations should be made clear to the students. Specific references and examples from sources listed on the Comprehensive Exam Reading List Form are encouraged.
5. To facilitate the grading process, each examination will be written on a computer in Yamada International House and copied to diskette. The answers will be sent to each faculty member by the Assistant Director. Each faculty member will read and evaluate his or her questions as well as the common synthetic question and submit the results on the form provided to the Assistant Director within one week of receiving the answers. The Assistant Director will then inform the Committee Chair, the Program Director, and Center’s Administrative Coordinator of the results of the exam. Finally, The Program Director will write a letter to the student conveying the exam results.
6. Three possible overall results may emerge from the exam:
   1. Pass — This result is obtained when answers to all three questions are judged to be satisfactory.
   2. Partial Pass — The student is required to take an oral examination or a follow-up written examination. The partial pass result occurs when one or more questions have not been satisfactorily answered. These portions of the exam will have to be retaken at a later time, to be determined by members of the examining committee. Only one re-examination permitted.
   3. Fail — This would be the result of having failed all disciplines examined. The student may retake the written exam only after he or she completes remedial work as determined by the examining faculty members. It can only be rewritten at the regularly scheduled time in a following term. Only one re-examination permitted.

Note: Comprehensive examinations are also governed by guidelines provided in the current Student Handbook.

August 2008