Biological and Environmental Sciences

Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam

BES Guidelines

Note that the official URI Graduate School Manual guidelines for Comprehensive Exams are appended to the end of this document. In short, the following BES Guidelines adhere to the Graduate School Manual guidelines, but are more appropriate for our BES program.

When to complete: As specified by the URI Graduate School, “each doctoral student shall take comprehensive examinations at or near, but no later than twelve months after, completion of the formal courses stipulated in the Program of Study”.

Purpose of the exam: The goal of the BES Comprehensive Exam is to ensure that each doctoral student understands the broadest context of their chosen field of research as well as demonstrates an adequate depth of knowledge. The Exam consists of a written and then oral exam (see below).

Preparing for the exam: Students are encouraged to meet with each faculty member (individually or as the full committee) at least two months prior to the written exam to discuss the scope and format of the written and oral exams, and to determine the schedule for these exams. It is helpful for the student and committee faculty if BOTH the written and oral exam schedule is confirmed at the same time given that the oral exam must be completed within four weeks of successful completion of the written exam. The URI Graduate School does not require any forms to be completed prior to the exams.

Format of the written and oral parts of the exam: The PhD Comprehensive Exam consists of a written exam (at least eight hours in duration) followed by an oral exam (usually two hours in duration) that takes place within four weeks of the written exam. The written exam is administered by the student’s Doctoral Committee (i.e., major professor and two other graduate faculty), whereas the oral exam is administered by the student’s Doctoral Committee plus one other faculty members (see the “BES Committee Composition Cartoon” on the BES website for the affiliations of each faculty on these committees).

The scope and format of the written exam is determined by the student in consultation with their Doctoral Committee. The scope and format of the written exam has usually been one of the following:

a series of written questions posed by each of the three members of the Doctoral
Committee. The questions might involve writing a review of a manuscript(s) and/or grant proposal(s), a critical review of a research topic(s), or explaining a key concept. The student is given some time limit to complete their written answers to the questions (must be a minimum of 8 hrs total, and usually no more than 24 hrs per set of questions from each of the three faculty). The student is informed about whether they may or may not be allowed access to reference material while answering the written exam questions.
a written research proposal on a topic not directly related to the student’s dissertation
proposal. The total number of pages for the text & figures (excluding the literature cited) does not exceed 12 pages. (This is the usual scope and format of the written comprehensive exam for PhD students in the CMB specialization.)

The student submits the completed written exam to the major professor. The student’s answers to the written exam questions are reviewed by the student’s Doctoral Committee and the Committee determines whether the student has passed or failed the written exam. Note that this determination of pass/fail for the written exam is usually done within one week to ensure adequate time for any preparations for the oral exam (which must be taken within four weeks of the written exam). The student’s major professor must then complete the “Results of a Doctoral Comprehensive Exam” form (available on AirSlate via the URI Graduate School’s GradForms site – select the “Faculty Forms” tab). Note that this same form is used to also report the results of the oral exam.

The scope and format of the oral exam – the scope and format of the oral exam is determined by the student in consultation with their Doctoral Committee and the two other faculty members on the oral exam committee. The oral exam is usually two hours in duration for BES PhD students. A portion of the oral exam usually consists of follow-up questions from the Doctoral Committee concerning the student’s written exam as well as additional questions, and questions from the one additional committee member not involved in the written exam.

After the completion of the oral exam, the committee determines whether the student has passed/failed the oral exam. The student’s major professor must then complete the “Results of a Doctoral Comprehensive Exam” form (available on AirSlate via the URI Graduate School’s GradForms site – select the “Faculty Forms” tab). Note that this same form was used to report the results of the written exam. However, faculty need to remember to add the additional (fourth) committee member’s email to the first page of this form so that all committee members involved in the oral exam are included in the online signature process.

Updated February 2022