As mentioned in previous posts, the doctoral Comprehensive Examination is one of the most significant and most stressful of milestones that the PhD learner must pass. In traditional brick-and-mortar schools, the CE might take the form of an oral and a written form, and might be administered over several hours in the course of a day. However, students in online schools must take the exam online, and usually have a certain number of days to complete the exam. At my former school, students are allowed 28 consecutive days to answer three questions that are rooted in theory, practical application, and research methodology as they relate to one’s discipline, field of study, and dissertation topic. Additionally, students must cram an inordinate amount of information in a small number of pages. Complexity, Succinctness, and Parsimony Even in my undergraduate studies, most of my class papers exceeded 25 pages; however, at my former school, students are allowed approximately 17 pages to answer three CE questions that require very detailed, focused, and comprehensive responses. Masked in deceptive cloaks of simplicity, these are actually very complex questions, and demand the application of the higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy of critical thinking. Did I mention that the failure rate on the first attempt of this exam is very high? Failure to apply the Bloom’s levels of critical thinking at the analysis, evaluation, and synthesis planes of the taxonomy is a major reason why so many doctoral students fail on their first attempt at the CE. Failing the Comprehensive Exam (CE) I have come across online discussions about the CE that claim the failure rate is as high as 60% or more. At one of my colloquia, off the record discussions with professors seemed to confirm this statistic; however, I was told that the pass rate was approximately 70% on the re-write. Failure at this juncture is an option that nobody wants to contemplate because, at best, to fail on any or all of the three questions on the first attempt means going through another stressful attempt to rewrite the exam. Some schools allow students two attempts at this exam; failure on the first attempt means that you get to rewrite the entire exam (or the specific papers that did not pass) within a certain number of days. While the pass rate on the second attempt is fairly high, failure on the second attempt means having to enroll in writing or research classes before you are allowed a second attempt, which also comes with one re-write, in the event of failure again. The bad thing about having to go through a second attempt after failing the re-write on the first attempt and having to take extra classes is this: your questions on the second attempt are totally new, and your chances of failure are re-set at the 60% or more rate! Additionally, there are no more attempts once you fail this second attempt – you are discharged from the program, and given a Master’s degree. You can appeal this decision; however, few successfully get a third attempt at the CE. So, apart from the added stress of retaking the CE, add the financial cost: another class = approx. $4,000; the cost of the second retry = $4,000. Total additional costs to your degree = approx. $8,000). Although strictly prohibited, is it any wonder that some students pay as much as $2,000 or more for professional help to pass the CE? Cloaked in Mystery, Imbued with Stress Shrouded in mystery and dire warnings against seeking any kind of help or communicating with other students about the exam while taking the CE, even the best students can cave under the pressure and the weight of the consequences of failure. Many doctoral students with a 4.0 GPA have failed the CE; so, passing this exam is not about your GPA. That knowledge alone can significantly add to one’s stress levels because doctoral students are high achievers who tend to take pride in their GPA (even though I have come across advisors who say that once you have earned your degree, GPA does not matter). So, given the threats of being thrown out of the program if you seek help, or if you discuss or share your questions with anyone – what’s a student to do? “Just Answer the Question” As students move closer to the CE, they start to become more focused on how to form strategies to pass. In fear and anticipation, they often ask others who successfully passed that milestone for advice; one of the most useless pieces of advice that I was offered was “just answer the question”. Well, duh! If PhD students just answered the question, there would be a 100% pass rate, right? After all, we are dealing with doctoral students who are well versed in just answering the question – else they would not be at this critical juncture! So, there must be more to this than meets the eye. Dissecting the Questions: Practical Approaches to Passing the CE In order to “just answer the question”, students must first understand that the CE questions seem deceptively simple; however, they are not simple – hence, the high failure rate. I will discuss in more detail my strategies for passing the CE in upcoming posts; these involve: = Studying the examples of the CE questions that are given in the Comprehensive Examination Manual Guide (CEMG); every college has one, and example questions are designed to reflect quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methodologies. = Breaking down each question into its elemental parts, and discerning what questions and requirements are inferred, rather than explicitly stated. = Studying sample CE papers. Some professors share examples of successful CE papers; hallelujah! (If you have been lucky enough to come across the rare professor who does this!). In this case, for each of the three papers, study the questions carefully. In relation to a particular question, examine each paragraph that addresses that question carefully, and keep referring back to the question to discern which part of the question was being addressed in the sample paper. If you have no sample paper to guide you, these are the important guidelines that you must keep in mind as you begin to write your paper; these guidelines stress the following: • Content and focus • Analysis and critical thinking • Structure and flow • Logic • Writing style • Grammar/Usage/Mechanics (GUM) • Rhetoric/scholarly tone • In-text citations and References • Plagiarism In the next post, Passing the Comprehensive Exams #2, I will  discuss each of these issues as I build a practical guide for passing your CE on the first attempt. If you find these tips useful, please share the site with your peers. Dr. Ruth