Overview and Purpose

The comprehensive exam serves as a capstone for the MPA program, allowing students to demonstrate expertise of subject material through three comprehensive essays and culminating in an oral defense.  

Written exam expectations include a literature review, links to Universal Competencies, research, and application. The comprehensive exam is completed during the student’s final semester in the program.  

In the semester before their graduating semester, the student is responsible for identifying three faculty members who will serve as their Comprehensive Exam Committee, one of whom will be designated as the committee chair. Each committee member will assign the student a Comprehensive Exam question, informed by the universal competencies but may focus the questions in ways that assess knowledge of core courses chosen by the student. Each written exam should: be answered in a minimum of 8-10 pages, include a literature review, links to the universal competencies, thorough research, answer the given question comprehensively and in its entirety, and adhere to the written exam guidelines. Once the written exams have been completed and approved, the student will complete an oral exam. The Non-Thesis / Comprehensive Exam Track does not require specific courses, instead students must take additional electives. 

Setting Up the Committee

The student is responsible for identifying three faculty members willing to serve on the committee during the semester prior to their graduating semester. *

*Students planning to graduate in the summer semester are encouraged to take the comprehensive exam in the spring semester due to faculty availability and the fact that the summer semester is shorter than the spring or fall semesters.

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  • Since students will be tested on courses offered as part of the PA core (PA 5300, PA 5310, PA 5320, PA 5330, PA 5340, PA 5350, PA 5370, and PA 5390) the committee should be comprised of three faculty members who teach these core courses. Additionally, the student must designate one of the faculty members as the committee chair. The chair is the member responsible for coordinating with the PA director and the rest of the committee. Faculty members are free to decline serving on a committee and/or as the committee chair.  

  • Once a student has determined who will serve on their committee, they need to email the MPA Administrative Assistant, Allison Hopson, at agh72@txstate.edu. The administrative assistant will then send a Scheduling Form to the student, faculty members, and Program Director for signature. This form finalizes the student’s committee.  

    It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that their committee has been finalized and that the documentation is completed.  

    To see the deadline for finalizing your committee, please see the Important Deadlines list below. 

  • If a student wishes to change the composition of their committee for any reason, the student must inform the following individuals: the MPA program director, the MPA administrative assistant, faculty committee members who had agreed to serve on the committee prior to this request for change and the new committee member(s).  

    Change requests must be made in the first week of the semester when the student is completing their exams. 

    Following any changes, the student and committee must also complete a new Scheduling Form from the administrative assistant. 

  • Once the committee is formed, the chair will call a meeting and an exam comprised of three questions will be developed. Faculty members who agree to committee service will discuss with the student the general areas that the student should prepare for the exam. Faculty must write questions informed by the universal competencies but may focus on the questions in ways that assess knowledge of core courses chosen by the student. Each committee member agrees to write and grade one of the three questions. Example Questions.  

    Following the committee’s deliberation, the committee chair will communicate with the student to discuss the process and subject areas for which the student should prepare.  

    See Comprehensive Exam example questions here.

  • The Non-Thesis / Comprehensive Exam Track does not require specific courses; instead, students must take additional electives. 

    If a student has completed all coursework but has not yet passed the comprehensive exam, the student must still be enrolled in at least 1 credit hour. The Graduate College has developed GC 5100: Comprehensive Exam Contingency to serve as that credit hour so long as the student is not enrolled in any other courses. It is ungraded and does not contribute to the degree. To register for this course, students must reach out to the MPA program director for approval. 

     

The Process

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  • At the start of the semester in which the student will be completing their comprehensive exam, it is the student's responsibility to maintain contact with their committee members and be aware of important dates and deadlines. 

  • The week the students receive their exam questions, they should schedule meetings to meet with each of their committee members to discuss expectations moving forward. 

  • Students should submit their written responses six weeks after receiving their questions, no later than 5:00 pm on the designated day. The student should email each faculty member individually with the completed written response, copying their committee chair.  

    Following this submission, the committee members have two weeks to review the responses and provide any feedback.  

  • If a written response is considered inadequate, students are given one week to complete any revisions to their written responses. 

  • Once all three of the students' written responses are approved, the committee will move forward with scheduling the oral exam. It is the responsibility of the committee chair to schedule the oral exam. * 

  • The oral exam is a 60–90-minute defense of the student’s written exams. The committee members and an external reviewer will probe areas addressed by the written examination and by course content related to the field and ascertain whether the student clearly demonstrated competency. 

  • Following the oral exam, the committee members will determine the student’s results (high pass, pass, low pass, or fail) **

  • Following the oral exam and deliberation, the committee chair will inform the student, MPA program director, and the administrative assistant of the results. The administrative assistant will complete the necessary paperwork and submit it to the Graduate College. The student will receive an email confirmation once the paperwork has been approved. 

    Lastly, the administrative assistant will request that the student complete an MPA exit survey. 

*If a committee member assigns a fail to a revised response, or if the committee determines that the student fails the oral exam, the student must retake the exam the following semester. In the subsequent semester, when the student retakes the exam, the student is responsible for assembling a new committee to formulate a new set of questions. The student has one additional chance to successfully complete the exam.   

** If the committee members and external reviewer conclude that the student has not passed the oral exam, the student must retake the oral exam during the same semester it was first administered. If the committee determines that the student has failed the second time, the student has one additional chance to successfully complete the oral exam in a subsequent semester. 

Written Exam Guidelines

The comprehensive exam is comprised of a take-home three-question written exam followed by an oral examination. All three questions will be distributed at the same time, and the student has 6 weeks to complete the responses to all three questions. The written response should include:

-a literature review
-links to the Universal Competencies
-research
-application

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  • Students should submit their written responses 6 weeks after receiving their questions, no later than 5:00 pm on the designated day. The student should email each faculty member individually with the completed written response, copying their committee chair.  
    Late submissions will not be accepted under any circumstances. It is the student’s responsibility to ensure that the completed responses reach the committee no later than the day designated by the program director. 

  • The written exam must:  

    • Be 8-10 pages, not including citations (figures and charts may be provided as appendices and not as part of the 8-10 page written response)
    • Be double-spaced, with 12-point font, and 1-inch margins 
    • Have the exam question in its entirety on top of each paper/answer before submission 
    • Provide citations to appropriate scholarly literature, data, and other evidence (students should consult with the chair of the committee for citation style) 
    • Include a brief literature review with a minimum of ten unique citations 

  • Student responses will be run through plagiarism detection software provided by Turnitin. The student is held to the university honor code and plagiarism will result in an automatic failing grade on the exam question.  

    Code of Student Conduct 

    The Honor Code 

Oral Exam Guidelines

Once all the written questions have been passed, the student can proceed to the oral exam. An oral exam acts essentially but not exclusively as a defense of the student’s written responses and lasts anywhere between 60 to 90 minutes.

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  • It is the responsibility of the committee chair to schedule the oral exam and designate a practitioner (an MPA Alum). Each student will have a practitioner review their written material and attend their oral exam.

  • In the oral examination, the committee members and external reviewer will probe areas addressed by the written examination and by course content related to the field and ascertain whether the student clearly demonstrated competency. 

    After the committee members and external reviewer have conducted the oral examination and have ascertained that the student demonstrated competency in the areas addressed by the written examination, the committee members will inform the student, MPA program director, and administrative assistant.  

    If the committee members and external reviewer conclude that the student has not passed the oral exam, the student must retake the oral exam during the same semester it was first administered.

Post-Exam Requirements

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  • Students are requested to complete the MPA Exit survey to share their thoughts on the program, offer recommendations, and provide non-Texas State contact info. 

  • The chair of the committee will ensure that the Graduate College Non-Thesis paperwork is completed and submitted to the MPA administrative assistant no later than one day following the oral exam. 

    Faculty must complete the assessment forms for the administrative assistant no later than one week following the oral exam via Adobe Sign. 

Deadlines and Important Dates

Requirement
Fall 2025
Spring 2026
Summer 2026
Student must have Committee Members finalized (email admin assistant your committee list at agh72@txstate.edu)
April 21, 2025
November 10, 2025
Last say to notify any changes to committee members.
September 2
January 20, 2026
Comprehensive Exam questions distributed to Student.
September 8
February 9
Student meets with committee members to discuss expectations.
Week of September 8
Week of February 9
Student must submit completed written comps to the committee for review.
8:00 am, October 20
8:00 am, March 23
Faculty must complete and return evaluation of written comps to ensure students can do revisions
* if a student fails, committee members must provide a written explanation and students can submit
revisions.
November 3
April 6
Student’s revisions to written exam due (if applicable).
November 10
April 13
Ideal time to schedule oral exam.
November 10-24
April 13-27
Paperwork due to the Political Science Department.
December 5
May 5