Comprehensive Examination Preparation

When you are ready to take the comprehensive examination, you must complete your 33 units of coursework prior to or concurrent with taking the examination.

Preparation for the examination should be thought of as a two-semester effort. Please inform the program directors of your intention one full semester in advance of the semester in which you intend to sit for the examination.

You will be asked to attend at least two preparatory meeting so that you can become thoroughly conversant with the examination preparation process and so that you can take initial steps of selecting your chosen sub-fields, composing your reading lists, and beginning your studies.

You should register for the examination at the beginning of the semester that you propose to take the examination. At least two meetings are held with the group of students who are preparing for the examination.

For on-campus students, the first is held on the second or third Saturday morning of the semester. This is an orientation meeting in which we get acquainted with each other, indicate which subfields each student has selected to be examined on, and thoroughly discuss the examination process and expectations. The second meeting is held on a Saturday morning about a month and a half prior to the examination date. This is a substantive discussion of each sub-field that students have chosen to be examined on. Students discuss their progress and the issues they have so far concentrated on.

For off-campus students, meetings will be held on the regularly scheduled meeting nights of your class.

Out of these discussions comes a clearer understanding of the polar issues in each sub-field and a clarification of how each student can best spend his or her efforts in the time remaining.

A sense of confidence and direction should be the result of this extensive review, and a general integration and coordination should emerge among the students within each sub-field.

Every student is examined on General Public Administration. Two additional fields will be selected from the following:

• Organization Theory and Behavior
• Public Sector Human Resources Management
• Public Sector Budgeting and Financial Administration
• Public Policy and Policy Analysis
• Intergovernmental Relations
• Implementation and Program Review
• Administrative Law

Each student will receive Comprehensive Exam Study Questions to serve as a basis for exam preparation. These are drawn from questions that have been used on the exam in previous semesters and illustrate major issues or themes in each of the fields.

You should familiarize yourself with the central significance of each of the questions and focus on several of the questions for your in-depth preparation. It is very helpful to be in touch with other students who are sharing particular fields for coordinating study materials and insights. Study group sessions can be very worthwhile.

In developing your reading lists, the books used in related MPA seminars will serve as a starting point but are not sufficient by themselves. You should develop a diverse list of books and articles that offer a rounded perspective on the field. No specific number is required, but perhaps one dozen items could be considered an average for the reading list for each of the three fields.

You should be fully acquainted with a few books, while others may be helpful in more limited ways and will not be studied thoroughly. Be familiar with the leading scholars in the field and familiarize yourself with their distinctive contributions. Citations and bibliographies in your course texts will lead you to most of these important sources.

Our MPA library is an easy source of some of the main books, but expect to do some borrowing from the University Library as well.

While the questions provided in the Comprehensive Exam Study Questions handout provide a basis for your studying, you are invited to formulate your own questions. In developing proposed questions, you will identify some of the major themes or issues in the field as a way of defining and understanding that field. Your questions should be clear and definite, but broad enough to support a two-hour essay that can show your grasp of the field.

You are permitted to bring two things to the examination:

1. Your three reading lists, each on a separate piece of paper.

2. A one-page outline of each of the three fields on three separate pieces of paper.

These may be consulted when you are composing your examination essays and will be attached to your essays at the completion of the exam.