MA Exam Advice
ADVICE ON TAKING THE ESL MA COMPREHENSIVE EXAM
When it is offered. The exam is offered always once each Fall and Spring. It is not offered in the Summer.
When to take the MA exam. It is usually best to take the MA comps as soon as you have completed all of the required courses. You may take it earlier, in fact, any semester you want to, but those who take the exam earlier run a higher risk of first-time failure. On the other hand it is not good to wait too long after your required course work to take the comps; take the exam while the concepts introduced in your courses are still fresh in your mind.
Where and when to sign up for it. You can take the exam any time it is offered, but each semester there is a deadline for signing up to take it that semester. This deadline is usually a week or two before the test. Check with Graduate Studies in English office for exam and sign-up dates.
How to prepare for it. Thoroughly review notes and texts from your courses. If in reviewing you realize that there are areas and ideas that you feel you only vaguely understand or need more help on, feel free to drop in on the relevant faculty member during office hours to discuss the problem. Practice writing hour-long essays. The Graduate Studies in English office has copies of previous exams that you may check out and copy to use in preparing practice exams.
What do graders look for in a passing MA exam. The single most common problem with a failing essay is that it fails to address the given question. If this seems obvious, it should. Nevertheless, many long, excellent essays have failed simply because they did not address any question on the test. It does not matter how good an answer is; if it does not directly answer a question on the test, it is a sure failure. In addition, graders look for a full answer; an answer that is too short will probably not fully answer the question and will fail. The essay must be well organized and show fluent command of written English. Relevant examples and integration of concepts from various courses are highly valued by graders. You must keep in mind that you are showing the graders that you completely understand. This is a Master's degree exam; show that you have mastered the topic.
The results. There are four possible results: Pass with Distinction, Pass, Conditionally Pass, and Fail. To pass with distinction you must have an overall average of at least 90 and score at least 90 on two of the areas. Conditional passes are very rare and are typically given to a student who fails the exam on the third try due to failure of a section passed on the first and second tries. A conditional pass usually requires additional course work.
What if you fail. Failure is, of course, something to be avoided but nothing to be ashamed of. A lot of students fail on the first try; some fail on the second try; very few fail on a third try. According to the rules of Graduate Studies in English you get two tries, no questions asked. You may appeal for a third try; no third try appeal has ever been denied. If you fail, the most important thing for you to do is to find out why you failed so that you do not repeat your mistakes on your next try. You should immediately, while still feeling the sting of failure, see the Linguistics/ESL advisor. You will be directed to the relevant graders who will go over your exam with you in detail explaining why your essay failed and what you should do to better your chance for success on your next try. Do not take the exam a second time until you have talked in detail to the Linguistics/ESL faculty about your first try.