Demystifying the Oral

Comprehensive Exam

April 8, 2015

Context Offered Fall, Winter, Spring.

Must be registered for 1cr at time of exam (“test prep” credit or a course)

Exams must be complete by the 8th week of the graduating term (date will be provided)

You schedule the exam with your team; don’t wait! Exam provided Monday-Friday. You need a 3hr interval with Chair and the second two hours with the balance of the committee.

You will reserve a small classroom; contact SCH

If you are planning on a November exam, please note dates of APHA and AGA conferences.

An email soliciting exam takers for a given term will go out over the SCHgraduates listserv. You must respond to this email to be assigned a team.

Exam may be taken twice, a minimum of one term apart, generally with the same committee.

Format

Three hours, total, including: 1 hour prep time with questions

provided by Chair, to collect your thoughts

1.5 hours with committee .5 hour committee discussion and

results

3-5 Competency-based questions, plus additional queries based on responses

Panel of three SCH faculty, generally Chaired by your advisor.

Teams determined by Track Coordinator

Where do these questions come from?

Question bank developed by Health Promotion track faculty

Span the breadth of HP competencies (on website, in handbooks, on syllabi – do review)

The questions you are asked will represent that breadth

Some questions have more components than others, hence the range of 3-5

The exam Chair selects the questions for your exam

The BIG Question:

Can a team of three faculty determine that you are

able to appropriately synthesize and apply the concepts and skills learned

while in this program to a variety of real world

scenarios?

DRAFT 040215

Or….Can we observe that you are thinking like a public health

professional?

Getting There

Within Courses History and Evolution of Topics

Context

Concepts

Skills & Applications

Definitions

Formulae

Rationale

Benefits & Liabilities

Concerns & Approaches to Limit Them

Etc. -- You learned it, please know it and how to use it

Among Courses Appropriately bring concepts

and skills together: outside of their class silos in a coherent plan of action for a specific population,

problem, and context

Be able to identify and assess the benefits and liabilities of varied approaches

Determine what can be done to mitigate concerns, and understand what the implications are if you can’t …then determine the best

course of action

In Other “Words”:

Class A• xxx• xxx• xxx

Class B• xxx• xxx• xxx

Class C• xxx• xxx• xxx

Class D• xxx• xxx• xxx

One Potential Study Model

Health Problem/Disease

Population

Setting

Problem Statement

Theory

Methods

Design

Measurement

Evaluation

Communication

Policy Implications

Other Implications

Ethical Considerations

Assuring Cultural Competence

Benefits/Liabilities

What else needs to be done to assure the best plan? Practice by changing one of the three

top elements at a time, and “flip” all the subsequent variables accordingly.

Final tips

Do be prepared to speak to a number of contexts; Don’t be completely wedded to one model or plan!

Recognize that all skills and topics have bearing on one another, and be prepared to reason through those impacts.

Do feel free to ask for clarification, explain your thinking as it evolves, and present coherent possibilities.

Do practice giving your answers out loud: much of your professional life will be spent representing your ideas verbally, which is why we emphasize this skill in our program and in our exam. Speak with confidence!

Do prepare with a study group and practice asking one another questions that synthesize and apply material from throughout the program.

Questions?