Comprehensive Examinations

Four comprehensive examinations are included in the program for the M.Div. and M.T.S. degrees. These include an oral examination in the general field of theology by a panel of the faculty and written examinations in (l) Bible Knowledge, (2) Hebrew, and (3) Greek. Please note that there are two alternative ways to fulfill the requirement regarding the Hebrew and Greek comprehensive examinations. Any student who has obtained the grade of B+ or better in Course 158, The Art of Hebrew Narrative, and/or Course 244, Intermediate Greek Reading of the New Testament, is exempted from taking the comprehensive in that specific language. A student who successfully completes a three-day intensive seminar focusing on an introduction to the essentials of biblical Hebrew and New Testament Greek for exegesis and the Libronix program is exempted from taking the comprehensives in Hebrew and Greek.

Two comprehensive examinations are included in the program for the M.A. degrees: an oral examination in the general field of theology and a written examination in Bible Knowledge. The dates for all comprehensive examinations are found in the academic calendar.

Oral Comprehensive

The oral comprehensive examination is a test of the student's competence in theological analysis, articulation, and judgment, and of his or her ability to reflect theologically on his or her practice of ministry. This involves also a testing of the student's knowledge of relevant biblical, theological, and historical data. In its comprehensive character it tests the student's ability to correlate the various courses both within departments and divisions and among them.

It may be noted that this examination is strictly academic in character and does not test the student's orthodoxy with a view to ministerial candidacy or similar ecclesiastical judgment. It is related to candidacy only indirectly as one of the requirements for the theological degree which candidacy presupposes.

The student is advised to concentrate throughout his/her seminary studies on essential information and major themes, and in reviewing courses prior to his or her oral examination to seek an overview and broad integration of all that he/she has learned. Those preparing for the examination are free to arrange through the vice president for academic affairs for a conference with representative faculty members in order to raise questions not covered in this statement. The evaluation of the examination is not by way of a grade but of pass-fail judgment. This is a corporate judgment of the faculty members conducting the examination. Their standards of judgment are similar to those they would use for grading a course examination.
Bible Knowledge Comprehensive

The primary purpose of the Bible Knowledge Comprehensive examination is to test the student's knowledge of some detailed and specific information about biblical texts, geography, backgrounds and persons. The examination is multiple choice, and tests a student's facility to work with biblical data.

A student may pass the Bible Knowledge examination in any year of his/her seminary program. It is given once during each year, in the fall, and an additional time in the winter and spring quarters for graduating students. During the fall offering, all new students and any students who have not yet sustained it must take the examination. Any student who does not attempt the examination whenever it is offered is counted as failing it that year unless he/she has been excused by the chairperson of the biblical division. Any student who has failed the examination may review his/her results by making special arrangements with the vice president for academic affairs.

Only in exceptional circumstances may more than one re-examination in Bible Knowledge be given to any student between the regularly scheduled examination in the year of his/her prospective graduation and the first of August thereafter.

Those for whom English is a second language may have more than the allotted 45 minutes for writing the Bible Knowledge Examination and their exam will be scheduled on the same day in the fall but at 3:30 p.m. so that more time will be available to them.
Hebrew and Greek Comprehensives
Separate written examinations of one and one-half hours each are given in biblical Hebrew and New Testament Greek. No lexicons are permitted for these examinations. For Hebrew all words which occur 50 times and more are required vocabulary. For Greek, all words occurring fifteen or more times are required.
M.A. Oral Comprehensives

Oral comprehensive examinations for M.A. students normally will be scheduled on selected afternoons during the month of March.

M.A. students will be scheduled for the oral comprehensive examination when they are enrolled in the final core courses of the program and are eligible to graduate in May of the year in which the oral comprehensive is taken.

The oral comprehensive is a test of the student’s competence in theological analysis, articulation, and judgment, and of his or her ability to reflect theologically on his or her practice of ministry. This involves also a testing of the student's knowledge of relevant biblical, theological, and historical data. In its comprehensive character, it tests the student’s ability to correlate the various courses both within departments and divisions and among them. The faculty panel will normally consist of at least two faculty members who regularly teach in the specialized M.A. program in which the student is enrolled, with at least two other members of the faculty participating, while maintaining a reasonable balance of faculty personnel among the divisions. Students who do not sustain this March examination may request the vice president for academic affairs for a re-take in May.
Special Rules for Comprehensives
1. Any exception under the foregoing rules may be granted only by the admissions and standards committee and that only for weighty reasons presented by the student concerned in person before the entire committee. Students no longer in residence may present their requests in writing to the vice president for academic affairs. A fee of $75.00 is required for any comprehensive examination arranged off-campus or outside of the calendar schedule.
  (Administrative Committee Minute #1737, 07/27/99)
2. It is the responsibility of the admissions and standards committee to determine whether a student who has not sustained one or more of the examinations referred to above may be permitted to participate in commencement exercises. This determination will be made in the light of the student's entire academic position at that time.
3. Those students who wish to retake a Bible Knowledge or Hebrew or Greek Comprehensive examination before the regularly scheduled times must adhere to the following regulations:
  - Those who score 60-70% on a language comprehensive or 95-109 on the Bible Knowledge Comprehensive must wait two weeks before retaking it.
  - Those who score 50-60% on a language comprehensive or 80-94 on the Bible Knowledge Comprehensive must wait one month before retaking it.
  - Those who score under 50% on a language comprehensive or under 80 on the Bible Knowledge Comprehensive must wait until the next regularly scheduled time to retake it. For those who are candidates (as well as graduating students) an additional examination time will be added during the week of registration in the fall.
  (Faculty Minutes # 6849, 10/4/02; # 6879, 12/6/02)