General Examination Procedure - Updated May 2, 2006

1. The general exam will be given once per year at the end of spring semester (May or June). Students will ordinarily take it at the end of spring semester of their second year. According to Graduate School policy, coursework must be substantially completed for a student to take the exam, but it need not be entirely completed. The student must have completed the three required Marketing doctoral seminars.

2. The exam will be a take-home exam consisting of three questions, one based on each of the required Marketing doctoral seminars (MKTG 6202, MKTG 6203, MKTG 6210). The student will have one week to complete the exam.

3. The questions will be written and graded by the instructor of the seminar (if available, a substitute Marketing doctoral faculty member if not), and at least one other member of the Marketing doctoral faculty.

4. Grades for each question will be A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, C, etc. Numerical point values will be assigned to each of these grades as in the Graduate Catalog (e.g., A+ = 4.3, A = 4.0, A- = 3.7,…, D = .1.0, F = 0).

5. The standards for passing the general exam are no failing grade (i.e., grade less than a C) on any question, and an overall average of 3.0 or better.

6. If the candidate does not pass the exam completely on the first attempt, he or she may retake one or more questions. The candidate will have the option of taking questions, at the discretion of the student’s committee, within three months of receipt of feedback on the original exam. All retaken questions will be different from the original questions.

7. If the candidate retakes one or more questions, the evaluation procedure will be the same as steps 3-4 above. The grade on any retaken question will be substituted for the grade on the original question for that seminar, and a new overall average of the question grades will be computed.

8. After grading of the retaken examination is completed, the standards set out in step 5 will be applied. If the candidate still does not meet these standards, no additional opportunities for taking the exam will be offered, and a recommendation will be made to dismiss the candidate from the doctoral program.

9. The student’s major advisor will be responsible for administering the exam and providing feedback to candidates. Feedback is expected to be provided within three weeks of the exam.