In order to receive a degree, all graduate students must pass the Comprehensive Exam. Two types of the Comprehensive Exam are offered: one for TESOL students, and another for M.A. Literature & Language and M.S. students.

Comprehensive Exams are administered annually, typically on the weekend following the return from Spring Break. Students in a full-time (two-year) program take the exam in their last semester of study. Early in the prior semester, students planning to take the exam must submit the form Notification of Intent to Take the Comprehensive Exam. Students who do not pass one or both parts of the exam are permitted one retake, which will occur during the ensuing fall term.

TESOL students do not take an exam-tutorial course. However, M.A. Literature & Language and M.S. students must pass E693: Exam Tutorial in the fall preceding the exam. These students are advised to form Comp Exam study groups during their first term and asked to attend a summer-study workshop during their second term. The Literature & Language Comprehensive Exam focuses on literary history, literary genres, and the analysis of prose and poetry. The Graduate Faculty is in the process of revising a reading list for this exam.