1. Purpose
    1. Provide an opportunity for the student to demonstrate competence in professional activities related to clinical neuropsychology. The primary focus is on scientific competence but an emphasis is also placed on clinical competence.
    2. The examination provides an opportunity to probe for knowledge and skills in broader areas within the field of neuropsychology but the student is also provided with an opportunity to utilize his/her expertise in areas of specific interest.
    3. The agreed-upon procedure is based on the concept that the comprehensive examination should assess important skills that are relevant to future professional activities. The student is given an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge in a wide variety of areas, taking into consideration the opportunities for learning that they have experienced through the JDP. These include the Neuropsychology Proseminar, the Medical Neurology/Mind Brain & Behavior sequence, and their own clinical and research experiences.
  2. Content and Format
    1. The Neuropsychology Comprehensive Examination is conducted as a written examination.
    2. Students are provided with a reading list for the exam. This list includes all the materials from the Neuropsychology Proseminar as well as a set of additional materials recommended by the Neuropsychology faculty members.
    3. Potential questions for the exam are submitted by a variety of Neuropsychology area faculty members to the Chair of the Neuropsychology Comprehensive Examination. The Chair selects 7-10 questions to be included on the exam.
    4. Students are typically instructed that they are to answer four questions for the exam.
    5. A faculty member may include a lengthier question for the exam and request that completion of that question count for two questions. If a student selects this question, the student will need to complete two additional questions.
  3. Examination Process
    1. All students in the Neuropsychology Track who are eligible and prepared for the exam are tested on a specific date at the same time.
    2. Students are given no more than 5 hours to complete the exam.
    3. The Chair administers the exam to the student and proctors the exam.
    4. Students are given the list of questions with the necessary instructions. Students are permitted to answer the questions using a laptop computer.
  4. Review of the Exam
    1. The Chair uses an identifier code for each student so that the evaluation process is conducted in a blind fashion.
    2. The Chair distributes the student responses for each question to the faculty member who submitted those questions.
    3. Each question is scored using a numeric grade. The scale is as follows:
      • 6=exceptional/distinguished
      • 5=pass+/above expectation
      • 4=solid pass/competent
      • 3=marginal pass/minimally adequate
      • 2=deficient/not passing but some merit
      • 1=outright fail/completely deficient
  5. The Review Process
    1. The Chair computes an overall mean score for each student.
    2. An overall mean score of 3.5 or greater is considered a clear pass. An overall mean score between 2.5 and 3.5 is considered minimally adequate and requires remediation. An overall mean score less than 2.5 is considered not passing and re-examination is required to adequately complete the exam.
    3. All failing examinations are re-reviewed by the entire committee and discussed prior to a final decision. Should an individual answer be scored as deficient or minimally adequate, yet the overall mean is greater than 3.5, the faculty member scoring the question can require remediation. In this case, the overall comprehensive examination will be considered passed.
  6. Timing
    1. The exam is conducted once a year. Typically students take the exam during August at the end of the third year.
    2. The faculty members who submitted questions have three weeks to respond to the answers and grade the questions.
    3. The review process is completed by the Chair within one month following the exam date.
    4. If a faculty member requests remediation on a particular question that the student failed, this process should be completed within four weeks of feedback to the student.
    5. All failing examinations will be discussed with the track leaders, the student, and the student’s guidance committee.
  7. Documentation
    1. In order to document completion of the Neuropsychology Major Area of Study Comprehensive Examination:
      1. The Chair notifies the student via email that the exam has been passed.
      2. The Chair notifies the co-directors via email that the exam has been passed.
      3. The Chair notifies the program coordinator via email that the exam has been passed. The Chair also provides the program coordinator with the raw data demonstrating passing of the exam, the exam itself, and each student’s answers.
      4. The co-directors write an electronic letter confirming the completion of the major area of study comprehensive exam and send it to the student with a cc to the student’s file, the guidance committee chair, and the area leaders.
      5. A copy of the completed exam must be submitted to the JDP office for the student’s file. This can be submitted electronically.