At the time of your Q&A, your committee chair will arrange for a time to meet with you to give you feedback on your comps. The committee will give you feedback on the revisions that need to be made to your paper as well as suggestions for your talk. This meeting usually will be within one “business day” from the Q&A. That is, if the Q&A from Monday through Thursday, the meeting typically would take place the next day. If the Q&A on a Friday, the meeting might have to take place the following Monday.
We determine grades for comps (pass with distinction, pass, fail) by evaluating the paper, the Q&A, and the oral presentation. All deadlines must be met to receive distinction.
Notification of Distinction in Comps will be made after all examinations and comps requirements are completed in the spring term.
Biology Comps Paper Rubric
The Biology comps paper rubric is linked below. The goal of this rubric is to 1) make our expectations clear in the interest of transparency, so that students know what we are looking for and 2) use as the basis for the feedback that faculty give students for paper revisions. Remember that all students will revise their comps papers in some fashion.
The rubric is here.