Doctoral Candidacy Exam Instructions

All students participating in a Master of Science or Doctor of Philosophy degree program must complete a thesis or dissertation proposal for approval by the members of the student's steering committee. The major professor and each of the graduate steering committee members must approve the proposal using the Graduate School's proposal approval form. MS thesis proposals should generally be completed two semesters prior to defense of the thesis; PhD dissertation proposals must be completed to achieve candidacy (in concert or in parallel with the candidacy examination process). Each Department/Program may have requirements that exceed those specified broadly in this policy; however, they must be consistent with the Graduate School's requirements. Departmental requirements beyond the minimum stated here must be specified in writing and submitted to the Graduate School as well as listed in departmental web pages. It is the responsibility of the student to be aware of, and comply with, all Graduate School and Departmental dissertation proposal requirements.

The objectives of this examination are to confirm the student's breadth and depth of knowledge in their chosen field of study as well as the student's understanding of the scientific process. The doctoral candidacy examination should be administered upon completion of the majority of coursework, and successful completion of the exam signifies readiness to undertake the research and dissertation component of the doctoral program. This examination must be taken within three years from the first date of matriculation, and at least one year prior to the dissertation defense.

Upon the recommendation of the appropriate Department Chairperson, the Associate Provost for Instruction and Office of the Graduate School appoints the doctoral candidacy examination committee consisting of the student's major professor, the student's steering committee and an additional faculty member from an appropriate area. Additionally, the Associate Provost for Instruction and Office of the Graduate School appoints a committee chair who is not from the department of the student's degree program. The role of the examination committee chair is to manage the examination, ensure its integrity and represent the interests of the faculty and student.

The examination must have both written and oral components, described below.

The purpose of the written exam is to assess the readiness of the student to move beyond the coursework stage of the doctoral program, into the development of a substantial research project and dissertation. Traditionally, questioning should verify sufficient breadth and depth of knowledge to successfully undertake such research, and then communicate the results in a scholarly manner appropriate to the discipline.

To initiate the examination process, the examining committee shall convene at a planning meeting with the student. During the first part of the planning meeting, the committee determines the form and schedule for the process and establishes the date for the oral component (reported on form 6E). The student is then excused from the meeting and the committee develops and discusses the exam content. There are three alternative forms for the written component, as follows:

At least 3 business days prior to the oral exam, the major professor shall confirm with the chair of the examining committee that the oral examination should proceed as scheduled. The written exam is thus considered to be "provisionally successful." If the written examination component does not meet the standards established for the candidacy exam, the committee has two options.

The purpose of the oral examination is to further confirm the fitness of the student to apply the skills and knowledge acquired to date toward a successful and significant research project. The oral examination provides the opportunity for the student to demonstrate their ability to think synthetically and critically in a manner conveying their readiness to commence the dissertation project.

The oral component of the candidacy examination is typically scheduled for a period of approximately two hours, and is broken in to two distinct rounds of questioning. The first round, lasting approximately 60 minutes, consists of questions from each of the members of the examination committee, including the chair should they choose to contribute questions. Time should be shared equitably among the questioners, with interjections or interruptions by other questioners prohibited during the first round. The second round of questions may be more flexibly structured, with broader discussion and interchange among questioners is encouraged.

Any member of the faculty may be a silent observer for the oral component. The candidate may also invite a silent student observer to attend the oral examination. At the completion of the oral examination, the candidate and observers are excused from the room and the examination committee determines whether the student has successfully completed the oral component of the exam and achieved the status of "doctoral candidate." The committee chair has the option to vote. Unanimous agreement is required to pass the student on the first attempt. If less than unanimous agreement is reached, the student is considered to have failed the first candidacy examination. A student who fails the first candidacy exam may request a second exam, which must take place no more than one year from the date of the first examination. The second candidacy examination may, or may not include a new written component, at the discretion of the student's major professor and examination committee, in consultation with the examination chair. At the second exam, the student has passed if there is not more than one negative vote. A student who is determined to have failed the second candidacy examination is terminated from the doctoral program.

To schedule a doctoral candidacy examination, the student should complete the following steps:

How To Pass The ASWB Exam To Become A Licensed Social Worker

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Social work licensing practices vary widely by state. Some states require entry-level and generalist social workers to pass an exam and earn licensure. In other states, you only need a license to become a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and provide psychotherapy services.

In many states, social work licensure at any level requires you to pass an exam administered by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB). The ASWB exam is a nationally recognized exam that evaluates your comprehension of human behavior and development.

If you’re a social work major or considering pivoting into the human services field, read on to discover how to prepare for, take and pass the ASWB licensure exam—with or without a social work degree.

ASWB is a nonprofit organization comprising all of the state social work regulatory boards in the United States and Canada. This body regulates the social work profession and administers the licensure exam that evaluates prospective social workers’ ethics and expertise. Passing the ASWB exam is the final step to earning a social work license in many states.

ASWB offers five exam categories—associate, bachelor’s, master’s, advanced generalist and clinical—each tailored to a specific education and experience level. A candidate’s exam category determines their title and scope of practice post-licensure.

Within a four-hour window, ASWB exam-takers must answer questions concerning:

All ASWB exam categories contain 170 questions on human development and behavior, but question types may vary among categories. For example, the associate and bachelor’s exams lean more heavily on recall questions than other exam categories, which feature larger proportions of reasoning questions.

Each exam category may lead to a different level of social work licensure depending on your state’s licensing processes. Not all states offer all five categories of the ASWB exam.

This category offers a licensure pathway for applicants who want to practice social work without earning a four-year degree in the field. In most cases, associate-level social workers can only practice under supervision.

A handful of states offer this licensing pathway: South Dakota, Michigan, Ohio, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Only South Dakota, New Hampshire and Massachusetts require associate-level social workers to pass the associate ASWB exam.

Registration for the associate ASWB exam category costs $230.

The ASWB bachelor’s exam, which also costs $230, evaluates your generalist understanding of social work practices and ethics. You must hold a bachelor’s degree in social work from an accredited college to sit for this exam category.

The bachelor’s category features the same questions as the associate category.

Passing the bachelor’s exam qualifies you to become a non-clinical baccalaureate social worker. Exact titles vary among states; in Oregon, these professionals are called registered baccalaureate social workers, while North Carolina calls them certified social workers.

In most cases, social workers at this level interview clients, manage cases, conduct research and advocate for social justice. Depending on the state, they may only be able to practice autonomously after gaining supervised work experience post-licensure.

The ASWB master’s category requires a master of social work (MSW) and usually qualifies applicants for the licensed master social worker (LMSW) credential. Again, the exact title may vary by state—Indiana calls these professionals licensed social workers, for example.

The master’s-level exam tests your foundational understanding of the social work field and evaluates your application of specialized skills gained during their MSW program. Licensees know how to apply advanced practice skills and specialized knowledge in their roles.

LMSWs can drive social change and justice for various communities. In some states, they can provide clinical therapy with oversight from an LCSW. The registration fee for this ASWB exam category is $230.

The advanced generalist category is tailored to prospective LMSWs who aspire to work in macro-level roles. This means working with large populations, such as entire states and countries. The advanced generalist ASWB exam indicates a desire to work with public policy, state or national campaigns, or other government initiatives.

To sit for the advanced generalist ASWB exam, you must hold a master’s degree in social work plus two years of nonclinical professional experience.

With a fee of $260, test takers can prove their expertise in social justice, public policy and administration, and public welfare to their state licensing boards.

The minimum requirements for this ASWB category include an MSW and two years of clinical experience. The clinical ASWB test serves prospective social workers who want to provide mental health services in clinical settings.

LCSWs (who may work under different titles, depending on where they practice) provide psychotherapy services to prevent, diagnose and treat mental illnesses. Through individual or group therapy, these professionals help people struggling with emotional distress.

Clinical social workers practice independently in various settings, including hospitals, schools, psychiatric facilities and social service agencies. Registering for the clinical ASWB exam category costs $260.

First, you must get your state board’s approval to register for the ASWB exam. Approval processes differ depending on the state where you want to practice.

Typical requirements vary by state and license level but may include college transcripts, a license application fee and proof of supervised experience, which you can send to the board via email or fax. Some states may also require you to provide fingerprints and undergo a background check.

Once you receive approval from your state social work board, you must register for the appropriate ASWB licensure exam, either online, via mail or by fax. Registration costs between $230 and $260, depending on your exam category.

If your registration is successful, you’ll receive an “authorization to test” email from ASWB.

Pearson VUE provides testing centers for licensure applicants nationwide. You can schedule, cancel and reschedule exam appointments with Pearson VUE through the testing authorization email.

The ASWB exam is a four-hour, computer-based test comprising 170 multiple-choice questions that test your expertise and decision-making skills as a social worker.

Exam questions cover various content areas and competencies you should have covered during your degree program. You may also find knowledge, skills and abilities statements resembling real-life situations that require critical thinking. To pass the licensure exam, you must answer about 100 out of the 150 questions correctly.

Although self-study is necessary to pass professional exams, practice tests can help you prepare better. By taking a mock test, you can identify loopholes in your study plan, learn the testing software, understand your strengths and areas for improvement, and prepare for complex questions.

After you register for your exam, ASWB offers a 30-day window to take a practice test for an additional $85. Practice exams exist for all categories except the advanced generalist exam.

Other test prep resources offer free practice tests, but ASWB warns against those resources because their content may be misleading.

ASWB enforces several security measures on test day to ensure a reliable exam process. Prepare to present two photo IDs and sign a confidentiality agreement.

Pearson VUE test centers are fitted with surveillance tools to detect exam malpractice. Test center personnel may also walk through the room at intervals.

You cannot enter the testing center with personal items, but you will receive erasable note boards, markers and other necessary materials from the test center personnel. You must return the items after the exam or risk invalidating your score.

The testing equipment should look like a typical computer setup. Test administrators may provide a short on-screen tutorial to help you navigate the software.

Upon completing the licensure exam, you’ll receive an unofficial score report at the test center indicating your performance. ASWB will then send the official score report to your state’s social work board two weeks after the exam.

Note that your scores cannot be altered at any point, so all you can do is wait for your state board to contact you or go ahead with other state-specific requirements. This may take anywhere from two weeks to a month.

If you fail the licensure exam, you can retake it after 90 days.

The ASWB exam stands for the Association of Social Work Boards examination. This test determines whether a candidate is fit to practice social work at their desired licensure level.

A recent ASWB report showed that 75.8% of first-time test takers passed the clinical exam category in 2021. The master’s and bachelor’s categories had pass rates of 73% and 68.7%, respectively.

Specific passing score thresholds on the ASWB exam may vary with each passing year. ASWB recommends that testers correctly answer 90 to 107 of the graded questions to pass the licensure exam.

Exam advice

A typical examination question in Mathematics will have several parts to it. Some parts (most usually at the beginning of the question) test your knowledge, by asking you to reproduce "bookwork", i.e. material presented in the lectures. Really, these parts test how well you've revised. Occasionally, especially in certain more advanced courses, there are entire questions that are bookwork. In some courses, some pieces of bookwork come up in the exam almost every year. In other courses, hardly any bookwork is set explicitly.

Tip: Figure out which pieces of bookwork come up most frequently, and make sure you can answer those questions easily and quickly.

You would be surprised how many poor attempts at routine bookwork questions we see every year. These are the parts of the questions that we expect students to be able to do.

Other parts of examination questions involve a "problem". In a "Methods" course, this will typically involve you applying a known technique from the course, and again this is something we expect you to be able to do. In a Pure Mathematics course, you might be asked to prove a result, or to apply a result in a particular setting.

Tip: Sometimes (but certainly not always!), the first part of the question is intended as a big hint as to how you should approach the second part.

Many exam questions, especially those that are otherwise very routine, have a last part (a "rider") which is more challenging than the rest of the question. This is quite deliberate, and the intention is to test whether you've really understood the material.

Tip: Do try all the riders (they're not always so hard after all!) but don't waste too much time on them in an exam if there are other things you can tackle instead.

Students sometimes seem to be annoyed that they have to do something clever to get 100% on a question. Don't forget, in many other subjects it's practically impossible to score 100% on a question!

Tip: Make sure you've answered all the parts of the question. Sometimes you're asked to do seven or eight things, and it's easy to overlook one.