Students have up to 6 hours for writing. The purpose of the exam is for determining the ability of the student to take concepts learned in a variety of courses and bring them together into a coherent response to a problem or situation. At other times, the student is asked to discuss a single concept or idea and demonstrate through writing an indepth understanding of that idea. Hand writing or computers can be used to express responses to the questions. Another thing is the reading of them.
All faculty take turns reading exam answers according to that faculty members' areas of expertise.
Students could receive a pass, fail or deferred grade. The deferred grade means that the answers to questions were fairely good, but the lack of complete clarity of answers leaves the reader with some confustion or concerns about these answers. Therefore, the exam is referred to that student's specialist or doctoral committee for resolution. Students who fail the exam are allowed to retake the exam. Sometimes these students retake the exam twice or more times.