PASS/FAIL Rubric for the Spanish Master's Exam
Approved by the Spanish Section on February 7, 2007.
A PASSING response on a question from the Spanish Master's Exam does all of the following:
- addresses all aspects of the task
- demonstrates knowledge of the subject matter
- reflects accurate understanding of concepts and terminology
- develops arguments and/or presents information in a coherent and well focused manner
- includes insightful analysis
- integrates appropriate evidence
- appropriately cites sources of information where required
- features clear, accurate sentence structure and word choice
- avoids persistent grammatical or orthographical errors
- follows formatting and organization of the Modern Language Association (norm for all written work in Spanish graduate classes)
A FAILING response does some or all of the following:
- neglects or fails to answer major aspects of the task
- demonstrates weak knowledge of the subject matter relevant to the task
- frequently misuses concepts and terminology
- shows incoherent, fragmented development of arguments and/or organization and presentation
- confuses historical and literary periods and their characteristics
- includes little analysis; relies mainly on summary (or plot summaries)
- often fails to integrate appropriate evidence, including examples and previous assertions and the development of arguments
- neglects to cite sources where required
- features pervasive problems in sentence structure, word choice, orthography
- ignores basic Modern Language Associate formatting and organization
The '80%' rule of the Evaluation of the Spanish Master's Exam
To receive a PASS on the Spanish Master's Exam, the student must receive a passing grade on 80% of the exam's questions, either the first time the exam is taken or by the end of any retakes.
How it works
There are 10 questions on the Spanish Master's Exam: 7 in literature and 3 in linguistics. To receive a PASS on the exam, a student may fail ONE literature question and ONE linguistics question (=80%); OR, the student may fail TWO literature questions (= 80%). Please note: a student may not fail more than ONE linguistics question.