2026 COMPS QUESTIONS

GENERAL INFORMATION:

• The Comprehensive Exam (hereinafter COMPS) shall be completed at the end of the fourth active semester as a closure of the training and research phase. Application is due during the fourth semester. If students do not apply for COMPS at the end of their fourth active semester, their student status will be
• Students can apply for COMPS provided they have fulfilled a minimum 80 per cent of the prescribed 120 credits of the pre-COMPS If they cannot fulfil all the 100 per cent of the prescribed credits by the time of the COMPS, the missing credits (maximum 20 per cent of the 120 credits) have to be completed in the next two active semesters of their studies.
• The condition for applying for the COMPS is a written statement that the candidate is not in the process of obtaining a doctoral degree in the same discipline, or has not had an unsuccessful defense in the same discipline within two years. (see Annex 1)
• The COMPS committee consists of a minimum of three members and at least one third of the members should not be employed by Széchenyi István The chair of the COMPS committee is either a full professor, associate professor with habilitation, college professor with habilitation, professor emeritus or a doctor of science. All the members of the committee shall have a PhD. The supervisor of the doctoral student cannot be a member of the committee.
• Application for COMPS should be submitted via the Doctoral Program’s website (szeeds.sze.hu)
• The COMPS consists of two parts. In the written exam the applicants will give evidence of their background knowledge (obtained from the curricular courses and from the books of the most famous gurus of the philosophy of science). In the oral part, they will prove their scientific progress (‘dissertation part’). In the written part of the COMPS the applicants will get questions from the curricular courses. The list of the questions is announced prior to the examination on the doctoral program’s website.
• The committee will evaluate the written and the dissertation parts separately. The COMPS will qualify as successful if the majority of the committee members evaluate both parts of the exam as satisfactory. In case of failure in the exam, the candidate has the right to retake the failed exam part(s) once more during the given examination period.
• Evaluation of the COMPS is based on two categories: satisfactory or failed. The result of the exam   shall be announced at the end of the last exam

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE COMPS

• Highest preference is given to
• (i) a published Critical Literature review - conference or journal paper
• (ii) a Critical Literature review under review - conference or journal paper
• (iii) a Critical Literature review in a ready-to-submit version - conference or journal paper

Editors demand Critical Literature Reviews that deliver impactful synthesis, rather than mere summaries, structuring them around a clear promise (identifying gaps), a novel perspective (consolidating findings into taken-for-granted knowledge with fresh insights), and prospects (an agenda that shapes future scholarship). These reviews must transcend descriptive aggregation to contradictions. The core framework often revolves around a novel synthesis that comments on assumptions, resolves contradictions, and reframes taken-for-granted knowledge.

APPLICATION:

Applicants can apply to SzEEDS^M COMPS on SZEEDS website from March 2 until April 30, 2026.

Documents to be uploaded with the application:

• Completed Literature Review
• Professional CV
• Statement
• Relevant certificates (publications, conference presentation)