General Examination Procedures

Final Examination Policies and Procedures

Suggested Best Practices
The following recommendations are intended to provide equivalence in the conduct of examinations and to minimize opportunities for dishonesty.

• Examinations should be effectively proctored; the room should never be left unattended. Whenever feasible, there should be two proctors for an examination of 25 to 50 students, and an additional proctor for each additional 50 students.
• When space permits, students should be asked to sit in alternate seats.
• At the beginning of all except announced "open-book" examinations, the instructor should require that all books, notebooks, extra examination booklets, papers, or other informational sources of any kind be left in the front of the room.
• The instructor should announce at the beginning of the examination that students are expected to remain in the room until they are ready to turn in their examinations. Permission to leave the room while the examination is in progress may be granted by the instructor for good cause. Only one student may be absent from the examination room at a time.
• In objective examinations it is recommended that two sets of questions, or the same questions in different order, be distributed alternately to students

When a student is discovered cheating during an examination, the proctor should take up the student's examination materials immediately, informing the student that College policy requires that the matter be reported to the DEO and to Associate Dean for Academic Programs & Services (see Academic Dishonesty).

Scheduling Examinations Outside of Class Time
Instructors must be particularly careful about scheduling examinations outside of class time, which may cause scheduling conflict for many students. The Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education worked with representatives from all the undergraduate colleges to develop the following University examination policies:

1. When instructors plan to give exams outside of class time, they should announce the dates and times at the first class meeting and list them on the course syllabus for distribution at the first class meeting.

2. When there is conflict between an exam scheduled outside of class time and a regularly scheduled course, the regularly scheduled course will take precedence.

3. During fall semester, when there is a conflict between two exams scheduled outside the regular class times, the course having the lower department number (or letter), or lower course number when the conflict is within the department will take precedence. During spring semester and summer session, when there is a conflict between two exams scheduled outside the regular class times, the course having the higher number (or letter), or higher course number when the conflict is within the department, will take precedence.

4. When there is a conflict between an exam scheduled outside of class time and other scheduled and required course activities (e.g. performances, meetings, lectures), the required course activity will take precedence.

5. When there is a conflict between an exam scheduled outside of class time and other scheduled, non-required course activities or personal obligations, the exam will take precedence. However, exams not scheduled and announced in class at least 14 days in advance will not have priority under this policy.

6. Instructors must offer reasonable options without penalty to students who miss exams due to conflicts described above.

Note: The College will not authorize the scheduling of examinations on Saturdays or Sundays (except in courses that are regularly scheduled to meet on Saturdays or Sundays).

It is the student's responsibility to contact the instructor as soon as possible about the reasons for a missed exam and, if the instructor so wishes, to provide appropriate documentation.

Makeup examinations should be scheduled at a reasonable time and location. The makeup examination, if different, should be equivalent to the original in form, content, difficulty, and time limits, and the standards for scoring and grading should be equivalent to those used for the original examination.

See Students with Disabilities for other information about students with disabilities.

See Classroom Disruptions for information on other disruptions.

Policy on Administration of Final Examinations
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences expects all courses to include appropriate procedures for evaluating student performance. For many undergraduate courses, these procedures will include a final examination. All final examinations must be given during the one-week period set aside for this purpose by the University, and final examinations must be given at the time specified on the Final Examination Schedule, developed by the Registrar. All courses, including those offered through Saturday & Evening Classes and those that meet after 4:30 pm, are assigned a final examination time within the final examination week. "Take-home" final exams must use the specified final exam period for the class as the last possible time that the take-home exam may be turned in.

In courses where papers or projects rather than a final examination constitute the last evaluation activity, instructors may use the scheduled final exam period as the due date for the project/paper. Instructors also may use the final examination period to meet with students to discuss the papers/projects.

Information on the evaluation procedures in the course, and the use of the final examination period, should be provided on the required syllabus. Syllabi for courses that end with a final examination must include the time and location of that examination.

Changes in the Final Examination Schedule

Before the examination calendar is posted, departments may work with the Registrar's office to designate courses as "multi-section" or to otherwise adjust when in the final examination week the course examination will be scheduled. Changes in the final examination calendar made after the calendar is posted must be specifically authorized by the DEO and the Associate Dean for Academic Programs & Services. Requests for changes are ordinarily made before the semester begins. Only in extraordinary situations will permission be granted for final examinations to be given in the last week of scheduled classes.

Final Examinations during Summer Session

During the summer session, there is no designated final examination period. Final examinations are administered before the official end of the summer session, either during a regular class meeting or at another time determined by the instructor in consultation with the students in the class.

Final Examinations in Guided Independent Study

The College encourages instructors of Guided Independent Study classes to use proctored final examinations in those courses that would, if offered in a classroom format, use an examination as a means of final assessment.

Scheduling Adjustments for Individual Students

Instructors may make arrangements with individual students to take final examinations at times other than the regularly scheduled time if circumstances warrant. For example, no student is required to take more than three examinations in one day. An undergraduate student who has two examinations scheduled for the same period or more than three examinations scheduled for the same day may file a request for a change of schedule at the Registration Center before the published deadline. Graduate students make adjustments directly with their instructors. If two final examinations are scheduled for the same period, the course with the lower department number (or lower course number if the conflict is within a department) takes precedence in the fall semester, the higher numbered course in the spring semester.

The Registration Center sends the instructor the names of undergraduate students for whom changes have been approved and copies of their final examination schedules. The instructor must arrange makeup examinations and announce the arrangements to all students involved. Should a student have more than one makeup examination scheduled at one time, the lower numbered course takes precedence in the fall semester, the higher numbered course in the spring semester. Makeup examinations never have precedence over regularly scheduled examinations.

Absence from Final Examinations

If a student is unavoidably absent from a final examination, the instructor should report the student's grade in the course as I (incomplete), unless previous work is so poor that the student would fail regardless of the quality of performance in the final examination. In that case, the grade should be reported as F. If a student does not have a satisfactory excuse for missing a final examination, the instructor is justified in assigning an F in the course. If the student has an acceptable reason for being absent, the instructor should arrange to give the student a makeup examination during the student's next period in residence or earlier, if the instructor so prefers. If the student fails to take the makeup examination within the approved time limits, a grade of I (Incomplete) in the course will automatically change to F (see "Grading").

Disruptions of Final Examinations

In the unlikely event that a final examination is disrupted by events other than construction noise (see "Class Disruptions"), for instance, by a fire alarm, electrical outage, tornado warning, or other unpredictable incident, instructors must make whatever immediate decision seems appropriate to insure the safety of students. When possible, instructors should maintain examination security (for instance, by having students turn in examination papers as they leave the room). If the incident is of short duration, sufficient time may have elapsed (or remain) that the instructor may be able to simply shorten the examination.

The instructor should contact the DEO for help in creating an equitable solution to the grading problems that the disruption causes. In most cases, especially with large classes, it will not be possible to schedule a makeup examination. In situations where exam security has been maintained, some portion of credit may be allocated for the examination. In other cases, it may be appropriate to recalculate grades without including an examination grade.

Departments and instructors should strive to ensure that no student is unfairly penalized or favored by the policy adopted. The Associate Dean for Academic Programs & Services can also advise faculty and departments.