Final Examinations

The decision to give a final exam as a required part of the course rests with the instructor. All tests and examinations are conducted under the honor system. No examinations or other course assignments may be due between the last day of classes and the first day of the final examination period.

Examinations are considered final examinations when they:

• Cover more than the material learned since the last exam, or
• Are the only exam in the course, or
• Require comprehensive knowledge of the entire course.

Such exams may be given only during the final examination period.

All undergraduate-level courses are assigned a final examination time by the Office of the Registrar. Upon request, graduate-level courses may be scheduled for a final examination time. Instructors may choose to use that officially assigned time for a scheduled final examination, may choose to give a take-home exam, or may choose to give no exam at all. If they choose to give a scheduled final examination, the Office of the Registrar will assign a room, and the final exam will be administered in that room at the designated time. Some instructors assign end-of-term projects or papers rather than final examinations. With regard to due dates, final papers or projects will be treated the same as take-home exams.

Take-home exams should be made available to students as soon as possible after the semester's last day of classes, and no later than the end of the next business day after classes have ended. Take-home exams may be no longer than five hours in length. The due date of take-home exams may be no earlier than the end of the examination time assigned to that class by the Office of the Registrar. Instructors may specify due dates later than this time, but not later than the end of the last day of the examination period.

As noted in the Faculty Grading Guidelines, no student should be given an extension of time or opportunity to improve a grade that is not available to all members of the class, except for verified illness or justified absence from campus. However, students cannot be required to take more than two scheduled exams in two consecutive calendar days. Students also cannot be required to complete more than two take-home and/or scheduled final exams on the same calendar day (unless this is the last day of the examination period). In both instances, if the student wishes to make alternative arrangements and is unable to work out such arrangements with the instructor(s) involved, the instructor of the third and any subsequent exams will be required to allow the student to reschedule that exam.