Examination Rules and Procedures
Examinations are designed to test the understanding of the concepts in the examined subject matter. Obviously, students should neither seek nor accept any assistance during the examination. Less obviously, but of great importance, is that students do not appear, to any degree, to seek or accept any such assistance. It is essential that every law student recognize the necessity of strict adherence to all examination rules and the Standard of Academic Integrity for Exams to avoid any unauthorized practice and to avoid even the appearance of unauthorized practices. Following are the examination rules and procedures in effect at the School of Law.
CAREFULLY READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS. IGNORANCE OF ANY RULE OR PROCEDURE WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED AS AN EXCUSE FOR VIOLATION.
A final examination schedule showing exact day, date, starting and ending times, and Open/Closed Book status and those exams allowing pc’s will be posted on the Registrar’s page of the Law School website, outside the Registrar’s Office Service Window on the bulletin board and on the Plasma Screen on the First Floor. Copy the exact information for each of your examinations.
DO NOT TRUST THIS INFORMATION TO MEMORY.
PLAN TO ARRIVE AT THE SCHEDULED ROOM FIFTEEN (15) MINUTES BEFORE THE SCHEDULED START OF AN EXAMINATION.
There are NO designated seating assignments in the examination rooms. However, in the situation where one or more exams are going to take place in the same room, you may be directed to a particular area of the room to sit. You are to SIT EVERY OTHER SEAT in the exam room. Exam materials will be distributed once everyone is seated. Proctors are there to assist you.
DO NOT OPEN AN EXAMINATION BOOKLET UNTIL YOU ARE TOLD TO DO SO.
Five (5) minutes before the scheduled start of an examination, or once all students are seated, the proctor will instruct you to open your examination booklet and remove the perforated form enclosed in the booklet. The form shows the name of the exam and exam number.
YOUR EXAMINATION NUMBER IS THE NUMBER PRINTED DIRECTLY ABOVE THE LINE PROVIDED FOR YOUR NAME. IF YOU ARE CONFUSED AS TO WHICH NUMBER TO USE, ASK THE PROCTOR FOR ASSISTANCE.
PRINT your name on the top and bottom portion of the exam-number form. Enter your exam number on the front of your examination booklet or into the exam software (if you are using a laptop to take your exam). Once the exam has begun, the proctor will collect one copy of the form. You should keep the other copy of the form for your records.
YOU WILL RECEIVE A DIFFERENT EXAMINATION NUMBER FOR EACH EXAMINATION.
The Registrar’s Office will NOT replace lost or forgotten exam numbers. If you lose your copy of your exam number, you must wait to know your grade for that course until the University makes grades available for the semester through the PeopleSoft Student Portal.
Examinations MUST BE RETURNED with your exam booklets at the end of each examination if the faculty has instructed that they be collected.
Any materials taken into an examination room, even if the exam is OPEN BOOK, must be in clear sight of proctors.
Any student found to have unauthorized materials in an examination will be charged with violation of examination rules.
Walkman, radios, cell phones and other types of tape-recording/playing equipment are NOT permitted in examination rooms.
NO food of any kind is permitted in examination rooms without the permission of the Registrar’s Office staff, and then only for medical reasons. Beverages will be permitted. However, please be considerate of other students in the examination room if you bring a beverage with you.
The room proctor will read a series of examination procedures. PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THESE ANNOUNCEMENTS.
IN THE ABSENCE OF REGISTRAR’S OFFICE STAFF, PROCTORS ARE THE FINAL AUTHORITY.
1. To assure the anonymity of the grading system, students will identify themselves on all law school examinations by examination number only. Examination numbers will be assigned randomly for each examination. Students will receive a different number for each examination.
2. Adjustments to the examination schedule will be made only in the case where a student is enrolled in three courses with back-to-back examinations (e.g., Monday a.m., Monday p.m., Tuesday a.m.), or two exams at the same time. In this case, the student will be allowed to reschedule one of the exams.
3. Except for good cause, such as sickness or other serious circumstances totally beyond a student’s control, special or make-up examinations will not be given. A student’s failure to take a scheduled examination without good cause and without prior notice to the Dean’s Office will result in that student receiving a failing grade for the course in which the examination was missed.
If a student is going to miss an examination for good cause, the student must properly advise the Dean’s Office before the examination. If a student experiences extenuating circumstances during the examination the student must notify the Dean’s Office during the examination or promptly after it.
4. If a student misses an examination for good cause and with prior notice, the student will be required to reschedule the examination within the examination period, at the discretion of the administration; otherwise, it must be taken the next time the examination in that course is given, regardless of the fact that the course may then be taught by a different instructor. A student who has experienced extenuating circumstances during an examination and notified the Dean’s Office during the examination or promptly after it may petition for the discretionary relief of taking a reexamination the next time an examination in that course is given, regardless of the fact that the course may then be taught by a different instructor. Such relief is granted in only the most compelling cases. The Standards of Academic Integrity apply for all rescheduled examinations.
5. It is the student’s obligation to determine when an examination begins and its length. Failure to appear at the beginning of the examination will not result in any additional time being granted for the completion of the examination. Excuses for being late will not be accepted.
6. Exams will be started with a proctor in the room. After the exam begins, the proctor may or may not stay in the room for the length of the exam. Students are reminded that the Academic Integrity Policy will be adhered to and is in force at all times during an exam. It is your responsibility to act appropriately during an exam whether or not a proctor is in the room. Please cooperate with the proctors in a courteous manner.
7. Students may bring only writing instruments and such books or materials as the course instructor has authorized into the examination room. Scratch paper will be provided in the examination room. Any student who brings or attempts to bring unauthorized materials into the examination room or who refers to unauthorized materials during the examination will be immediately excluded from the examination. Food cannot be brought into the examination room. Purses and backpacks may be brought into the examination room if kept on the floor, at the owner’s feet, during the examination. Bluebooks are not to be used for scratch or note-taking purposes.
8. Books authorized by the course instructor for use during an examination may be used only by one student. Students may not share any authorized materials during an examination. No library materials may be consulted.
9. If it is necessary for you to leave the examination room during the examination, you may not take your examination booklets, the examination question or any other materials from the room. You must bring your bluebooks to the front of the room and must sign a sheet at the front desk indicating the time you leave and the time you return to the room. Once you have signed back into the room you may collect your exam and/or bluebooks and return to your seat. No student taking an examination should go to his or her locker during the examination period except in the case of an emergency. Any student taking an examination should not be present on the third, fourth or fifth floors during the examination.
10. Students may use pencils or pens if writing their examinations. If the exam to be administered will be using a scantron sheet, it is your responsibility to bring with you, # 2 pencils so you can record your answers on the scantron sheet. The Registrar’s Office does not supply pencils.
11. Students should draw a line across any page in the examination booklet that is not to be submitted for grading. Do not tear a page out of the examination booklet.
12. Students must maintain silence in the examination rooms. Care should be taken not to slam doors or make noise when leaving or entering the examination rooms.
13. A 15-minute warning will be given at the approach of the ending of the examination. ONCE THE 15 MINUTE WARNING IS GIVEN, YOU CANNOT LEAVE YOUR SEAT EVEN IF YOU FINISH YOUR EXAM. In addition to the 15-minute warning, five-minute and one-minute warnings will also be given. When the “STOP WRITING” or “STOP TYPING” command is given, no student shall continue to write or type anything. Failure to stop upon final command will result in charges of exam procedure violation.
14. If more than one examination booklet is used, students must, within the amount of time allowed for the examination, fill in the front of each booklet and number the booklets consecutively: Book I, II, etc.
15. If you complete the examination before the 15-minute warning is given, you will place your exam number on the examination booklets or if you have typed your exam, save and copy your work from your laptop to an approved medium and deliver them to the front of the room. NO STUDENT WILL BE PERMITTED TO LEAVE HIS OR HER SEAT AFTER THE 15-MINUTE WARNING IS GIVEN. THIS INCLUDES THOSE STUDENTS WHO MIGHT COMPLETE THE EXAMINATION BEFORE THE SCHEDULED ENDING TIME. Under no circumstances should any writing or typing occur after the “End of Exam” command is given. Once the exam has ended, REMAIN SEATED. The proctor will give end of exam instructions. Once your exam has been collected, you may leave the room.
As exams may still be in progress in the other rooms, please leave the room quietly and then leave the first floor area immediately.
16. Some or all examinations may be arranged so that two examinations are taking place within the same room with sectioned seating. If you are taking an examination in a room in which other students are taking a separate examination and your examination is completed earlier than the other exam, the same procedures outlined in #15 above are in effect, i.e., at the completion of that examination, having signed your book(s) with your exam number, or saved your typed exam and uploaded or transferred it, wait for a staff member to collect the appropriate exam materials from you. After that, when given the signal to leave the room, do so as quietly and unobtrusively as possible.
17. Students taking exams on laptops and students writing exams will be in the same exam room. You may want to consider bringing earplugs to minimize any source of noise during the exam. However, if you are writing your exam and there is no way you can take your exam in the same room as the rest of the class, you are required to come to the Registrar’s Office to make arrangements to take your exam in another room.
18. The Law School does not provide PC’s. In order to take an exam on a laptop, you must have downloaded and installed the exam software from the Law School website and attended the mandatory training session. After the exam has ended and you have saved and uploaded or transferred your exam, your answer will be printed by the Registrar’s Office and given to the faculty member for grading.
19. Students who are using a laptop and who have an open book exam are advised to print out any class notes or other allowable documents from your laptop before coming into the exam room. You will not have access to them once the exam begins.
20. The permissibility of using laptop computers for final examinations is up to the individual instructor, subject to whatever limits or controls the school may impose on all students using computers to take examinations.
21. Although faculty members may be present within the examination room, students may not seek interpretations of questions from them. Faculty members will not interpret examination questions or otherwise speak with students during the examination. If you believe you have discovered a mistake or ambiguity in the question, resolve the mistake or ambiguity in what you consider to be a reasonable manner and proceed to write your answer on that basis. Every effort will be made to avoid any mistakes or ambiguities in examination questions.
22. These procedures have been approved by the Dean to ascertain a fair, efficient and appropriate examination process. Students taking examinations should avoid all conversation during the examination period and otherwise conduct themselves in such a manner so as to, again, insure not only substantive compliance with these procedures but the appearance of compliance as well.
TAKE-HOME EXAMINATIONS AND PAPERS
Registrar’s Office Service Window hours during the examination period are 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Particulars relevant to each take-home examination will be listed on the take-home exam schedule posted on the Registrar’s page of the Law School website and on the bulletin board outside the Registrar’s Office Service Window.
When you pick-up a take-home examination, you will be given an examination number form to complete. You must retain one copy of that form for your records.
Completed take-home examinations MUST BE TURNED IN at the Registrar’s Office Service Window before they will be given to the faculty member for grading. You must submit two printed copies of your exam answers.
PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE A COMPLETED TAKE-HOME EXAMINATION WITH THE FACULTY MEMBER OR OTHER LAW SCHOOL STAFF MEMBER.