Academic Regulations Regarding Examinations

General Information

Examination schedules are posted by the Registrar's Office. Students are responsible for verifying the date, time and place of their examinations. Students must be available for the entire examination period, including scheduled deviation dates, for their year/division in case an exam must be rescheduled because of a weather-related or other emergency. If a student is unavoidably detained and is late for an examination, he or she should contact the Registrar's Office immediately upon arrival on campus to make alternate arrangements.

Proctored and Take-Home Exams

All exams are either proctored or take-home. Proctored exams are limited to three hours in duration, include reading time. This limit applies regardless of the number of credit hours allocated to the course. Exceptions may be made only for international exchange and LL.M. students, and students with documented disabilities that require accommodation (see Additional Time for International Students and Disability Accommodations).

Take-home exams are limited to 24 hours in duration and may be self-scheduled by the student anytime during the take-home exam period.

Exam Scheduling

The exam period normally covers two weeks or some significant portion thereof. At the discretion of the Registrar, regular and/or deviated exams may be scheduled on Saturdays or Sundays during the exam period, subject to accommodation for religious observance.

The exam schedule for a given semester will be published with the schedule of courses and will be available prior to registration. It will indicate the type of exam (proctored or take-home) for each course and, if an exam is proctored, the schedule will indicate the date and time of the examination. Proctored exams will be scheduled so that courses meeting at different times do not have simultaneous or overlapping exams. The fact that a student's course selections, however, result in multiple exams in a single day or other short period will NOT (effective the fall 2006 semester) provide grounds for a deviation (see Exam Deviations).

Exam Deviations

A student may apply to the associate dean for finance and administration to take an examination at a time other than that for which it is regularly scheduled only when facing an unforeseeable hardship such as a medical problem, a death in the family, etc.  After the exam deviations application is approved, the associate dean for finance and administration or the director of student services arranges with the instructor an alternate place of examination. Deviations will normally be scheduled on the last day of each exam period. When this is not feasible, deviations will be scheduled as soon as reasonably practicable following the conclusion of the exam period.

Failure to take a regularly scheduled examination or one arranged as outlined above results in a grade of "F" ("Failure") unless the associate dean for finance and administration finds that grave cause prevented the taking of the examination. No such cause will be considered sufficient which might have been the subject of an application for rescheduling as described above. Students must contact the associate dean immediately upon the discovery that an exam has been missed. A claim that illness prevented completion of an examination or impaired a student's performance is treated in the same manner as a claim that grave cause prevented the taking of an examination as described above.

Disability Accommodations

Students with documented disabilities requiring accommodation in connection with exam-taking should request the same during the first two weeks of the semester, or as soon as possible thereafter, from the director of student services.

Additional Time for International Students

For any proctored exam, one additional hour will be afforded to those International LL.M. and Exchange students who have not previously been awarded a degree for which the primary instruction has been in English. In the case of JD students who have not previously been awarded such a degree and who have lived in an English-speaking country for one year or less, one additional hour will be afforded on first-semester, first-year exams, and one additional half-hour will be awarded on second-semester, first-year exams. Students should contact the Registrar's Office in advance of the exam period to confirm whether they shall be awarded this time. The additional time award does not apply to take-home examinations.

Laptop Exams

At the discretion of the instructor, proctored exams may be taken on students' personal laptop computers or, subject to availability, Law School laptop computers. Students wishing to take proctored exams on laptops will be required to sign up for the same by a date certain, sufficiently in advance of the exam period to enable the Registrar's Office to determine space needs and make appropriate room assignments. Students will also be required to download and test all necessary exam software prior to the examination. Students who fail to sign up to take an exam on a computer by the applicable deadline, or who fail to download the necessary software in advance, will be required to hand-write the exam.  There is no sign up or installation of special software required for to use a personal laptop take home examinations.

Lost or Misplaced Exams

A student whose examination books have been lost or misplaced after receipt by the proctor or instructor may elect to take a grade of "P" (Pass) for the course or to take a make up examination. In all other circumstances involving loss or misplacement of examination books, the student should secure the consent of the instructor and the Associate Dean of Administration and Finance or of Academic Affairs to take a make up examination in order to receive credit for the course.

Alternative Examinations

When the associate dean for finance and administration causes the registrar to enter a grade of incomplete in a course, the student is required to complete a substitute examination or alternate written work as described below:

• If the student is not scheduled to graduate from the Law School at the end of the semester, and if the course (whether or not taught by the same instructor) will be offered within the next twelve months (or before the student's scheduled graduation, whichever is sooner), then the instructor may require that the student remove the incomplete by taking the examination in a designated section of the course. If the instructor does not require the student to wait until the next time the course is offered, then the instructor should offer the student a substitute examination or alternate written requirement to be completed not later than the end of the following semester (not including the summer term). If the student does not remove the incomplete, then the student will receive a failing grade for the course.
• If the student is scheduled to graduate from the Law School at the end of the semester, the instructor shall designate a substitute examination or alternate written requirement for the student to be completed within a designated number of days as determined by the instructor (if the student otherwise has sufficient credits to graduate, the instructor may require that the student be withdrawn from the course). If the student does not complete the work within the allotted time, the student will receive a failing grade for the course. The student has the option of changing his/her graduation date in order to complete the alternate written requirement. The graduation dates are January 31, Commencement Day in mid-May and July 10. There are no additional graduation dates.
• Pass/fail option. If the course is not a required course, the instructor may specify that the substitute work will be graded on a pass/fail basis. Work so graded will not be counted as a part of the student's permitted pass/fail load.

Courses and Seminars Requiring Papers

The instructor in any course or seminar in which a paper is allowed or required sets and announces a stated deadline for the handing in of papers. This date may be no later than the last day of examinations (in the applicable division) for the semester in which the course or seminar is offered. Prior to the stated deadline, for good cause, the instructor may (in writing, with a copy to the Registrar) grant a single extension of time for handing in the paper; but no extended deadline may be more than two weeks beyond the last day of examinations (in the applicable division) for the semester in which the seminar or course is offered. No extended deadline may be later than the student's anticipated date of graduation.

Prior to the deadline as extended by the instructor, a student may make application to the associate dean for academic affairs for a further extension upon showing that unavoidable circumstances makes completion of the work by the deadline impossible. The associate dean for academic affairs may set an extended deadline after consultation with the instructor, but no extension can be granted which is later than the student's anticipated date of graduation.

Failure to submit a paper by the appropriate deadline results in a failing grade for the paper, unless the associate dean for academic affairs finds that grave cause prevented the timely submission of the paper. No such cause is considered sufficient if it could have been the subject of an application for extension as described above. Where failure to submit a paper is excused as above, the associate dean for academic affairs, in consultation with the instructor, sets a further extended deadline.

Notwithstanding the above rules, if a student scheduled for graduation at the close of the semester would have sufficient credits for graduation without the course or seminar in which the paper was required, and the basis for an extension of time is shown, the instructor or the associate dean for academic affairs may direct that the student be withdrawn from the course or seminar.

It is the responsibility of the student to have available an extra copy of his/her paper for use in grading should it become necessary. In the event the original paper was submitted but lost and the student does not have an extra copy, the student has the option of submitting another paper within a reasonable time or receiving no credit for the course.

To allow a student to complete an alternate writing requirement or paper, the option of changing his/her graduation date in order to complete the requirements for the degree is offered. The graduation dates are: January 31, Commencement Day in May and July. There are no additional graduation dates.