Final Examination Guidelines
Academic Calendars > Final Exam Guidelines
Final Examinations should be administered in accordance with the examination schedule. For the purposes of this policy, a final examination is considered to be an examination that is cumulative of the material/subject studied during the course of the quarter.
The dean may permit an instructor to change the time of a final examination upon prior application demonstrating good cause for such change. In such cases, the following guidelines shall be observed.
- Non-cumulative examinations (e.g., an examination that covers material taught only since a mid-term examination) may be administered prior to the end of instruction during regular instructional hours.
- With the dean's permission the final examination may be postponed or moved to an earlier time within the examination period if agreed to by all students and the instructor. Before approving the rescheduling of a final examination, the dean shall obtain assurances that the change will not have an undue adverse impact on the students. The dean shall notify the Registrar of the approval granted for the date of a final examination.
- An instructor shall not schedule a final class examination before the beginning of finals week. An instructor shall not, except in very unusual circumstances, grant permission to individual students for an early examination. If the student is unable to take an examination on the scheduled date, the procedure outlined in the following paragraph should be followed.
- A student absent from any examination through sickness or other cause, judged by the instructor to be unavoidable, shall be given an opportunity to take a rescheduled examination or perform work judged by the instructor to be the equivalent.
If the instructor determines that neither alternative is feasible during the current quarter, the instructor may exempt the student from the requirement. Examples of unavoidable cause include death or serious illness in the immediate family, illness of the student, and, provided previous notification is given, observance of regularly scheduled religious obligations, and might possibly include attendance at academic conferences or field trips, or participation in university sponsored activities such as debating contests or athletic competition.
Students are responsible for taking any number of examinations for which they are scheduled on a given day.
- Multiple section courses, courses with two or more lecture and/or lab sections in a given quarter, may schedule a common final with the approval from the dean and the registrar. Common finals will usually be held the Saturday of finals week, during finals the regular finals schedule (Monday through Friday), or on occasion in the