Final Exams: Scheduling, Conflicts and Absences

Final exam schedules are posted on the Office of the University Registrar’s website.

The following University policies and practices apply:

• If a course requires a final exam, the instructor must administer it at the time noted in the final exam schedule.

• Instructors must announce plans for final exams before the end of drop/add. Unless departmental policy stipulates otherwise, the instructor determines the form of the final exam.

• Take-home exams are due at the regularly scheduled hour of a final exam.

• If a course does not have a final exam, the instructor may not administer an exam that substitutes for a final exam during the last week of classes. However, tests that fall within the regularly scheduled class period may be given in the last week of classes, whether or not a final exam is administered during the final exam period.

• In a summer session, final exams are held on the last two days of each term, and may not be scheduled within the last three days before the examination period.  Final exams for short summer session courses are held on the last day of the course.

• A written final exam may not exceed three hours to complete, and a final take-home exam may not require more than three hours in the actual writing.

You must take your final exams at the officially scheduled times.

if you have two final exams scheduled at the same time, or if you have three final exams that begin and end within a 24-hour time period, in a Summer, Fall or Spring semester, you may petition the Office of the University Registrar to have one exam rescheduled.

Petition Procedure:

1. Go to the Exam Schedule on the Office of the University Registrar’s website.
2. Scroll down to Final Exam Policies and click on Petition to Change a Final Exam Time
3. Read the instructions and complete the Petition to Change Final Exam form.
4. The Registrar’s Office will contact your instructors to see if an exam can be moved.
5. Remember that this only applies to Fall and Spring terms, not to Summer.

If you are unable to take a final exam at the officially scheduled time, you must contact your academic dean as soon as possible, preferably in advance of the final exam but no later than 48 hours after the final exam is given.

Your academic dean may excuse you from a final exam and request a make-up from your instructor if you have experienced a serious illness, a death in the family, or other emergency. Appropriate documentation is required.

• If your absence is excused and the exam is postponed for only a few days, your instructor may be able to turn in your final grade in time.
• If your absence is excused but you were not able to take the final exam before grades were due, your instructor will issue an 'X' instead of a final grade. The X indicates that you were absent from the final exam.

If you receive an X, note the following:

• You generally have until the end of the 5^th week of the subsequent Fall or Spring semester to take the final exam.

• You may have to take the final exam before the end of the 5^th week if:
  • You need to meet semester or annual continuation requirements, or
  • Your instructor and/or dean require an earlier deadline.

• Once a final grade is issued, your transcript will list the final grade as well as the notation: Converted from an X.

• *IMPORTANT* If you do not take the final exam by the given deadline, the X grade will be automatically convert to an F.

An X will be given in place of an I (Incomplete grade) if all of the following criteria are met:

1. you are in good standing, and
2. you have missing work from close to the end of the semester, and
3. you are excused from the final exam.