FINAL EXAM CONFLICTS

PROBLEM:

An increasing number of final examination conflicts are occurring between final examinations for late afternoon and evening courses. Conflicts primarily involve courses where combined examinations are scheduled in evening hours.  Combined examinations are scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. Courses meeting at 5:00 p.m. or later have evening examinations beginning at 7:00 p.m., creating an overlap of one hour. In addition, because combined examinations are primarily scheduled on Monday or Tuesday of exam week, there are often conflicts between two combined examinations.

HISTORY:

At one time, academic departments had the option of scheduling a combined examination at either 5:45 p.m. or 8:00 p.m. The later hour was seldom used because of concerns about deterioration of student performance at the later time. Combined examinations are generally scheduled earlier in the week because the number of enrolled students is large and grading takes a longer time.

Evening examinations were formerly scheduled at 8:00 p.m. but changed to 7:00 p.m. at the request of several academic departments, again with concerns about student performance at the later hour.

The Faculty Advisory Council developed a statement for students with multiple examinations: 

“Examination schedules are listed each term in the Time Schedule. Students who are scheduled to take more than three examinations within one calendar day may take the additional examination(s) as makeup examination(s) later in the examination week. The instructor(s) of record for the course(s) beyond the third examination (counting in the order the examinations are scheduled) will arrange for (a) makeup examination(s). In the case of two examinations scheduled at the same time, the students will take the examination in the department that occurs alphabetically first. In the event of a dispute, the Office of Academic Advising will attempt to mediate. If necessary, the Provost’s Office will make a decision.”

PROPOSED RESOLUTIONS:

• Delete the current faculty statement regarding alphabetical conflict resolution.
• Retain the current times for both combined examinations (6:00 p.m.) and evening examinations (7:00 p.m.).

• For regular courses with examinations scheduled at the same time, the course with the largest enrollment must provide an alternate examination time.
• For examinations conflicts between regular courses and combined examination courses, the combined examination course must provide the alternative examination time.
• For combined examination courses with conflicts, the largest combined enrollment must provide the alternate examination time.

Office of the Registrar

March 2003