Examination policies

Anonymous grading

Exams are graded anonymously. Please do your part to maintain anonymity. Regarding any procedural questions involving exams, please communicate with the recorder only.

To preserve anonymity, do not communicate with faculty in any way that will personally identify you during the exam period. Do not discuss any aspect of exam procedure (e.g., timing, method of taking the exam, illness, family emergency, accommodations, or handwriting vs. typing) with your professors. Those discussions should take place with the recorder, Alexis Lanham adlanham@indiana.edu or, if necessary, with the Dean of Students.

Exam numbers

• Students are assigned a different examination number each semester. Before the first day of exams, exam numbers will be posted in CareerNet. Students may also pick up their number in person from the Office for Student Affairs. A photo ID is required for in person pick-ups.
• An exam number is required even for students who plan to use laptops for every exam. In the event of a computer crash, answers may need to be written in a blue book. Faculty often request that the student number be put on the exam in order to account for the return of every exam.
• If you forget your exam number, do not put in your university ID number or your social security number. Instead, contact a proctor when you turn in the exam.

Accommodations and conflicts policy

For second- and third-year students, exam schedule conflicts may be eligible for accommodation if a student has two exams on the same calendar day or four examinations in four calendar days or fewer. Take-home exams longer than eight hours are to be considered two different exams over two days for purposes of this rule. Eight hour (or less) take-home exams over one day will not be considered to be two exams on that day.

Students who know they will be unable to take a final examination as scheduled may submit a Request for Final Exam Accommodations form.

Emergenices and other communications

1. Students must contact the Recorder personally if they have health problems or other emergencies during the examination period.
2. Please let the Dean of Students know if you think a classmate might be facing serious difficulty.
3. To maintain anonymity, students are not permitted to consult their instructors directly about exams.
4. Students are expected to regularly monitor their email for exam-related announcements, especially immediately before and after exams.

Exam rooms, check-in, arrival and setup

1. Room assignments will be posted on a bulletin board on the first floor and on the Student Affairs bulletin board on the ground floor on the evening prior to each day’s exams. To the extent feasible, assigned rooms for laptop takers will be different from the rooms assigned to blue book–writers.
2. For each exam there will an attendance verification. For most exams, note cards will be used to confirm attendance. Students should print and sign their name on a card, and then turn in the card per proctor instructions.
3. Students who are not in the examination room and ready to proceed at the posted start time for the exam will be expected to turn in the exam at the specified ending time regardless of when they actually started the exam.
4. Under certain circumstances, late arrivals may be prohibited from taking the examination.

Using laptops to take exams

1. Update software, test, and arrive early
   1. Students planning to use their laptops for exams must complete the Examplify update/registration/mock exam process per Technical Support instructions provided via email each semester. Laptop users who have not properly registered/updated Examplify and taken the mock exam by the deadline may not be able to use their laptops for exams.
   2. Laptop users must arrive 30 minutes prior to the start of the exam to set up their laptops and ensure they are in secure mode. Under normal circumstances, this process may take only a few minutes, this lead time is necessary to allow technical staff an opportunity to resolve any unanticipated issues.
   3. Students who do not have their laptops in secure mode at least five (5) minutes prior to the start of the exam may be required to use blue books instead of their computers.
2. Crashes and other malfunctions during exams
   While a rare occurrence, laptops may malfunction during an exam. The majority of freezes and other abnormalities can be resolved simply by restarting the computer. If restarting does not resolve the issue, students should not waste valuable time trying to resolve the technical issues. Technical assistance is not provided during an exam. Students should switch to bluebooks and pick up their answer at a point approximately one minute prior to when the malfunction first occurred (Examplify automatically saves every 60 seconds). Notify the proctor that answers are both in bluebooks and typed on the laptop. It is the student’s responsibility to make sure the proctor has personally received any blue books from a laptop room. Do not merely leave them in a collection box in the laptop room, as those boxes frequently are for scrap only. Then work with the available technical staff member to upload of the portion of your answers remaining on the laptop.
3. Examplify security levels
   For each exam, the instructor may choose among three security levels for students using Examplify on their laptops. Most exams use the High Security settings described below.
   High Security
   During an exam, a laptop will function only as a digital bluebook. Students will not have access to any notes on their computer. If the exam is open book/open notes, then students must bring their own hard copy of the permitted materials. Any uncertainty or ambiguity about the materials permitted must be resolved with the instructor prior to the exam period. Spell check is available, and the cut-and-paste function is available.
   Medium Security
   During an exam, students will have access to their notes and other files on their computer by switching out of Examplify to other applications. Internet access will be disabled, however, so students will be able to access documents (including e-books) only if they are saved locally on the laptop, rather than stored in a cloud or accessed through a website. Spell check is available, but the cut-and-paste function is disabled.
   Low Security
   During an exam, students will have access to their notes, e-books, and other files by switching out of Examplify to other applications, including those that require an Internet connection. Students may not use their laptops to communicate with any other person during the exam and must follow any additional restrictions imposed by the instructor. Spell check is available, but the cut-and-paste function is disabled.
4. Uploading your exam
   IT staff will be available approximately thirty (30) minutes prior to the scheduled end time of an exam to confirm and assist with uploads.

Hand-written blue book exams

Students who plan to handwrite their exams in bluebooks must plan to arrive at least fifteen (15) minutes prior to the start of the exam.

During exams

1. Questions
   In most cases, the instructor will not be present in the examination rooms during any part of the exam. All questions should be directed to the proctor. Proctors may be covering more than one room and may be centrally located in the hallway. In addition to the proctors, the Recorder or the Dean of Students may be contacted with exam related questions and concerns.
2. Items found in the exam room
   1. Scantron sheets for multiple choice questions.
   2. Blue books are provided in each exam room for those who choose to write exam answers by hand as well as for use as back-ups for laptop takers.
   3. For multiple-choice exams, please bring your own pencils and erasers.
3. Prohibited materials
   1. Cell phones
   2. Any electronic devices other than your laptop with Examplify installed
   3. Any items prohibited by the exam instructions.
   4. Books bags and backpacks
4. Exam security and etiquette
   1. Absence from the exam room during a closed book exam is subject to monitoring.
   2. At no time are examination materials to leave the exam room.
   3. Exam numbers must be written on all exam materials, and all materials must be returned the proctor at the end of the exam.
   4. Please respect those taking exams and provide as distraction-free an environment as possible. In particular, be aware that talking, even at low volume, in the hallway and lobby areas near the examination rooms disturbs exam takers (this is also true of the outdoor patio area near the classrooms).