Faculty Handbook F. End-of-Semester Work

1. At the end of the semester there will be scheduled a five-day examination period(including Sunday). An instructor may choose to:

a. hold no final examination;

b. provide the student with a copy of the final examination before the beginning of the examination period, to be taken at any time during the examination period according to the procedure outlined by the instructor ("take-home examination");

c. provide in the envelope supplied, an examination of two or three hours in length which will be made available at a designated examination center, the selection of the particular time period being left to the discretion of the individual student ("student self-scheduled examination");

d. hold an examination during a specific, scheduled session. Examinations to be given in this manner will be scheduled by the Registrar as to room and time (single-session examination).

2. Examinations in all courses must be completed by 5 p.m. on the last day of the examination period. Each student shall be responsible for completing his or her examinations and returning them in the manner prescribed within the designated time periods.

3. Members of the faculty will inform the registrar, upon her/his request, of the manner in which they intend to conduct their final examinations. The registrar will then designate examination centers for each course holding examinations under option 1 (c) and schedule those being held under option 1 (d). The registrar will provide students and instructors with a list showing for each course the manner in which the examination is to be conducted, the date by which examinations must be completed, the days and times for examination sessions, and when pertinent, the examination center in which the examination will be conducted.

4. With the exception of previously scheduled performances and exhibitions, no final course work may be assigned or due during the reading period, which extends between 5:00 p.m. on the last day of classes through 9:00 a.m. of the first day of the examination period (voted by the faculty, May 19, 2016). 

5. Faculty members will submit their grades to the registrar by the agreed date. (Any extensions are to follow the procedures designated by Faculty vote.)

6. Prior to each examination period the student members of the Committee on Educational Policy and of the Judicial Board will arrange to remind each student that examinations are covered by the Statement of Intellectual Responsibility and will explain the manner in which it applies to these examination procedures.

7. All other regulations with respect to examinations and final work are specified in the Examinations and Extensions section of the Amherst College Catalog. Those regulations are binding and may be modified only by vote of the faculty (voted by the faculty May 18, 2017).