Administration of Final Examinations During the Examination Period

Policy Statement

The fall and spring semesters each comprise 14 weeks of instruction. Final examinations, which include any type of end-of-semester examination, are to be administered only during the regularly scheduled examination period, which constitutes the 15th week of instruction. In order to provide students maximum opportunity to study and review material covered during the semester, and in order to ensure 15 weeks of instruction, final examinations may not be administered during regularly scheduled class sessions on the class make-up day or during the reading period.

Any type of end-of-semester paper, report, or take-home exam, submitted in lieu of a final exam, is acceptable and is normally due during the exam period. If no final exam is scheduled, faculty should make a reasonable determination of whether their course conforms to GW’s assignment of credit hour policy, which assumes that students spend, over the course of 15 weeks, a minimum of 37.5 hours of direct learning and out-of-class work for each credit. More information about what constitutes a credit hour can be found in the Assignment of Credit Hour Policy (PDF).

Three or More Examinations Scheduled on a Single Day

Students who have three or more examinations scheduled on any one day during the examination period may request to take examinations on a different day, so that they have no more than two examinations on any given day. It is the student’s responsibility and right to request that an examination(s) be rescheduled such that no more than two examinations are given during the course of one day. Faculty members are expected to accommodate these requests.

Revised: November 2017