Examinations and Grading - Part 1
- Examination Procedures
- Exam Irregularities
- Examination Changes
- Disabled Student Accommodations
- Retention and Storage of Exams
- Grading System
- Grade Normalization
Examination Procedures
The Registrar’s Office administers examinations according to the published examination schedule. Students must remain in residence during the period in which they have scheduled exams, and students must arrange their work and personal schedules in order to attend their scheduled exams.
No Early Examinations.
No student can take an examination before the official time scheduled for the examination.
- In-Class Examinations with Hand-Written Responses
The Sturm College of Law provides bluebooks and scratch paper for in-class examinations. Students must provide their own writing utensils and/or other equipment required for the examination. If the professor has indicated that students can bring various materials to the examination with them, students have the responsibility to ensure that they have these materials with them before the start of the examination. At the end of the examination, students must submit all the blue books distributed to them as well as answer sheets to the proctor in the examination room. Students may take examinations only in designated rooms.
- In-Class Examinations Taken on Laptop Computers
- Before an In-Class Laptop Examination
After a student downloads the current version of the examination software, the student must perform a practice test. During the practice test, the software checks the computer for security issues. Students have the responsibility to resolve any laptop hardware or software problems before taking exams on a laptop.
Student laptops must have the capacity to access the Internet in order to download the examination software and to submit answers at the completion of an exam. Students have the responsibility to ensure that they bring a power cord, a fully charged battery and an network [Ethernet] cable to the examination [i.e., no wireless access due to unstable transmissions], and students must mute computer speakers during the examination period.
Extegrity software can have compatibility problems with new operating systems or older Macintosh software. The Registrar’s Office will notify students of compatibility problems and will make loaner laptops available to affected students. Affected students must email their entire examination schedule to the Registrar’s Office to reserve a loaner laptop. A student who reserves a loaner laptop (1) must report to the Registrar’s Office thirty minutes before the start of each examination to obtain the loaner laptop and (2) must return the laptop and all peripheral equipment immediately after the examination. Under no condition will the Registrar’s Office provide a loaner laptop for use outside the law building. Moreover, the Registrar’s Office does not furnish loaner laptops for take-home or on-line examinations.
- During an In-Class Laptop Examination
Students who take an in-class exam on a laptop have the same amount of space and/or pages as students who write the exam. However, individual professors may issue their own policies with respect to space and page limitations.
During the laptop examination, every few minutes the software automatically saves to the laptop’s hard drive. The Registrar staff can assist with recovery of the encrypted examination answers in the event of computer failure. If a student’s laptop fails during an examination, the student immediately must notify the proctor and proceed to the Registrar’s Office with his/her laptop and examination materials. If possible, the Registrar’s Office will print the answers the student already has typed and provide the student with a loaner laptop. The Registrar’s Office then will place the student in a “triage” classroom for the remainder of the examination.
At the end of the exam, students must submit exam answers electronically. A student should not ask the Registrar’s Office to confirm the receipt of his/her exam unless the student receives an error message. If the laptop does not connect to the network during submission, an error message will appear. If a student receives an error message, the student immediately must notify the proctor and bring the laptop to the Registrar’s Office where the staff will retrieve the exam via a USB drive.
- After the In-Class Laptop Examination
Students MUST return exam questions to the proctor. The Registrar will print laptop answers within 2 business days. If the Registrar encounters any difficulty printing an examination answer, the Registrar will notify the student and retrieve a back-up copy of such answers from the encrypted copy on the student’s computer.
- Take-Home Exams
Some professors use take-home examinations. The requirements for take-home examinations vary and depend upon the specific instructions of the particular professor which the professor provides to students and to the Registrar prior to the examination.
Under no circumstances should professors schedule any portion of a take-home examination during the examination reading period.
Professors maintain the exclusive responsibility to distribute take-home examinations. Students cannot FAX answers to take-home examinations to the Registrar, and under no circumstances will the Registrar’s Office accept take-home examination answers submitted by FAX. Professors may require students to submit take-home examination answers to the Registrar by email at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). If professors require an email submission of examination answers to the Registrar, students have the responsibility to assure that they comply with this requirement. The Registrar has no responsibility to assure that any particular student has properly submitted a take-home examination answer.
Each student also must submit all copies of his/her take-home examination itself to the Registrar’s Office. Failure to submit all copies of the examination may result in a delayed grade or in failure of the course.
Students should retain copies of their examination answers to protect against an electronic submission failure.
- Online Exams
On-line examinations have procedural complexities and can pose certain problems. Please see Appendix B for the policies, procedures and cautions that relate to on-line examinations.
Exam Irregularities
If a student encounters any irregularity or extenuating circumstance during an examination that interferes with the examination process, the student immediately must report the circumstances to the Registrar’s Office. Such circumstances include, without limitation, an illness or a disruptive incident in the examination room. If a student fails to bring such circumstances immediately to the attention of the Registrar’s Office, the student cannot later appeal the examination result based on the unreported circumstances.
Examination Changes
All students must take their examinations at the officially designated place, date and time. Students also must arrange their work and personal schedules so that they can attended their scheduled examinations. Students must plan to remain in residence during the entire period in which they have scheduled examinations.
No student may take an examination before the examination’s officially scheduled date and/or time. A student, however, may request permission to take an examination out-of-sequence for the following reasons:
- The student has two (2) in-class examinations scheduled on the same calendar day, or
- The student has one (1) in-class examination and one (1) 24-hour take home examination scheduled on the same calendar day, or
- The student has two (2) 24-hour take home examinations scheduled on the same calendar day, or
- The student has three (3) in-class examinations scheduled on three (3) consecutive calendar days, or
- The student has two (2) in-class examinations and one (1) 24-hour take home examination scheduled on three consecutive calendar days, or
- The student has one (1) in-class examination and two (2) 24-hour take home examinations scheduled on three consecutive calendar days.
- The student has serious medical reasons verified in writing by appropriate medical personnel, or
- The student has a personal emergency supported by documentation.
Examinations Rescheduled for Reasons One (1) through Six (6) Above:
Students who seek to change an examination time for reasons one (1) through six (6) above must seek permission from the Registrar. Students must complete examinations rescheduled for reasons one (1) through six (6) during the scheduled examination period.
If a student requests an out-of-sequence examination based on an in-class and take-home exam sequence, the Registrar’s Office shall reschedule the take-home examination rather than the in-class examination.
Examinations Rescheduled for Reasons Seven (7) and Eight (8) Above:
Students who seek to change an examination time for reason seven (7) or eight (8) above must seek permission from the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Personal emergencies do not include work-related responsibilities, but rather contemplate such events as a death in the family, or emergency medical situations that involve the student or family dependents. A student who seeks a rescheduled examination for reasons seven (7) and eight (8) must file an Out of Sequence Exam Request with the Associate Dean as soon as the medical situation arises or as soon as the student discovers the personal emergency. Students can find such forms here and in the second floor Dean’s Suite. Students who receive permission to reschedule an examination for reasons seven (7) and eight (8) must complete the examination as soon as possible and preferably within the normal examination period for the particular semester. In no event may an a student reschedule an examination after the beginning of the next semester.
h4(#accommodations) Disabled Student Accommodations
A student with documented disabilities who requests examination accommodations should meet with the Manager of Student Affairs at the beginning of the academic year, or upon discovery of the disability, to discuss needed accommodations. University Disability Services (UDS) reviews and approves all documentation and accommodations. Students can find the UDS handbook and forms at http://www.du.edu/disability/. A student must implement and finalize accommodations by completion and submission of an Exam Accommodations Form to the Student Affairs Office one month before the last month of scheduled classes for the particular semester. Students can find the form online here. The Student Affairs Office then submits this form to the Registrar’s office. A student must complete and submit this form to the Student Affairs Office during each semester in which the student requests an accommodation.
Retention and Storage of Exams
Each faculty member has an obligation to retain all materials upon which the professor bases a student’s grade for at least one year following the completion of the course.
Grading System
The College of Law employs a letter grade system of A-F. The grades issued in all required courses must have a median of 3.0 and a mean between 2.85 and 3.15. The grades issued in all non-required courses with an enrollment of more than ten students must substantially conform to this mandatory curve. Substantial conformity means that grades cannot deviate more than 0.1 from the mandatory median and mean. If the grades issued in a course of more than 10 students substantially deviate from the mandatory curve the professor must provide the Associate Dean with adequate justification for the deviation. The Associate Dean shall make the final determination of whether an adequate justification exists for the substantial deviation. If the Associate Dean determines that adequate justification does not exist, the professor, the Associate Dean, or the Registrar shall recurve the grades.
The law school uses letter grades to calculate grade point averages in a four-point numerical system. Letter grades have the following numerical values:
| A | 4.0 |
| A- | 3.7 |
| B+ | 3.3 |
| B | 3.0 |
| B- | 2.7 |
| C+ | 2.3 |
| C | 2.0 |
| C- | 1.7 |
| D+ | 1.3 |
| D | 1.0 |
| D- | 0.7 |
| F | 0.0 |
A limited number of courses (including internships and journal work) receive pass/fail grades. Pass/fail grades do not factor into the student’s cumulative law school grade point average. When the student receives a passing grade, P, the student has performed at a standard consistent with a grade of C or better. A failing grade, F, indicates unacceptable performance, and will not count toward the graduation credit hour requirement.
Grade Normalization
The normalized grade range for required classes will be a median of 3.0 and a mean between 2.85 and 3.15. The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs will conduct normalization procedures after notification of the professor involved that the median and mean fall outside of the required range. The professor shall have two working days from the date of notification by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to make adjustments and to resubmit final grades.
The normalized grade range for required classes will be a median of 3.0 and a mean between 2.85 and 3.15. The Associate Dean for Academic Affairs will conduct normalization procedures after notification of the professor involved that the median and mean fall outside of the required range. The professor shall have two working days from the date of notification by the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs to make adjustments and to resubmit final grades.
If no agreement can be reached in which the median is 3.0 and the mean falls between 2.85 and 3.15 , then normalization will occur in the following manner:
- The Associate Dean will add the same number of points to, or or subtract the same number of points from, each submitted grade to ensure that the median reaches 3.0 and the mean falls between 2.85 and 3.15;
- No student who originally received a passing grade will receive a failing grade after normalization;
- If, statistically and technically, the median cannot reach 3.0 and the mean cannot fall between 2.85 to 3.15 , the Examination and Standing Committee will take immediate jurisdiction over the matter and submit a final non-appealable decision after an expedited review.
- For classes with ten or fewer students the faculty policy strongly encourages that all grades fall within the established median of 3.0 and the mandatory mean of 2.85 to 3.15.