Examination Policies and Procedures

GENERAL EXAM POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

All Exam Times Refer to Eastern Standard time (EST)

All exam times communicated for in-classroom, online, or take-home exams are intended to be Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Use of Laptops for Essay and Multiple-Choice Exams

Unless a student elects to handwrite an exam, students will use their laptops to take in-class, online, and take-home exams.  ExamSoft’s Examplify is the primary software used by students when taking their exams.  For instructions on how to register and use this software, please read the “Exam Software Information and Registration Procedures” document at the top of this page.  Students are also encouraged to view an ExamSoft instruction session offered prior to the start of exams as well as complete practice/mock tests.  A recording of the last ExamSoft instruction session can be accessed at the top of this webpage.

Accessing Your Exam Number

Each semester you are issued a new exam number that is to be written on all exam materials submitted for that semester only. Your exam number is uploaded to your ExamSoft Account. Prior to your first exam, access your ExamSoft account and print your one-page My Account Settings that contains your exam number.  The My Account Settings page can be accessed from the Setting icon in the upper right hand corner of the ExamSoft webpage.  See “Steps to Access Your Exam Number” above.  You are permitted to bring this single page into exam rooms. COPY YOUR EXAM NUMBER ONTO EACH EXAM OR OTHER EXAM MATERIALS YOU SUBMIT. YOUR EXAM NUMBER WILL BE PREPOPULATED ON ALL EXAMSOFT EXAMS YOU TAKE.  It is extremely important that: (1) names or other identifying information are never written on exams or other exam materials; (2) exam numbers are copied correctly onto the exams and other exam materials; (3) exam numbers are not revealed to faculty or fellow students until after all grades for the semester are submitted. Retain your exam number for exam viewing purposes and to check on class participation awards. A new exam number will be uploaded to your ExamSoft account for the next semester.

Bluebooks and Multiple-Choice Answer Sheets

Bluebooks or multiple-choice answer sheets are provided by the school to those choosing to handwrite their exams. They will also be available in the front of the classroom and in the Records Office during the exam if a student experiences computer issues that necessitate switching to handwriting.

Exam Time Limits

It is your responsibility to comply with the time limits imposed by your professor and to manage your time appropriately so that you access the exam and submit your answers within the time frame permitted.  Working on an exam before an established start time, or after time has expired, is an honor code violation.  Students who access an exam early, or who do not submit their exam by the deadline risk grade penalties (including a failing grade) and referral for an honor code violation. 

Electronic Devices

The use of secondary electronic devices (including cell phones, watches, or other wireless/ internet connected devices) are not allowed unless expressly permitted by your professor.  Any use of an electronic device to access materials not expressly permitted, including the internet if your professor has not approved internet access, is an honor code violation.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) during Examinations

The use of GAI in preparing to write or writing exam answers is PROHIBITED unless expressly identified in writing by the instructor as an appropriate resource for the exam in the instructor’s course. In no instance are instructors allowed to permit any use of GAI in the Law School’s required JD courses specified in Academic Regulation 3-3.2(a)(except for LRWA IV).

Typographical Errors and/or Ambiguities in Exam Questions

Faculty members will not respond to questions during an exam. If you believe you have discovered an ambiguity/error in a question, resolve the mistake or ambiguity in what you consider to be a reasonable manner and provide your answer on that basis. Those with in-classroom exams may note the potential ambiguity/error on a piece of scrap paper (provided at the front of the room) and turn it in with their exam. Those with online exams can email the Records Office (lwrecord@gmu.edu) after the exam noting the potential ambiguity/error. This will allow the issue to be flagged for the professor prior to grading while still protecting blind grading. Students should not contact faculty during or after the exam to discuss possible errors or any other aspect of their exam.

Cutting and Pasting Text During an Exam

Cutting and pasting text is permitted within an exam answer.  However, cutting and pasting text from computer files or the Internet into an exam answer is NOT permitted and is an honor code violation.

Exam Reschedule/Conflict

Emergency rescheduling of an exam is approved only in cases of extraordinary circumstances (see Academic Regulation 4-4). Should you experience an emergency that prevents you from taking an exam, please contact the Law Records Office (703-993-8015), NOT the instructor, as soon as possible. By following this procedure, the Law Records Office will be able to assist you in seeking permission to reschedule your exam, as well as protect your anonymity during the grading process. Students who register for courses with exams at the same date/time or with exam start times less than 24 hours apart have the option of moving one of the exams to the exam make-up days at the end of the exam period. You must notify the Law Records Office via a Petition Form of your specific conflict at least four weeks prior to the start of the exam period. A determination will be made three weeks prior to the start of the exam period on which exam will be rescheduled during the make-up period and on what date and at what time you will sit for the rescheduled exam. Your assigned make-exam date will be sent to you via e-mail.

NOTE: It is extremely important that you do not discuss any exam in public or on social media. Students that have been granted a delay to the Make-up Exam period may be present without your knowledge and gain access or insight to exam information. Any request for or disclosure of exam information to a person who has a delayed exam schedule is a violation of the honor code.

IN CLASSROOM EXAMS

Download Your Exam Template

You may download your final exam template in Examplify as soon as you see it posted. Students are strongly encouraged to download their exam templates at least one hour before their scheduled exam time. 

Check-in and Room Assignments

Students must check in at the Records Office (Hazel Hall Room 341) for all in‐classroom exams. Exam check‐in opens one hour before the scheduled exam time. Students must be checked in at the Records Office and seated in the classroom they are assigned to for their exam 15 minutes before the scheduled exam start time. At check‐in, students will receive a Room Assignment Card. Students should proceed to their assigned classroom and choose an available color-coded seat. Room Assignment Cards cannot be exchanged or transferred between students. Attempting to evade this or any other exam security measures is considered an honor code violation.

Exam Distribution

A proctor will distribute exams in each exam room shortly before the scheduled start of the exam to each student with a Room Assignment Card. Each student should prominently display their Room Assignment Card for the duration of the exam. Exams should remain face-down on your desk until told to begin the exam.

Key Rules in the Classroom During Exams

All cell phone use is prohibited from the start of an exam until time is called. Students who leave the designated exam room for any reason during an exam should put all exam materials face-down and/or hide their exam screen on laptops by using the “Hide” feature on ExamSoft. You are not permitted to take any examination materials outside the room, to use your cell phone, or to seek exam assistance in any way. No materials beyond your exam, Room Assignment Card, laptop or bluebook, and ExamSoft Account Access page with your exam number are permitted to be on the desk during a Closed Book exam, and all other student belongings (books, backpacks, etc.) must be placed at the front of the classroom. During Open Book exams, your instructor will specify what additional materials you may have on the desk during the exam (books, outlines, etc.). Please play close attention to what materials are permitted during the exam. Instructors/proctors will be present in exam rooms periodically during each exam. Attempting to evade these or any other exam security measures is considered an honor code violation.  Additional in-class exam rules can be found in the document above titled “In-Classroom Examination Rules”.

Handling Computer Issues During In-Class Exams

There will be no technical support available to individual students during the exam. It is your responsibility to be proficient in using your laptop and software.  Therefore, if your keyboard and/or mouse stop responding when using Examplify, you have 2 options: (1) shut down your computer and switch to handwriting your answer or (2) restore your computer by doing the following:

  • Turn off your laptop (press & hold the power button)
  • Restart your laptop
  • When the ‘Examplify Exam Restart’ window appears, select the RESUME button.  You will be returned to within 59 seconds of where you left off.

If your first attempt at rebooting does not correct the problem, you must handwrite the remainder of your exam.  Bluebooks will be provided at the front of the classroom for students to use for this purpose.  You will have the same amount of time to complete the exam, additional time will not be added to your exam time to troubleshoot computer issues.  Your work is safely stored on your computer’s hard drive and will be retrieved after your exam is over.

Exam Collection

When you finish the exam, make certain that your exam number is written on the exam question booklet and any other materials you used (i.e. bluebooks/answer sheet/scratch paper). Return all examination materials including permitted scratch paper and your Room Assignment Card to the Records Office. Your exam may not be graded if we do not have an exam with your exam number on it. When you turn in your exam and your Room Assignment Card to the Records Office, the proctor will check off your name on the class roster to indicate that you have returned your exam materials.

ONLINE AND TAKE-HOME EXAMS

All online and take-home exams will be administered by using either Examplify, TWEN, or Blackboard (LLM Flex program).  Your professor should share with you the platform they will be using and the general parameters for your exam (e.g., three hours starting on the scheduled exam date/time; 48 hour take-home with three hours during the 48-hour window to work on your exam; etc.).  If you have any questions about the format or timing of your final exam, please reach out directly to your professor.  General exam procedures for Examplify, TWEN, and Blackboard (LLM Flex program) are provided below.

Emergencies During Online or Take-Home Exams

In case of an emergency (such as a technology issue with your computer or an exam interruption beyond your control such as a fire alarm in your building) please immediately contact Law Records at 703-993-8015.  Law Records will be available via phone Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. and Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  You may also use a cell phone to document a computer failure or other emergency by using photo/video function to capture the interruption.  Your first step should be to immediately call the Records Office, however, so we can provide you with specific guidance on how to handle the situation.

Instructions on Handwriting in Event of a Computer Issue

You should have white or notebook paper ready in case you have a computer issue and you need to switch over to handwriting.  If you switch over to hand writing, you will have the same amount of time to complete the exam and will be responsible for emailing an image of each handwritten page, labeled at the top of the page with your exam number and the number of pages (e.g., 1of 3, 2 of 3, 3 of 3) to lwrecord@gmu.edu. Your handwritten pages must be emailed to lwrecord@gmu.edu by the time your computer answers would have had to have been submitted if you had completed your exam on your computer.  For example, if your computer answers are due by 9:00 p.m., you must submit your handwritten answers via email by 9:00 pm.  Any work you completed in Examplify prior to experiencing a technology failure will be stored on your laptop’s hard drive and will need to be retrieved by a member of the law school’s IT staff after your exam is over. 

General Exam Procedures for Each Online or Take-Home Exam Platform:

Exams on Examplify:

You may download your final exam three hours before the start date and time of the exam.  One and a half hours before your scheduled exam, Law Records will send you an email at your Mason email address that includes the exam password.  You may use the exam password once it is shared to read any preliminary exam notices (more on exam notices below).   Once you are through the exam notices you will be brought to an orange screen which says “Do Not Start Until Instructed” and has a red stop sign with a hand raised.  Do not proceed further until your scheduled exam time.  At your scheduled start time you may click ”Continue” to begin the exam.  There will be no proctor to instruct you to click this button.  This will bring you to another screen where you should click “I am authorized to start my exam” and the green “Start Exam” button.  Any student who begins their exam before the scheduled exam start time is subject to grade penalties (including a failing grade) and referral for an honor code violation.

If you anticipate needing to use Examplify to work on more than one exam in the same time period, please contact the Records Office for additional instructions on how to close one exam and work on another without submitting.  (We expect this to be a rare or non-existent scenario).

Exam notices will be included at the beginning of each exam. Exam notices will include information on how to keep track of time, Examplify’s alarm clock feature and word count feature (for essays with a word count limit (be careful not to confuse with the character count feature)), an honor code acknowledgement, and your Professor’s Cover Sheet which will list the number and types of questions included on the exam and the materials you are permitted to access/consult during your exam.  Exam notices can be read before you click “start exam” and are available during the exam to refer back to. 

Exam questions will be preloaded into Examplify and will appear on your screen, and you will answer each question on the same screen. 

It is your responsibility to be proficient in using your laptop and the Examplify software.  Please make sure you take a mock Examplify exam prior to taking any final exams on Examplify this semester. 

If you experience a technology failure during your exam, please immediately contact Law Records at 703-993-8015.  However, as with exams given in prior semesters at the law school, there may be an immediate fix if, while using Examplify, your keyboard and/or mouse stop responding.  If this occurs, you may restore your laptop by doing the following:

  • Turn off your laptop (press & hold the power button)
  • Restart your laptop
  • When the ‘Examplify Exam Restart’ window appears, select the RESUME button.  You will be returned to within 59 seconds of where you left off.

If your first attempt at restoring your laptop does not correct the problem, then you will need to handwrite the remainder of your exam.  See “Instructions on Handwriting in Event of a Computer Issue” provided above.

It is your responsibility to ensure that you comply with the time limits established by your professor.  Do not click “start the exam” before your designated exam start time, and be sure that your answers are uploaded at or before the designated end time.  If your exam begins at 6:00 pm and it is a three-hour exam, you must stop working on your exam no later than 9:00 pm and upload your answers immediately.  If you have any question about the time limits for your exam, please contact your professor immediately. 

Examplify has an exam taker tracker and exam log that allows Law Records to monitor the time you download and upload an exam, and the exact time you start and end your exam.  The law school will use the tracker and exam log information to verify that students comply with all applicable time limits.

Exams on TWEN:

If your final exam is being administered via TWEN, you will access your exam via your course TWEN page or, if your professor did not utilize TWEN during the semester, via a TWEN course page created specifically for final exam purposes.  PLEASE MAKE SURE PRIOR TO YOUR EXAM DATE THAT YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE APPROPRIATE TWEN PAGE.  Access will require you to know your Westlaw password so please make sure to have your password available.  If you do not know your password, or forgot it, you will need to click on “forgot password” or you can call Westlaw technical support at 1-800-486-4876.

Exams administered via TWEN will be preloaded in the “Assignments and Quizzes” section of your course TWEN page (listed in the left side column of the page) and labeled “Final Exam.”  Exams must be downloaded and answers must be uploaded during the window of time your professor has specified. 

It is important that you understand what time limits your professor has imposed: both the window in which you may access your exam, and also how much time you are permitted to work on your exam once you access it.  For example, some professors are allowing a 24-hour window (starting from the originally scheduled exam date and time) during which students may access the exam, but once a student accesses the exam, it must be completed (and answers uploaded) within a specific time limit (e.g., 3 hours). If you have any question about the time limits for your exam, please contact your professor immediately. 

To begin working on your exam, locate the final exam in the “Assignments and Quizzes” section, click on “Final Exam,” and you will be prompted to enter your Anonymous ID in order to access the exam.  Your Anonymous ID is your exam number posted on Examplify.  Your exam time limit begins to run when you enter your exam number.  Open a new blank Microsoft Word document and save it to your computer to type your answers.  When finished, you must upload your answer file to TWEN in either Word or PDF format, labeled only with your exam number on each page (no name attached) and using your exam number for the title of the document. To submit, go to the “Assignments and Quizzes” section on TWEN and click “Submit” next to “Final Exam.”  This will open up a file explorer.  Find the correct document to upload and click “Submit” again.  If your upload is successful, you should receive a pop-up message on TWEN letting you know your assignment was uploaded.  Your exam must be uploaded by the time deadline.  Please do not continue working until the time deadline.  Instead, finish with sufficient time to save and upload your exam so that the upload time stamp is within the permissible time period.

Exams on Blackboard (LLM FLEX students only):

Exams in the LLM Flex program are administered using Blackboard.  Professors for these courses will share instructions with students on how to proceed with taking these exams.  Students that run into any issues with Blackboard during an exam or have questions about using the platform should contact the Records Office at lwrecord@gmu.edu or 703-993-8015.

Please see the Records Office website (www.law.gmu.edu/records/) for additional information, including answers to “Frequently Asked Questions” regarding exam procedures. Please contact the Records Office at 703-993-8015 with any questions.