Courses of Study 2019-2020 
    
    Mar 29, 2024  
Courses of Study 2019-2020 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Final Examinations


The academic calendar sets aside, after the last week of classes, a study period followed by a period for final examinations.  Variations in pedagogy and practice across fields have broadened the range of commonly used end-of-semester evaluative exercises beyond traditional sit-down final examinations.  Accordingly, the office of the university registrar assigns a specific day and time for a course’s final exam or final project due date within the final examination period. 

The rules and guidelines governing exams aim to protect students from unreasonable demands on their time while simultaneously providing instructors the flexibility to design evaluative exercises appropriate to their courses. The designated final exam days and times are scheduled to minimize conflicts and spread students’ workloads as evenly as possible over the exam period. Schedules for final examinations, and due dates for end of semester projects, papers and take home exams are made available online at registrar.cornell.edu/exams. For additional information regarding the role of the office of the university registrar in final exam scheduling, see registrar.cornell.edu/exams/final-exam-policies.

Faculty members are urged to accommodate students’ requests for alternative exam times or make-up examinations when students’ exam schedules are sufficiently congested to warrant such accommodation. For example, a student facing a direct conflict, or three or more examinations during one twenty-four hour time period, merits such accommodation. 

No traditional final examination may be administered at a time other than that assigned by the office of the university registrar without prior written permission of the dean of the university faculty: deanoffaculty@cornell.edu.

For final exam policy information, see the Rules Related to Prelims and Finals, or contact the office of the dean of the faculty: deanoffaculty@cornell.edu.