Final Exams - Overview
Overview
The Curricular Services team in the Office of the Registrar, in partnership with departmental curricular representatives and school/college leadership, is responsible for building the final exam schedule each fall and spring term, assigning final exams, and maintaining final exam data in the Student Information System (SIS).
Final Exam Types and Date/Time Assignments
Requesting a Final Exam Assignment
Note: The information below applies to most classes but not all. For example, final exams are not assigned for independent/directed study courses (per faculty policy), and the Law School has a unique final exam schedule consistent with pedagogical standards for J.D. instruction.
Final Exam Policies
Final exams are scheduled at UW-Madison based on the university's academic calendar and the policy on the summary period (i.e., final exam week) as set by the Faculty Senate.
Each fall and spring semester, the regular 15-week academic session is immediately followed by the summary period. The summary period begins with a study day set aside “for individual study and review” – no classes, exams, or other required instructional activities may be scheduled on the study day. The study day is followed by six days of final exams, with six two-hour exam blocks on each day. As detailed below, exam blocks are assigned in ways that attempt to minimize conflicts for students and instructors.
Instructors may use their assigned two-hour exam block for a traditional cumulative exam; as the due date/time for a take-home exam, final project, or final paper; or “for other instructional activities as deemed appropriate by the instructor and as approved by the instructional unit offering the course.”
For various pedagogical reasons, not all classes will have final exams, final assessments, or other instructional activities considered cumulative in nature. It is not uncommon for instructors to administer a non-cumulative assessment (i.e., midterm) at the last class meeting and have no final exam during the summary period. This aligns with the policy stipulation that “no cumulative final exams or assessments may be scheduled in the two weeks preceding the summary period.”
Undergraduate seminar courses (i.e., those numbered below 700 and with component type Seminar/SEM) and all courses numbered 700 and above are exempt from the policy on the summary period. However, the Office of the Registrar can assign an exam block to such courses on request, following standard procedures outlined below. Exam blocks are not assigned to any independent/directed study courses, since students in such courses work one-on-one with instructors on individualized projects.
Accommodations
Instructors must provide alternative testing and/or other accommodations for final exams as required by a Student Accommodation Letter. Consult the McBurney Disability Resource Center's Instructor Resources for more information.
Conflicts
Per faculty policy, alternate exam times for students with three or more final exams in 24 hours or with any other conflicts may be offered at the instructor's discretion. Instructors are only mandated to provide alternate exams for students with direct exam conflicts or in cases when conflicts result from changes in the exam schedule after students are enrolled.
Instruction Mode and Synchronicity
All course sections are assigned an instruction mode that indicates where class meetings occur: in-person, hybrid, or online (full definitions in campus policy). Online sections may only administer online exams; per policy, online course sections that meet in-person only for exams are not permitted. In-person or hybrid sections may administer in-person and/or online exams.
Regardless of instruction mode, all synchronous course sections (i.e., those with scheduled, time-specific meetings) are permitted to give both synchronous and/or asynchronous exams. Asynchronous course sections will generally have asynchronous exams that can be completed by students within a certain time frame. An asynchronous course section may have a synchronous final exam only if accommodations or flexibilities are made for students unable to attend synchronous exam times.
Final Exam Schedule
Fall/Spring Regular Session
Final exam dates for the regular 15-week session in fall and spring are determined by the academic calendar as set by the Faculty Senate. The summary period comprises one study day where no classes, exams, or other required class activities are to be scheduled, followed by six days of exams. Each exam day has six two-hour exam blocks (with 20 minutes of passing time between blocks) that begin at 7:45am, 10:05am, 12:25pm, 2:45pm, 5:05pm, and 7:25pm.
The Curricular Services team in the Office of the Registrar is responsible for building the final exam schedule. These schedules are posted in the Curricular Build and Planning Documents Box folder.
Fall/Spring Modular Sessions and Summer Term
There are no set final exam dates for fall and spring modular session classes or for any summer term classes.
For fall and spring classes in modular sessions (i.e., sessions other than the regular 15-week session), final exams, projects, papers, or any other cumulative assessments or instructional activities must take place within the session in which the class is scheduled or be due by the last day of that session. It is expected that most instructors administering a final exam for a class in a fall or spring modular session will do so at the last class meeting. Any assessments of student learning administered outside of regularly scheduled class meetings must comply with the policy on evening midterm exams set by the faculty.
Per policy, final exams during summer are to be administered at the last class meeting.
Final Exam Types and Date/Time Assignments
Classes are scheduled in a variety of ways: some as a standalone component (e.g., lecture only), some with a one-to-one relationship (e.g., a lecture associated with a single discussion or lab), and others with a one-to-many relationship (e.g., a lecture associated with multiple discussions and/or labs). Final exams can only be scheduled based on the lecture or other component with a section number between 001 and 299. For example, the final exams for CHEM 103 (General Chemistry I) are scheduled based on the lectures, not the associated discussion or lab sections.
Standard Exams
Standard final exams make up the majority of exams during finals week. These types of final exams are assigned based on the section's day/time meeting pattern, which helps minimize student and instructor conflicts during finals week.
Example: Final exams for all Monday/Wednesday/Friday 3:30-4:20pm classes that require a final exam will have their exams scheduled for the same date/time during finals week.
The date and time of the exam for any given meeting pattern varies from term to term. In other words, instructors who consistently teach a class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:00am may have their final exam at 7:45am on a Friday one term, then at 5:05pm on a Tuesday the next term. This variance in the term-to-term final exam schedule is intentionally designed to promote fairness and equity by distributing meeting patterns across the 36 exam block options (six exam days with six time blocks each).
Group Exams
A number of courses have been approved to give group exams, where all sections of the course are assigned a common final exam date/time regardless of when individual class sections meet. Classroom assignments for group exams can be made based on total course enrollment regardless of instructor or grouped by the course administrator/instructor for each section.
Example: Course X is approved to give group exams across all scheduled sections. Instructor A teaches 100 students in LEC 001 and 100 students in LEC 002, and Instructor B teaches 100 students in LEC 003. A single common exam date/time will be assigned to all three sections, and the final exam will be administered to all 300 students on the same date at the same time. Final exam classroom assignments can be made either for all 300 students combined (i.e., Instructor A's and Instructor B's students co-mingled) or split by Instructor A's 200 students and Instructor B's 100 students.
Because group exams are not assigned a final exam date/time based on each section's individual day/time meeting pattern, the likelihood of student conflicts greatly increases. The algorithm used to assign group exams is built to minimize student exam conflicts, but complete elimination of conflicts is not possible. Instructors with students who have direct conflicts must provide an alternate exam time. Decisions about when to schedule an alternate exam date/time should balance concerns about fairness and academic integrity with flexibilities that may support student success.
Due to the increased likelihood of student conflicts, the Office of the Registrar partners with school/college deans to review all group exams. Requests for new group exams are subject to the approval of each school/college final exam dean or designee.
Final Exam Room Assignments
Curricular Services assigns General Assignment (GA) classrooms for final exams and notifies instructors and departments of these assignments 3-4 weeks prior to the start of finals week.
Unless otherwise indicated by the department, it is assumed that all GA classrooms for final exams should be assigned to accommodate double-seating (i.e., sufficient room capacity to leave every other seat empty). Especially for larger classes, multiple classrooms may be assigned for a final exam. In such cases, instructors are responsible for arranging proctors and informing students which room to report to.
All sections with a final exam date/time assignment and an instruction mode of WO (online only) are automatically excluded from the final exam room assignment process, as classes that are wholly online are not permitted to have in-person exams. Curricular Services also maintains a final exam room assignment bypass list, which indicates subjects, courses, and individual sections that do not require a GA classroom for final exams. Common reasons that a GA room is not needed for a final include: the exam will be administered online, the exam will be held in a locally controlled (i.e., non-GA) space, or the exam date/time will be used as a deadline for a take-home exam, final project, or final paper. Instructors teaching an in-person or hybrid class who will not require a GA classroom for their final exam should notify their departmental curricular representative. Curricular representatives should then inform Curricular Services. This helps ensure that GA classrooms are available for those who will use them.
Note: Curricular Services is not able to accommodate requests to enter non-GA classroom assignments for final exams in the Student Information System (SIS), as scheduling in locally controlled spaces is not controlled by the Office of the Registrar. Instructors opting to administer their final exam in a non-GA space are responsible for informing students which room to report to.
Viewing Final Exam Room Assignments
Faculty and Instructors
Once released, instructors can view final exam room assignment details in the My Exam Schedule section of their Faculty Center. See: Faculty Center - Viewing Your Exam Schedule.
Students
Once released, students can view final exam room assignment details in Course Search and Enroll and the MyUW Course Schedule app. See: Course Search & Enroll/Course Schedule - Viewing Your Exam Schedule.
Curricular Representatives
Once released, curricular representatives have access to view final exam room assignment details in several places in SIS. See: Final Exams - Understanding and Finding Information.
Requesting a Final Exam Assignment
Faculty and Instructors
Instructors can view final exam date, time, and room assignment information in the My Exam Schedule section of their Faculty Center. If your class does not have a final exam assignment and you plan to administer an exam during finals week and/or plan to have a take-home final exam, project, or paper due during finals week, please contact the curricular representative for your department. Your curricular representative will then submit the request on your behalf to the Office of the Registrar.
Additional final exam information for faculty and instructors, including details about how to address a variety of common scenarios, is available online. See: Final Exam FAQs for Instructors.
Curricular Representatives
Curricular representatives do not have access to edit any final exam data in SIS. All requests to change final exam data, including to add or remove final exam assignments, should be directed to Brittany Elandt (brittany.elandt@wisc.edu), the final exams lead in Curricular Services.
Curricular representatives should coordinate with faculty and instructors to identify their final exam needs as early in the schedule build process as possible. Curricular Services sends out a call to review final exam information shortly after each fall and spring schedule of classes is published; this serves as a reminder to finalize those details. Requests for changes must be submitted before the start of priority enrollment. Once enrollment is underway, all requests for changes to the final exam schedule will be reviewed by the Office of the Registrar and forwarded to the school/college dean's office for review and approval.
Additional Resources
Final Exams
- Final Exams - Understanding and Finding Information
- Final Exam FAQs for Instructors
- Fall and Spring Final Exam Schedules
- Summer Term Exams
- Faculty Legislation II-105: Summary Period for Academic Semester
Grading
Questions about final exams, including requests to add or delete final exam assignments or update final exam data in SIS, can be directed to Brittany Elandt (brittany.elandt@wisc.edu), the final exams lead in Curricular Services. Questions about grades and grading policy can be directed to the Student Records and Enrollment team at registrar@em.wisc.edu.