Fall 2021 Exam Information

Student Taking an Exam

 

The Fall 2021 exam period begins Tuesday, December 7 at 9:00 am and ends Friday, December 17 at 11:50 pm. The Records Office and Dean of Students Office administer exams, and staff members in both offices are available from 9:00 a.m. until evening exams conclude Monday through Thursday, and 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Fridays. The Records Office telephone number is (202) 994-6261; the Dean of Students Office telephone number is (202) 994-8320. Exam locations are posted on the law school display monitors one hour before the scheduled start of each exam. You can find the schedule for all in-class exams here. We advise that you arrive at your exam room no later than 30 minutes prior to the exam.

Below is information related to the Fall  2021 Examinations at GW Law. Please read this information carefully as you will be held accountable for failure to comply with the exam policies and procedures described below. 

Emergencies Before an Exam

Do not contact your professor. In the event an emergency (such as hospitalization or a death in the family) prevents you from taking an exam, to be excused from the exam you must immediately contact the Dean of Students Office at [email protected], or in person. Documentation must be provided to support the basis of any request to be excused. Students who are absent from an exam and are not officially excused may receive a grade of F. Misunderstanding about the date or time of an exam is not a valid excuse for missing an exam. If you are feeling seriously ill, such that you may not be able to complete the exam, do not go into the exam room. Instead, seek immediate treatment and communicate with the Dean of Students Office as soon as you can do so.

Emergencies in the Exam Room

Immediately inform the proctor if an emergency, such as a severe illness, occurs during an exam. The proctor will contact the appropriate Law School officials. Students who leave an exam without contacting the proper Law School officials will not be eligible to finish or otherwise retake the exam later. 

Rescheduling Exams

Professors cannot reschedule exams for individual students under any circumstances. All issues regarding exam rescheduling must be addressed to the Dean of Students Office. 

In-Class Exam Administration

Exam4 Software Information

All in-class exams will be administered through the Exam4 software to submit your responses. Students will receive a hard copy of the exam questions in the exam room. Each exam will include specific instructions. To use the exam software for your Fall 2021 mid-term exam, please download Exam4.  Please review these instructions on how to use Exam4 as well as this video tutorial.

Please complete a practice exam to be sure that your computer passes the security check, Exam4 runs as expected on your computer, and you are familiar with the interface. Launch Exam4 and follow the on-screen instructions. There is no practice exam question, just a blank page on which you type your exam answer. The exam file will be encrypted, and you will not be able to open it. Please run a practice exam for at least five minutes. To submit your practice exam, you must be connected to the law school's wireless network. 

Exam4 currently supports: 

  • Windows 10 (Home, Pro, Edu and Enterprise) [versions 1903**, 1909, 2004, 20H2, 21H1]
  • Windows 11 (Home, Pro, Edu and Enterprise) [versions 21H2]
  • macOS 12 Monterey (including Apple's M1 Processors)
  • macOS 11.6.x Big Sur (including Apple's M1 Processors)
  • macOS 10.15.7 Catalina
  • macOS 10.14.6 Mojave**

Please note that the following operating systems and hardware configurations are not supported:

  • Beta OS versions
  • Apple Macintosh OS X 10.13 and earlier
  • Apple iDevices (iPad, iPhone, etc.)
  • Windows 8.1 and earlier
  • Windows (RT, IoT, Mobile, Team & S versions)
  • Windows 10 SL (non-English Editions)
  • Surface devices that do not have Windows 10 Home, Pro, Education or Enterprise version
  • Linux
  • Chromebooks
  • Virtual operating systems (VMs)
  • Anything else not specifically listed as supported above

The Law School is not responsible for any equipment failure during an exam, will not permit a backup laptop, and will not allow extra time to enable students to address equipment failure. Students who experience equipment failure will simply continue by writing in exam booklets. 

For exams with multiple-choice, students must manually fill in a "Scantron" answer sheet. A document entitled Marking Instructions for Multiple Choice Answer Sheets (“Scantrons”) is posted on the Records Office website. Please ensure that you use a Number 2 pencil and use dark ovals to completely fill in your answers on the Scantron sheet. Never use pen to mark on a Scantron sheet.

End of Exam

At the end of your exam, you will be asked to submit your answers through the law school wireless network. The autosave on Exam4 saves your exam every 10 seconds, with an additional two-minute backup, so there is no risk of losing your work. If you do not have wireless access, you will save your exam on a USB drive provided by the proctor. Students writing in exam booklets will be in the same exam room as laptop users. Exam booklets will be provided by exam proctors. Do not delete any files from your laptop computer until after your grade has been posted, so that the Records Office can complete any necessary follow-up in exam processing. 

Each student is responsible for monitoring the time during the exam. Proctors are not required to remind students of elapsed time. At the conclusion of the exam, as announced by the proctor, all typing and writing must stop immediately. Students may not continue to type or write after time has been announced except to exit the Exam4 program. Specifically, do not finish a sentence, write on the outside of the exam books, or continue to mark any multiple choice (“Scantron”) sheet. Numbering books or adding your GWID number can only be done in the presence of the proctor. In addition, students must ensure that all items for collection are turned into the proctor. Proctors are not responsible for checking materials that students submit. Do not contact your professor at any point until exams are graded. Students may raise any concerns regarding the exam with the Dean of Students Office. 

Exams are graded anonymously. Do not convey your name anywhere on your exam. Use your GWID number (e.g.,G12345678) as your identifier.

Materials

Students are permitted one laptop computer for exam-taking purposes. No additional laptop computers or other electronic data storage devices are allowed in an exam room. In addition, students may not bring external devices such as monitors, an external mouse, or keyboards. No electronic reading devices (including access to e-books) of any kind are permitted; accordingly, if you want to consult any book, notes, or outline during an open book exam, you must bring a hard copy. Devices enabling access to the internet are prohibited, including cell phones and “smart” watches. Cell phones must be turned off, stored away from you, and may not be used during an exam under any circumstances. No headphones are permitted; if noise minimization is sought, please use earplugs. 

In accordance with University policy, students may not bring food and drink into the exam room other than water. Masks must be worn at all times unless you are drinking water. 

Controlled Exams

“Controlled” exams MUST be returned to the proctor at the end of the exam. Failure to do so constitutes a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy. Students who fail to return controlled exams risk receiving an F. You are responsible for returning all required materials to the proctor at the end of the exam. If you are contacted regarding a controlled exam, you must respond immediately and will be required to return to campus, regardless of the time. 

Breaks and Questions

If you need to leave the exam room, you may not take any materials with you and you may not bring any new materials back into the exam room. You may not confer with anyone about the exam or consult materials outside the exam room. 

Any exam-related question should be directed to the proctors who will contact the professor, via the Records Office, to relay any questions about the content of an exam question. Under no circumstances should you ask for assistance from another student taking the exam. 

Take-Home Exams

Your take-home exam will be administered via MyLaw. Please review the MyLaw tutorial in advance of your final exam. Your exam will be located on the right-hand side of your portal page under "UPCOMING EXAMS." You may download the exam and work on it using your own word processing software such as Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or Pages. Consider saving your work to the cloud and regularly saving updates if your software does not do so automatically. If you cannot download the exam, contact the Records Office immediately at [email protected]. MyLaw does not preclude you from accessing other programs or files on your computer. It is simply a means of downloading your exam questions and uploading your answers. MyLaw will prevent students from uploading or modifying submissions after the date and time the exam is scheduled to end so be sure to confirm when your exam must be submitted.

Submitting Your Take-Home Exam

When you have finished your exam, you will be asked to upload and submit your answers through the MyLaw program. You may save your answers with any file name you choose. All metadata from the file (including file name) will be removed before it is given to your professor. Give yourself plenty of time to review the MyLaw protocol and to complete the upload. If you are unable to upload your answers using MyLaw, send a copy of your answer to Records at [email protected].  

Do not reopen or modify the document once it is submitted. The Records Office will note the time of receipt and forward the exam answers to your professor. 

Do not delete your exam answers from your laptop computer and/or cloud drive until after your grade has been posted.

Academic Integrity

As always, students are bound by the law school’s policy on academic integrity. While your professors may have specific instructions regarding your exams, the general expectation is you will not speak with, collaborate with, or otherwise communicate with another person regarding the substance of your exam.