4.1 Examination Absences, Conflicts, and Accommodations
It is the responsibility of each student to be present at the appointed time for classes and examinations and to meet deadlines for the submission of assignments. There may be times when, through no fault of their own, due to a personal crisis or conflict with a court or tribunal appearance for a clinic, some students will miss scheduled examinations or deadlines. The regulations and procedures for requesting make-up examinations or postponing examination deadlines are outlined below. Any student who, without permission and in the absence of an approved petition, fails to take a regularly scheduled course exam, is considered to have an unexcused examination absence and will receive a grade of “Fail” (F) for the examination.
Midterm and Final Exams
If you are ill or an emergency arises before your midterm or final exam (including take-home exams) or you have an exam conflict as defined below, you must contact the Office of Student Affairs immediately. Do not contact your professor. Doing so will breach anonymity, and the professors have no authority to defer or otherwise alter a scheduled midterm or final exam. Permission to re-schedule a midterm or final exam is in the sole discretion of the Office of Student Affairs. The Office of Student Affairs reserves the right to grant or deny a student’s petition to reschedule an exam. Student Affairs also reserves the right to set the date for make-up exams. All other quizzes and other assignments will be re-scheduled at the discretion of the instructor of the course.
Procedure
Students may request to re-schedule an exam by filing a Special Accommodations and Make-up Examination Petition. The petition forms are available in the Office of Student Affairs and online on the Student Affairs page of the CUNY Law website. Requests will not be entertained until all documentation is complete and submitted. Failure to respond to questions and requests for information from the Office of Student Affairs in a timely manner, as determined by the Office of Student Affairs, may result in a denial of the student’s request and/or a grade reduction on the exam.
Grounds
The decision to approve a petition is based on submission of documentation verifying extenuating circumstances that are (1) unforeseen, (2) unavoidable, (3) clearly beyond the student’s ability to control, and (4) of such severity to warrant special consideration or where there is a real or effective conflict between scheduled final exams.
The Dean of Students may schedule students to take a make-up final examination because of 1) direct conflict, 2) effective conflict, or 3)religious conflict. The conflict rule only applies to midterm exams where there is a direct conflict between 2 or more exams or where the conflict arises because of religious observance.
Examination conflicts are defined as: Direct Conflicts—Two final examinations scheduled at the same time. Effective Conflicts—Three final examinations scheduled within any 48-hour period, or two final examinations scheduled in consecutive periods (same day).
Petitions will also be approved based on documentation indicating that a student in a clinic has an appearance before a tribunal or in a clinic matter within 24 hours of the scheduled exam, which the student’s supervising attorney indicates is unforeseeable, substantial, non- negotiable, and cannot be rescheduled. Where the petition is based on a clinic matter, the student shall have the supervising attorney contact the Office of Student Affairs as soon as the scheduling conflict is identified to provide the information necessary to allow the Dean of Students to verify the need to reschedule the exam.
Requests for rescheduling of examination times due to conflicts must be made by filing a petition with the Dean of Students at least one week before the examination. Failure to give sufficient notice may result in a grade reduction or refusal of an accommodation.
Examples of grounds for re-scheduling an exam include, but are not limited to: serious illness, accidents, and family emergencies. Examples of insufficient grounds for re-scheduling an exam include, but are not limited to: stress, participation in a wedding, non- emergency travel, vacations, social activities, or employment.
Exams will be scheduled as soon as possible after the original exam date within the exam period. Exams will not be scheduled beyond one day after the end of exam period, except under extraordinary circumstances. Please refer to Incomplete Policy for further information.
Make-up Exam Fee
All make-up final examinations are subject to the CUNY examination fee. The fee for the first make-up examination is $25, with each additional make-up examination during that semester costing $5. Fees are payable by cash or money order (no personal checks) to the Business Office before the start of the exam. You must present your paid receipt to the Office of Student Affairs, in order to take the examination. This fee applies only to final examinations.