Exam Policy

Exams and Grading Policy

Exams and grading in Math 30, 32, 34, 42, and 51 (Intro to Calculus, regular Calculus sequence, and Differential Equations) follow a uniform policy.

Exam Schedule and Locations

All midterm exams occur on Mondays during the open block, from noon to 1:20 PM. Please note that in general, exams are not given in Joyce Cummings Center. Thus, it is essential to know in advance where your exam is taking place to avoid arriving late. The exam room for your section will be announced in class during the week before the exam. 

Student Accessibility Services

If you are requesting an accommodation due to a documented disability, you must register with the Student Accessibility Services Office at the beginning of the semester. To do so, call the Student Accessibility Services office at 617-627-4539 to arrange an appointment with the Program Director of Student Accessibility Services.

Taking Exams

You must show your work in order to receive full credit for an answer, unless it is explicitly stated otherwise. Guesses are not accepted. Be sure to cross out work that you do not want counted (rather than erasing).
Calculators are not allowed on exams (unless your course syllabus states otherwise).

All books and notes must be put away, completely out of view. All electronic devices must be turned off and put away. You are required to sign your exam book. With your signature you are pledging that you have neither given nor received assistance on the exam. Students found violating this pledge will receive an F in the course and will be reported to the Dean of Students. On rare occasions exams have been returned to us for regrading with doctored corrections made after the exams were handed back. This is considered a very grave violation of university conduct. See pages 44-45 of the Academic Integrity handbook.

All requests for re-grading of exams must be made in class on the day the exams are handed back. Please indicate the problem you are questioning on the front of your blue book along with the reason and give it to your instructor. To be consistent we return a problem that is questioned to the person who graded it.

Missing an Exam

We do not give make-up exams for any reason if you miss a midterm exam. Thus, missing an exam is a very serious matter. An unexcused absence from any exam will be counted as a zero. Excuses will be accepted, at the discretion of the Mathematics Department, for genuine emergencies (for example, illness on the day of the exam or a death in the immediate family), for some unavoidable and unforeseen events of an extremely serious nature (your living quarters suffer a bad fire), or for a very limited category of foreseen, but unavoidable, serious events (your doctor attests that you must have surgery during the semester rather than waiting until the semester ends). If an excuse is granted, then your final grade will be computed by an alternate formula.

Requests to be excused must be accompanied by appropriate documentation (for example, a letter from Health Services stating that you are too ill to take the exam on that day or a note from your Academic Dean confirming there has been a death in your immediate family).

If you are excused from an exam, you will also be required to sign an affidavit stating the reason for missing the exam and pledging that your account is truthful. Anyone found to have violated this pledge will be reported to the Dean of Students and will receive an F in the course.

Should you have a serious but foreseeable conflict with one of the exams, you are obligated to contact your instructor as soon as you become aware of it. The Mathematics Department will determine whether or not you will be excused from the exam. (For example, wanting to attend your sister's dance performance or having booked a flight that interferes with an exam date will not be deemed valid reasons for missing an exam.) If you are not excused, then you must take the exam or it will be counted as a zero. If you neglect to inform your instructor or the Mathematics Department well in advance of a foreseeable conflict and then miss the exam, you will receive a zero on the exam. Unawareness of the date or time of an exam will not be considered a valid excuse, since this information is clearly announced on the syllabus.