How to Conduct Princeton Undergraduate Courses: Regulations Governing Course Deadlines, Examinations and Grading
Princeton’s procedures for conducting courses, including tests, exams, and grading, are institutionally specific. These procedures guide faculty in course administration: how midterms and final exams are scheduled and administered; the importance of University-established deadlines; how faculty can change a previously submitted grade; and when course evaluations are available.
- Tests during the term are given during the assigned class period. Many courses give tests during midterm week; however, faculty develop their course-specific testing schedules during the term. Faculty must submit midterm grades for all 100-200 level courses Monday following the midterm break and are encouraged to submit midterm grades for all courses.
Several departments that offer large multiple-hour courses (Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, Physics, and Mathematics) combine sections for specially scheduled midterm exams during the evening hours of midterm exam week. If a midterm exam scheduled outside normal course hours conflicts with a regular class meeting of another course, the midterm must be rescheduled to accommodate the regularly scheduled course. If you would like to schedule a midterm exam outside of normal class hours, please contact your department office.
- The final examination schedule is developed by the Registrar, acting for the Faculty Committee on Classrooms and Schedule. The exam schedule is published by the end of the third week of class. This schedule dictates when your course’s final exam is held if you opt to have a regular seated exam. Please note that with the shift to the new academic calendar, final examinations will be scheduled in every available block across the seven-day period, including the morning after Dean’s Date and morning, afternoon, and evening slots on Sunday. You may assign a take-home exam instead of a seated final exam scheduled by the Registrar. No take-home exam may be scheduled before Dean’s Date or after the conclusion of exam period.
- Extensions beyond the University deadlines for papers or projects due on Dean’s Date, postponements of deadlines, and any adjustment of final examinations for more than 24 hours before or beyond the scheduled exam may be granted only by students’ residential college deans or directors of studies, in consultation with course faculty. Adjustments within 24 hours of a scheduled examination may be made by the Registrar.
Do not make special arrangements of your own with your students for late submission of work. Individual arrangements of this kind cause difficulties and are unfair to other students. Applications for late completion of a course are available from the deans and directors of studies in the residential colleges. The Registrar records unauthorized incompletes as an “F.” For a more detailed account of policies governing end-of-term work and extensions, please see the Undergraduate Announcement.
- Final grades are reported electronically to the Registrar. Failure Statements must be submitted for all failing final grades; A+ Statements must be submitted for all undergraduate final grades of A+. Procedures for reporting grades are available online. Faculty receive grading instructions in November.
- Requests for grade changes may be made online only by the instructor in charge of the course. Requests will be reviewed by the senior associate dean of the college acting for the Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standing. Grade changes are approved only to correct a miscalculation or a data entry error and should not be used as a mechanism to address student grade appeals. The process by which students may appeal a grade is found in the Undergraduate Announcement.
- Members of the faculty should discuss results of final examinations with any student who so requests. Many instructors return exams to students immediately after grading them. Instructors should keep unreturned exams for one year.
- Students who have completed the online course evaluation process will have electronic access to final grades as soon as faculty submit them. Faculty will have access to their course evaluation results after submitting grades
Thanks for your attention to these many important details. We appreciate your willingness to make the course conduct experience consistent for all our undergraduate students. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the Office of the Dean of the College (8-3040) or the Office of the Registrar (8-3361) or email us at [email protected] or [email protected].