Common Hour Exam Policies

The following rules shall govern the conduct of the Common Hour Examinations and shall be enforced by the instructional deans of the faculties and colleges offering the courses in which Common Hour Examinations are given.

  1. The overall examination time will not exceed eighty (80) minutes.
  2. For each Common Hour Examination, students will be excused from an equivalent period of instruction.
  3. Certain scheduled Rutgers activities will take precedence over common hour examinations for students who are formally registered to participate in those activities. Activities that take precedence over common hour examinations will include regularly scheduled Rutgers classes, and scheduled Rutgers athletic events. Students who have conflicts between such activities and common hour examinations must be offered an alternate examination ( see #6, below).
  4. Students may enroll for two or more courses that schedule common hour examinations at the same time. Students who have such conflicts must be offered the minimum number of alternate examinations (see #6, below) needed to resolve the conflict.
  5. The times and locations of common hour examinations and the official rules concerning conflicts with common hour examinations will be announced and provided in writing to students by the class instructor clearly and at the beginning of the term. Students with potential conflicts will be advised to contact their instructor immediately.
  6. If a student has a conflict between a common hour examination and a scheduled activity that takes precedence (see #3), then the department must offer the student an alternate examination within one week of the primary examination.
  7. If a student has a conflict between two or more common hour examinations, then that student must take one common hour examination at the scheduled time and be offered as many additional alternate examinations as needed to take the other conflicting common hour examination(s).
  8. Alternate examinations must be offered at times that do not conflict with activities that take precedence.
  9. Alternate examinations will be graded according to the same standards as the common hour examinations for which they substitute.
  10. Students and departments offering common hour examinations may disagree on whether a scheduling conflict constitutes grounds for missing a common hour examination. Students appeals in such cases will be referred to the dean of instruction in the student's college. The dean's decision will be binding on both the student and the department offering the common hour examinations. Student appeals must be submitted at least two weeks prior to the date of the conflict.

Please see the current Common Hour Exam Schedule.