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Final Examinations
Final examinations in regularly scheduled courses are held during the final examination period at the end of the term. The format of the final exams can be either online or in person, depending on the situation. The dates of the final examination periods are listed at mcgill.ca/exams.
In some courses there is no final examination; your final grade in these courses is determined by different forms of assessment(s) indicated in the course outline. During the first week of class, students will be provided with a course outline, which along with other details, will include the types of assessment to be used in the course and the weight accorded to each assessment.
Final Examinations: University Regulations Concerning Final Examinations
Final Examinations: University Regulations Concerning Final Examinations
Regulations
Regulations
- These regulations shall apply to undergraduate courses up to and including the 500 level that are evaluated by the use of written examinations. They shall not apply to clinical, field, laboratory, performance, and seminar courses, or to other courses that are evaluated solely by means of a design, paper, program, or project.
- Written examinations (including take-home examinations) shall not be held during the last two weeks of scheduled classes during the Fall and Winter terms, except where a pattern of continuous evaluation has been established, in which case the total value of examinations given in this period shall comprise no more than 10% of the final grade.
- If the written examinations in a course constitute 50% or more of the final grade, one of these shall be given as a final written examination, and it shall take place during the examination period after the last day of scheduled lectures in December or April. Final examinations can be administered as either in person or online assessments.
- A final examination given during the examination period shall be worth at least 25% of the final grade.
- Students shall be informed of all course requirements by the end of the course add/drop period. All term work shall be assigned early enough in the term for students to complete the assignment(s) by the last day of class.
- The due date for term work in courses to which these regulations apply shall be no later than the last day of classes.
- In courses that span the Fall and Winter terms (course pairs with numbers ending D1 and D2), instructors who wish to give a mid-year examination in December must schedule it in the formal examination period.
- The principles enunciated in these regulations shall be applied, appropriately modified, to courses given during the summer, to other courses of less than a 13-week duration, and to courses in the Faculties of Law, Medicine and Health Sciences, Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences, and Education that do not follow the normal University Timetable.
- Individual faculties may propose variations in these regulations to the Academic Policy and Planning Committee to meet their special needs.
- These regulations, and any variations to them, shall be made known to students by each faculty.
Instructors are not permitted to grant any special treatment regarding examinations to any student. Students who believe there are circumstances which might justify making special examination arrangements for them or which might legitimately be taken into account in evaluating their performance should apply to the Associate Dean or Director of their faculty.
It is the responsibility of the student to confirm the date, time, format for online or location of an in person examination by checking examination schedules posted on mcgill.ca/exams. No student will be allowed to enter an in person examination later than one hour after it has started.
Deferred Examinations for Summer Term Courses
Deferred Examinations for Summer Term Courses
If, for serious reasons such as illness or family affliction, you have not written one or more examinations, you must submit a request for a deferral on Minerva.
If the request is approved, you may be granted the option of writing a deferred examination. In such cases, a grade of "L" will be entered on your record, to be replaced subsequently by the grade received in the deferred examination.
Students with permission to write a deferred examination (for courses administered by faculties outside of Engineering) should expect to write the deferral in mid-August concurrent with the Winter deferred exams. Please see mcgill.ca/students/exams/dates/supdefer for further details. For deferral application dates, please see mcgill.ca/students/exams/dates.
Please note that for courses administered by the Faculty of Education, deferred examinations will not be permitted; however, in exceptional circumstances, you may be granted permission to withdraw from the course, without refund.
A student who, in the absence of exceptional circumstances, does not write the final examination and has not formally withdrawn from the course, will be given a letter grade of "J," which will count as a failure in the TGPA and CGPA.
The final examination schedule for Summer Studies courses is available at mcgill.ca/summer/finalexams.
Final Examinations: Reassessments and Rereads
Final Examinations: Reassessments and Rereads
In accordance with the Charter of Students' Rights, and subject to its stated conditions, you have the right to consult any written submission for which you have received a grade. You also have the right to discuss this submission with the examiner. If you want to have a formal final examination reread, you must apply in writing:
- to your Student Affairs Office (the Associate Dean, Student Affairs, in the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and in the Schulich School of Music); see Contact Information for Faculty & School Student Affairs Offices;
OR
- via Service Point if you are a student in the Faculty of Arts or the Faculty of Science.
You should check with that office regarding application deadlines for formal rereads.
Reassessments and Rereads: Faculties of Arts and Science (including B.A. & Sc.)
Reassessments and Rereads: Faculties of Arts and Science (including B.A .& Sc.)
There are two recognized types of impartial reviews: reassessments and rereads:
- reassessment of coursework completed during the term (term papers, mid-terms, assignments, quizzes, etc.)
- reread of a final exam
In both cases, rather than recorrect the work and then grade it as they would have done themselves, reviewers assess the appropriateness of the original grade based, for example, on the application of the grading key to the student's work. If a grade is deemed unfair, it is changed, whether the new grade is higher or lower than the original, i.e., the reviewer's grade takes precedence over the original grade.
Reassessment of Coursework
Reassessment of Coursework
These reassessments are administered and conducted solely by the units involved according to procedures specified by the units and made available to staff and students. Requests for such reassessments must be made within 10 working days after the graded material(s) has been made available for students to view. Reassessments should normally be completed within 20 working days of the request.
Rereads of Final Examinations
Rereads of Final Examinations
Deadlines to request final exam rereads:
Exam reread fees apply; refer to the Student Accounts website for fee amounts and information.
For students pursuing a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, or Bachelor of Arts & Science:
- Requests for a final exam reread must be made via Service Point;
- It is strongly recommended, but not required, that you consult with the instructor of the course before requesting a reread of a final exam.
Students from outside the Faculties of Arts or Science who are taking a course administered by the Faculty of Arts or Science must submit final exam reread requests directly to the Student Affairs Office of their Faculty for approval.
Reassessments and rereads in courses not in the Faculties of Arts and Science are subject to the deadlines, rules, and regulations of their relevant faculties.
Rereads: Faculty of Engineering
Rereads: Faculty of Engineering
You can request a formal reread of a final examination once you have discussed it with your instructor. You must complete a Reassessment of a Grade and Reread webform and submit it to the Student Affairs Office, Engineering Student Centre.
- Grades may be either raised or lowered as the result of a reread.
- A fee for each reread will be assessed directly to your ¿´Æ¬ÊÓƵ account if the result remains the same or is lowered. If the grade is raised, there is no charge. Consult the Student Accounts website for the fee at mcgill.ca/student-accounts/tuition-fees/non-tuition-charges/other.
Reread application deadlines:
- Fall courses: last working day of March
- Winter courses: last working day of July
- Summer courses: last working day of September
Non-Engineering courses: Rereads in courses not in the Faculty of Engineering are subject to the deadlines, rules, and regulations of the relevant faculty.