Per the Stanford University Honor Code faculty can determine the best exam environment for their tests and make any requirements they see fit with regard to how students take the exam.

To uphold the spirit of the Honor Code and to create consistency across courses in the pre-clerkship curriculum, the Office of Medical Education provides the following guidelines for closed-book examination environments in our required MD courses:

• Students will complete exams in the rooms assigned by the course.
• Exams are non-collaborative and, unless otherwise noted by course faculty, closed book.
• Unless otherwise stipulated by the course director, use of any electronic device to access other resources, including (but not limited to) the internet, your notes, and your colleagues, is expressly forbidden and constitutes a violation of the Honor Code.
• The use of personal listening devices is expressly forbidden in the exam setting.
• Please see Section 3.12 Policies and Resources for Device Encryption, Security and Use for more information about BYOD policies governing final exams.

Final Examinations Pre-clerkship Courses

Final examinations are scheduled by the Office of Medical Education, which posts tentative dates and times by the end of the previous quarter and final schedules by the end of the second week of the quarter. Students anticipating conflicts in examination schedules should seek to resolve them with course instructors.

Students are expected to remain on campus during the final exam period and should not book travel or other plans until they have confirmed the dates that they must sit for their final exams. Final exams should take priority over other commitments and students are advised to plan accordingly.

Final examinations are governed by the regulations below:

1. Students are expected to take the final examination unless at least 24 hours prior to the examination they have received formal written approval for either dropping the course from the course director or for obtaining an incomplete from an Academic Advising Dean. Incompletes are given for significant personal or medical reasons beyond the student’s control. If a student does not appear for the examination and has not been granted a drop or an incomplete, the student will receive a fail.
2. Students are expected to report for their examinations at the time and place designated by the Office of Medical Education or the course director, unless the course director has made alternative arrangements. While examinations are not “proctored” as such, students must take the examination in the designated location within the prescribed examination time. Students are expected to adhere to the Honor Code at all times during examinations.
3. When the final examination or its appropriate substitute is not an in-class examination (e.g., when an instructor assigns a take-home examination, paper, or project in lieu of an in-class examination), the schedule and format of the final examination, or its substitute, will be determined no later than the end of the second week of the quarter and, if changed subsequently, may be only a modification approved by a majority of the students in the class.
4. Medical students who need academic accommodations based on the impact of their disability must initiate a request with the Office of Disability Resources well in advance to receive appropriate accommodation for exams. Once students receive an official accommodations letter, they must inform the School of Medicine Learning Strategies Specialist and their course director(s) by no later than the end of the second week of the quarter every quarter in which they are requesting accommodations.
   
5. Feedback on written examinations is to be as complete as practicable.

updated August 2024