V. Examinations and Papers
Although faculty have complete discretion as to how to evaluate their students, the Law School encourages multiple forms of evaluation, including evaluation of class participation, writing assignments and midterms, in addition to the final exam whenever possible. You must inform students of the method of evaluation in writing at the beginning of the semester, preferably in the syllabus.
Nothing raises students’ anxiety level more than unanticipated problems with or changes to their final exams. You should describe your final exam policies, including the length and type of exam (open book, closed book, multiple choice, essay, etc.) in your syllabus.
We strongly suggest that you do not change the format of exam you will be giving (in-person vs. take-home vs. a final paper) after the student registration window opens, as some students use exam details listed in the catalog to develop their course schedule.
Before making changes to your exam type, you must first consult with the Assistant Dean for Student Services. If, after consultation, you change the format of your final exam, you must publish the changes in a revised syllabus posted to the course webpage. Please also send the change to the Registrar’s Office and your Faculty Assistant.
Exam questions should be written by the instructor. Questions from an instructor’s exams from prior years should not be reused if the prior exams are available to students. This includes questions from prior exams administered at another law school. Nor should questions be paraphrased from or copied directly from past exam questions published by a State Bar, or from commercial sources, such as bar exam preparation books or on-line software.
Prior to the exam period, instructors will receive a detailed memorandum from the Law School Registrar concerning the preparation of your final exam, along with a request for detailed information about your exam. Please read the memo carefully and submit the requested information promptly. There is considerable "behind the scenes" work that must be completed before an exam can be administered.
Information regarding exam setup and the Exam Detail Request Form can be found in the Exam Guide PDF.
All timed and graded assessments, including quizzes, must be administered by the Law School Registrar to maintain anonymity and ensure students receive any registered accommodations.
Midterm exams and quizzes can be administered in-person during class time or through the take-home exam module outside of class time. Instructors should notify the Registrar's Office (registrar@law.uci.edu) of the dates, lengths and exam types of any midterms or quizzes prior to the first day of instruction to ensure appropriate resources (e.g., proctors and rooms) are available.
Once notified, the Registrar's Office will create an Exam Detail Request Form in the Roster & Grades App to collect additional information regarding the exam(s). Additional information regarding exam setup and the Exam Detail Request Form can be found in the Exam Guide PDF.
Instructors must submit exams to their Faculty Assistant at least three business days before their exam date.
The final exam period runs for approximately two weeks at the end of each semester. Students must take their final exams during this period.
In-person final exams are scheduled by the Assistant Dean of Student Services to minimize conflicts between courses. Students must take exams on the scheduled date. Instructors may not change the scheduled date or time of in-person final exams.
Take-home final exams are scheduled within the final exam period at the instructor's discretion. Instructors may contact registrar@law.uci.edu if they would like assistance avoiding conflicts when scheduling take-home exams.
Law School policy requires instructors be available via phone or email during their exam. However, instructors are not required to be on campus as the exam will be administered by the Registrar’s Office.
All courses with a final exam must have a review session during review week at the end of the instructional semester, which will be scheduled by the Registrar's Office at the beginning of the semester. Law School policy prohibits introducing new material during the review session; the session is limited to reviewing only the material already covered in class.
Whenever possible, the Registrar's Office will schedule review sessions for the same day and time that the course met during the semester. Please contact the Registrar’s Office if you need additional time for your review session, or if you need to reschedule the time assigned for your course. The review session schedule will be posted to the Registrar Exam Website and will be updated as changes are made.
In-person exams are administered through the ExamSoft/Examplify software.
Students will download an ExamSoft template prior to exam day based on the instructor's specifications regarding: the number of multiple-choice and essay questions and exam security settings.
Bluebook and Scantrons will be available in the exam room for students who neglect to download their ExamSoft Templates or experience technical issues.
On exam day, students will receive a paper copy of the exam questions which will be collected at the end of the exam along with any scratch paper/submission materials. All exam materials will be associated with the student via their anonymous exam number.
Students should be referred to MyCourses (Student Link) for their exam room assignment and start time, as these details may vary slightly from the course's regular meeting time/location and may differ between students due to available resources and registered accommodations.
Please notify the Registrar’s office if you intend to hold class before or after a midterm or quiz is administered.
Instructors must submit exams to their Faculty Assistant at least three business days before their exam date.
Your Faculty Assistant will provide printed or electronic exam responses based on the preferences submitted on the Exam Detail Request Form. Requested printed exam responses will be delivered to your office by your Faculty Assistant. We recommend receiving and grading responses electronically to ensure administrative efficiency and reduce processing times. Instructors unable to return to campus to retrieve printed exam responses are encouraged to contact their Faculty Assistant for more information about receiving printed responses.
If there is any irregularity with a particular exam, a brief note including the student’s anonymous number will be provided with the exam submission.
Additional information regarding in-person exam setup and the Exam Detail Request Form can be found in the Exam Guide PDF.
Take-home exams are administered through the Take Home Module. Students download a copy of the exam to their computer and submit their response either: through electronic answer sheet (multiple choice), uploading a document of their response, or a combination of both.
If you would like the Registrar’s Office to grade multiple-choice questions, please notify us at registrar@law.uci.edu prior to completing the Exam Detail Request Form so that the form can be adjusted to include questions necessary for creating the electronic answer sheet/scantron.
Take-home exams do not utilize the same software as in-class exams. This means that secure exams that lock students out of all other software on their computers are not possible. Additionally, closed-book exams cannot be enforced, though you are welcome to indicate an exam is closed-book and remind students of the Honor Code.
Instructors must submit exams to their Faculty Assistant at least three business days before their exam date.
Your Faculty Assistant will provide printed or electronic exam responses based on the preferences submitted on the Exam Detail Request Form. Requested printed exam responses will be delivered to your office by your Faculty Assistant. We recommend receiving and grading responses electronically to ensure administrative efficiency and reduce processing times. Instructors unable to return to campus to retrieve printed exam responses are encouraged to contact their Faculty Assistant for more information about receiving printed responses.
If there is any irregularity with a particular exam, a brief note including the student’s anonymous number will be provided with the exam submission.
Additional information regarding take-home exam setup and the Exam Detail Request Form can be found in the Exam Guide PDF.
Law IT assigns students three different anonymous numbers each term: a paper number, a midterm number, and a final exam number. IT generates new anonymous numbers for students each semester to retain anonymity. Students access their anonymous numbers via My Courses. Instructors will not be able to identify a student by their anonymous number until grading is complete.
To preserve anonymous grading, students are instructed not to contact faculty if they have any issues with their exams, including illness or a family emergency (such as death in the family). You should not reschedule any individual exams yourself. The Law School has established rules and policies to deal with student hardship cases. Please refer all questions about exam rescheduling to the Law School Registrar.
Faculty may administer final papers or other types of final projects (such as a final trial or negotiation).
All final papers are due by 5pm PST on the last day of the exam period. Final papers and other non-anonymous written assignments should be submitted through Canvas.
Please see Academic Rule I. F.
Consistent with call for reform in legal education, the Third Year Intensive (TYI) is designed to engage 3L students through a focused project that places less emphasis on mastery of doctrine and instead emphasizes skills (ranging from particular types of writing to general skills like negotiation and counseling to more abstract skills like problem-solving). Through the TYI, students can build expertise in a specific area of law, develop law practice skills beyond those acquired during the required clinic or Alternative Field Placement, and/or design a capstone experience at the culmination of their legal education. A special notation appears on a student’s transcript upon completion of a TYI. Students are responsible for obtaining the faculty member’s signature on the TYI Sign-Off form.
For more details on this voluntary program, please see the TYI Handbook.
Also see Exam FAQs.