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Exams for Online Courses
In a distance education course that has exams, exams will either be online or proctored.Online exams
Your course may have an online exam. An online exam is a timed exam that is taken on a specific date. Online exams are open-book exams. You do not come to campus to take the exam. Access to the online exam is through the course website. Only students registered for undergraduate and graduate credit may take exams. Your instructor will inform you of the exam date of the online exam and other exam aids that you may use during the exam.
A practice exam will be available on your course website shortly before the online exam. The exam content of the practice exam is not related to your course. Its purpose is to ensure you have the proper technical requirements to take an exam online. You should take the practice exam using the same computer on which you plan to take the online exam.
Proctored exams
Some distance education courses require on-campus exams. If you are enrolled in such a course and you live outside of New England (primary residence during the term is not in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, or Vermont), you may travel to campus for your exams or arrange to take exams at an alternate location according to the following procedures. If you reside in New England, you must take in-class exams on campus as scheduled.
Finding a qualified proctor
You are responsible for finding a qualified proctor to administer each exam. The proctor must be a teacher, professor, or administrator in a nearby secondary school, college, university, or testing center. Proctors cannot be family members, friends, or co-workers. For assistance finding a proctor, contact a guidance counselor, an academic advisor, or the dean of students or registrar’s office at a nearby college, university, high school, or local testing center. The Consortium of College Testing Centers is an organization that has testing centers across the country and abroad that provide proctoring services to distance students near their homes. Centers are located in 46 states and 9 countries. Any fees incurred are your responsibility.
Submit your proctor information through online services no later than a week before the campus exam. Before doing so, confirm that your proctor has a business e-mail address, reliable access to the Internet, the ability to download MP3 files (some exams have audio components) and to download and print PDF documents, and access to a fax machine or scanner (for returning completed exams to the Summer School). Exam materials are sent to proctors at their business e-mail addresses.
Submitting the proctored exam form
Complete and submit online a proctored exam form for each exam (even if you use the same proctor) no later than 1 week before the on-campus exam date. Before submitting the form, find a qualified proctor (see above) with whom you have arranged the date, time, and location for your exam. If you do not submit a proctored exam form or you submit the form late, you may forfeit the opportunity to take the exam and are subject to the instructor’s make-up policies for mid-term exams and Summer School make-up policies for final exams.
You and your proctor receive an e-mail confirmation upon receipt of the proctored exam form. If confirmation is not received within 24 hours, send e-mail to distance_exams@hudce.harvard.edu for assistance.
Proctored exam approval and procedures
When the proctored exam request has been approved, you and your proctor receive a second e-mail that includes details about exam policies and procedures. Exam materials are available to proctors via a password-protected, secure website from noon Eastern standard time the day before the on-campus exam until midnight on the exam day. Complete exams no later than the on-campus exam date.
Proctors are responsible for returning all exam materials by fax or e-mail (scanned materials) immediately following completion of the exam. Detailed instructions—including the secure web address, fax number, and return e-mail address—are included in the e-mail sent to proctors shortly before the date of the exam. If you or your proctor do not follow the exam procedures, the exam may be forfeited.
Information
For more information write distance_exams@hudce.harvard.edu or call (617) 495-0977 Mondays through Fridays, 9 am to 5 pm eastern standard time.
