Who writes the final exam?

Finals of the developmental courses, Mat-010, Mat-013 or Mat-014 or an ‘A’ or ‘B’ form of the course will be written by the course coordinator and the course committee members.  These are the exams that must be administered to your students.  The final exams will be in Center 2 in time for you to pick them up prior to the scheduled exam.  Answer keys for these exams are available from either Julie or Nancy.

Finals for credit courses are written by each individual instructor.  Finals are usually cumulative.  Some instructors prefer the multiple-choice form for a final exam, some prefer open-ended and some do a combination of both. If you need help in writing a final exam, it would be a good idea to confer with one of the full-time faculty members teaching the course for some guidance.

When are final exams administered?

There are different rules for developmental and credit courses.  Daytime developmental course finals must be administered during special final days as indicated on the final schedule which is distributed near the end of the semester. The evening developmental course finals are administered during the last class meeting of the course.

There are two choices for administering a final in a credit course.  For daytime credit courses, the final may be given as indicated on the special final day schedule or it may be administered during the last class meeting.  Some instructors like to have the extra teaching time and opt for giving the final exam during special final days.  Some have no problem with the time frame and prefer to finish the course prior to the special final day period.  If you are not giving the final during the special final day period, you should tell Nancy or Julie.
 

Where are final exams stored and when can they be picked up?

Final exams for the developmental courses are stored in Center 2.  For security reasons, they should be picked up the day of the final exam.  If you would like to see a copy of the final exam ahead of time, you can ask Julie or Nancy to open a final exam packet for your course, give you one copy, reseal the envelope and write your name on the package.

Where are final exams given?

If the final is given during a class session, the exam is administered in the room the class has been meeting in for the semester. If the exam is given during special final days, the time and room for the final will be indicated on the final schedule distributed toward the end of the semester.

Grading final exams

If your final exam is multiple choice, students should be entering their answers on a scantron form that you provide.  If your course is developmental, the scantron form will be included in the final exam packet.  If you are giving your own final exam to a credit course class, scantrons are available in Center2.

There are machines on campus for grading scantrons.  They are located in Center II, upstairs, in the faculty room in Main Hall, in the faculty room in L'Hommedieu Hall (Room 120), in the Adjunct Faculty Center in Raritan Hall and in the Testing Center in the Johnson Learning Center.

To grade a scantron, fill out a correct answer key and blacken the blank next to the word “key” on the scantron.  First feed in this keyed scantron into the machine and then feed in the scantrons for your class, one at a time.  The machine will grade each scantron, indicate which questions are wrong and will allow you to determine a mean and item analysis for the test.

What if a student misses the final exam?

Students who miss a final exam receive an ‘F’ in the course. (This should be stated on the course outline that is distributed to your students on the first day of class).  In most cases, a student who has been coming to class and misses the final exam will contact you.  If you and the student decide that he or she is entitled to take a make-up exam, you have two choices.  You can opt to meet the student on campus and proctor the make-up or you can arrange for the student to take the make-up in the Testing Center (The procedure for this is discussed under Testing Center in the manual.)

In either case, it is your responsibility to grade the make-up and recalculate the student’s final grade in the course.  If the grade is to be changed from an ‘F’ you must fill out an Add-Drop form.  These are available in Center II.  Directions on how to fill out the form are given in the College section of the manual under Change of Grade.  A sample of the form can be found in the appendix of the manual.

For how long should I keep final exams?

Because students have one year to appeal a grade, faculty members must keep final exams for one year after they are administered.