Exam Proctoring Details
Test proctoring is one of the most popular services provided by the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD). We provide this service to ensure that you receive the testing accommodations you are entitled to in as organized and stress-free a fashion as possible. Keep in mind that we are only a 3-person office with 10 proctoring seats available in the immediate office area. Therefore, in order to help us make test proctoring run smoothly, please follow our procedures.
- Make sure you've turned in your accommodation letter to your professor. SSD cannot proctor exams for students who have not presented their accommodation letters to their professors, and professors aren't required to provide accommodations to any student who has not submitted an accommodation letter to them.
- Turning in your letter alone does not mean you have arranged for your testing accommodations. You need to speak with your professor when you deliver your letter to determine if your professor is available to provide your accommodations.
- If your professor or TA is available to proctor your exam with accommodations, please remind him or her at least a week in advance of a test and make arrangements directly with the professor or TA. (SSD does not need to be notified about tests that are being proctored by your professors or TAs.) We especially recommend that students who have a lot of questions during exams try to arrange proctoring through their professors or TAs. If this is not an option, we encourage you to ask your professor or TA for contact information that SSD can use during the scheduled exam time.
- If your professor is not available to provide your accommodations, you will need to take your exam at SSD. To arrange this, please turn in your Test Request Form at least a week prior to the date of your exam. We require a week's notice because:
- We need to arrange space for proctoring, which may mean reserving additional rooms and proctors.
- Some exams require SSD to load special software, arrange for a computer, print out color slides, etc.
- Students sometimes realize after their original request that they need to take the exam at a different time from the rest of the class, which necessitates additional communication with the professor and reevaluation to determine if we have sufficient proctoring space.
- We need ample time to contact the professor and obtain the exam and any special instructions for it.
- SSD will email your professor approximately 2 days prior to your exam date and send you a confirmation email.
- If you do not turn in a Test Request Form at least a week prior to your exam date, you must come to the SSD office to pick up a Late Notification Test Request Form. (This form is not available online.) You and your professor will need to completely fill out this form to ensure that your exam can be delivered to SSD in time.
- Return the completed Late Test Request Form to SSD at least 24 hours in advance (excluding Saturday and Sunday) of your exam.
- Please treat your test appointment with SSD as you would an exam in the classroom. This means:
- Respond immediately to any emails from SSD asking questions about your exam.
- Please be on time for your exam. (Other students may be scheduled for your seat right after you are scheduled to be done.) Your time for the exam starts at the time scheduled, not when you show up! If space is available, you may be permitted to start up to 10 minutes early; however, if you are late, the time you are late will be deducted from your originally allotted test time.
- Notify SSD immediately if you intend not to show up for your exam. Similarly, notify SSD as soon as you drop a class for which you have turned in Test Request Forms.
- Cell phones or related items such as PDAs are not allowed in the testing room. Ideally, leave phones and other valuables in your room, as SSD is not responsible for lost or stolen items. (If you do bring your phone, you will be required to leave it outside of the testing room and are asked to turn alerts off; otherwise, they disturb the office while you are taking your test.)
- The testing rooms are usually warm. As such, and in the interest of maintaining academic integrity, please be advised that you may be asked to remove your jacket, sweatshirt, sweater, and/or hat and to turn out your pockets.
- Use the restroom prior to your exam, as you will not be allowed to use the restroom during an exam except in the case of an emergency or documented medical condition.
- Please quietly close the door of the testing room when you enter and exit the room so your peers are less distracted by noise in the rest of the office.