Course & Exam Scheduling

Course Scheduling

Courses should be scheduled in adherence with the University's standard meeting patterns (scroll down for meeting pattern grid). Once the course schedule is set, the Registrar's Office, in conjunction with the department's Student Services staff, will allocate a room. Make sure the Student Services staff know your preferred room options such as size/capacity, technology needs, chalk/white boards, etc. Note that sometimes instructors are assigned rooms that are not ideal. This happens more so when your class is scheduled during peak times, which are between 10am and 2pm, approximately. You can ask Student Services staff to look for another room, but it is not always possible to find one. Instructors may search for and review rooms on 25Live (SUNet log-in required), the University's room scheduling resource, using the Locations tab.

Dead Week/End Quarter Period: during the last week before final exams, classes are held as usual despite student rumors to the contrary!

Depending on which day(s) of the week you teach, you may encounter University holidays which could reduce your overall teaching hours in any given quarter. Classes may not be held on official University holidays unless the School of Humanities and Sciences has granted an exemption. All classrooms are otherwise closed during holidays and may not be scheduled. No Registrar's Scheduling Office services or facilities are available when the University is closed. It is not required that you have make-up sessions for missed classes. Scheduling a make-up session can be challenging given the hectic schedules of our student body, so offering an additional optional session will likely be the best you can do.

Given our diverse student body, instructors can reasonably expect that a student may have a conflict between a class and a religious holiday. The Office for Religious and Spiritual Life offers the following guidance:

The university administration has always been helpful in facilitating communication and encouraging respect and understanding when there are academic calendar conflicts with religious holy days. Most instructors will be cooperative and flexible regarding students’ religious observance when they receive appropriate and early communication. If a student is planning NOT to attend class or take an exam because of a religious holiday, he or she should convey this information to instructors in advance so that the student will not be disadvantaged as a result of religious practice.

Room Requests

Most classrooms and exam rooms are scheduled by the Registrar's office. Classroom descriptions and schedules can be accessed online via the 25Live scheduling system. If there’s a problem with the scheduled room for your course, work with Student Services staff to see if there are other options. One of the best ways to prepare for your class is to visit the room ahead of time and test out any media devices that you may need. If you encounter any technical problems during class, you can contact Classroom Technology Support.

In addition, the department includes four rooms in Sequoia Hall that may be used for office hours, make-up exams and meetings. These are Room 105, Girshick Library; Room 220, "the Fishbowl"; Room 207, Bowker Seminar Room; and Room 200, the Classroom (only scheduled by the department from 4pm onwards). To reserve time in 200 after 4pm, 105, 220 or 207, please use the department's Room Request Form. For 200 prior to 4pm, please contact Student Services staff.

Midterms/Final Exams

You are not required to have a midterm exam for your course. If you are holding one, you should inform students of the date during the first week of classes and ensure it is noted on the syllabus and on Canvas. Midterms are generally held during the fifth and sixth week of the quarter, at the same time and in the same location as one of the regular classes.

Final exams are scheduled by the Registrar's Office, which also assigns these rooms. Please review the final exam policy and final exam schedule. If this is the first time you are teaching the course, check with Student Services staff early in the quarter to see whether the default for the course is to have a final exam. You can opt to change the default. Where possible, final exams are scheduled in rooms with double the enrolled student capacity to allow for alternate seating, i.e., an empty seat between students.

Alternatives to University-assigned final exams (in three-hour time slots) include take-home exams, take-home papers, projects, final class presentations and in-class exams during the one- to two-hour regular class period. If an alternate space is needed, submit a Room Request. If you need to schedule an exam time outside of the pre-assigned time slot, note that you cannot do so during the End-Quarter Period. For take-home exams, the earliest you can require submission of student work is the scheduled end time for your course's assigned final exam time slot. The latest submission time could be at the end of the overall final exam period. Students are reminded that taking final examinations earlier than the scheduled time is a privilege, not a right, and they should only request this privilege in the event of extraordinary circumstances.

Summer Final Exams: Note that the process for obtaining a room for final exams in summer quarter is different. While there is still a schedule set by the Registrar's Office, rooms are not automatically assigned and must be requested via Student Services staff.

Proctoring Exams

Historically, Stanford examinations were not proctored. The Honor Code that was in effect prior to September 1, 2023, stated explicitly: "The faculty on its part manifests its confidence in the honor of its students by refraining from proctoring examinations and from taking unusual and unreasonable precautions to prevent the forms of dishonesty mentioned above. The faculty will also avoid, as far as practicable, academic procedures that create temptations to violate the Honor Code."

In April 2026, following a pilot overseen by the Academic Integrity Working Group, the Faculty Senate voted to allow proctoring of in-person exams.

The current Honor Code now states: "Instructors will not take unusual or unreasonable precautions to prevent academic dishonesty." Refer to the Stanford Proctoring Bylaw for proctoring guidance. Additional information can be found at Exams and the Honor Code.

Important:

  • Proctoring of in-person assessments is now permitted university-wide beginning September 1, 2026.
  • The BCA has adopted the Stanford Proctoring Bylaw. The Bylaw provides a framework for fair and effective in-person proctoring.
  • Proctoring is permitted, not required. The new policy does not require instructors to proctor exams. Decisions regarding assessment practices remain at the discretion of departments and instructors.
  • Department consistency across course offerings: The adopted bylaw recommends that departments and programs apply a consistent approach to proctoring across all offerings or sections of the same course so that students encounter clear and equitable expectations.
  • Recommended syllabus language: Faculty and instructors choosing to proctor assessments are strongly encouraged to include language such as: "To foster a climate of academic honesty, effective learning, and fair assessment, examinations in this course may be proctored in accordance with the Stanford Honor Code."

Exam Schedule Accommodations

In general, faculty members are discouraged from giving final examinations earlier than the published and announced times. If faculty nevertheless decide to administer early examinations, the questions should either be completely different from those on the regularly scheduled examination or the early examination should be administered in a highly controlled setting, or proctored if the standard exam will also be proctored. An example of such a setting would be a campus seminar room where the examination questions would be collected along with students' work and students would be reminded of their Honor Code obligations not to share information about the examination contents. Giving students easy opportunities to abuse the integrity of an examination is unfair to honest students and inconsistent with the spirit of the Honor Code.

Note that the process for obtaining a room for final exams in summer quarter is different. While the schedule is set by the Registrar's Office, rooms are not automatically assigned and should be requested via Student Services staff.

To view your exam schedule:

  1. Login to AXESS
  2. Select: Teaching Tab
  3. Select: View Class Schedule
  4. Select: Term
  5. Select: View Weekly Exam Schedule

(If your course is not set to have a final exam, you won't have this link.)

In any quarter, if a student requests an alternative testing environment based on a disability, please review Exam Accommodations for Students from the Office of Accessible Education. If students request alternate arrangements for any other reason, please confer with the ADSS.

"Blue books" are notebooks sometimes used for students to write out their answers during midterms and finals; your TA/CA can supply these. If you don't have a TA/CA, ask Student Services staff.

Retention of Exams

Guidelines for the Maintenance and Retention of Student Records

H&S guidelines recommend the following, although the final decision is at the discretion of the instructor:

  • Student work and exams that are not collected by a student at the conclusion of a course should be retained for at least one quarter.
  • If there are indications that a student may contest the final grade through informal resolution or a formal academic grievance, the student work should be retained for at least two quarters and until the matter has been resolved.
  • In cases where the student received a grade of I (Incomplete) or a grade was not reported (GNR), the student work should be retained for at least one year.
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