Exams

Currently, exams are delivered in two formats – in-person or online (with or without ProctorU®). If you have any questions, please reach out to the Registrar’s Office.

Before the Exam

Exam Schedules/Information

• General exam periods are posted on the Registrar’s Office website or Quercus.
• Exam attendance is mandatory; students must plan all other events around their exams. Specific exam schedules are typically posted at the beginning of each term providing students ample time to plan ahead. Please note that exams are often scheduled on days and times outside regular class time.
• All students must have their TCard to take exams at Rotman. Please make necessary arrangements if you have not received yours already. Any student who does not present their TCard during the exam will be asked to confirm their student status at the Registrar’s Office immediately following the exam.
• Review all exam communication from the instructors, Program Staff, and the Registrar’s Office (including emails and Quercus announcements) is mandatory.

Exam Location and Room Assignment

Course Page for all exam location information, including:

• Building (i.e. Rotman, U of T Exam Centre)
• Exam room

Be sure to note specific section and/or surname assignment.

Prohibited Items

• Cell phones, watches of any kind (including analogue), smart glasses, headphones, or any other device not expressly authorized. Students in violation of this rule are liable to penalties under the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters.
• All personal belongings and bulky clothing including bags, purses, coats, jackets, sweaters, hats, etc.
• Any software tools that have not been expressly authorized.

Arrival Time

• Plan to arrive 30 minutes in advance; students must wait until they are permitted to enter by the Proctor.
• Students should use the washroom prior to the start of the exam.

During the Exam

Exam Room Protocol

General

• Listen to ALL instructions from invigilators, TAs, and instructors.
• No talking from exam start to finish. Keep quiet while exams are collected and counted.
• The Proctor and Exam Support Staff have authority to assign seats to candidates.
• Students must remain seated for the first hour (washroom excepted) and final 15 minutes (no exceptions).
• If students arrive late, they will not receive any additional time. Should students arrive 30 minutes past the start time, they must report immediately to the Registrar’s Office. Application for accommodation will be required, and is not guaranteed.
• Only one person may visit the washroom at a time, signing out/in with their TCard.
• Any student who abandons the exam for medical reasons must inform an invigilator/staff member and obtain a University of Toronto Verification of Student Illness or Injury Form from the invigilator before leaving the exam room. Please immediately seek medical attention for assessment and a doctor’s validation note afterwards. Students must contact their Program Staff to officially apply for an accommodation within 24 hours. A make-up cannot be guaranteed.
• A clock will be posted on screen

At Students’ Seats

• TCard
  • Display at top left or right-hand corner of the desk.
• Writing utensils
  • Ziploc bags or clear plastic pencil cases only.
• Authorized exam aids (i.e. programmed or non-programmable calculator) as instructed
  • No sharing is permitted. Only one device per student unless otherwise stated.
• Beverages and soft (quiet) snack foods, if needed
  • Keep liquids away from papers, calculators and laptops.
• Kleenex, basic foam earplugs, if desired.

Labelling Exam Documents

Students should ensure they clearly and correctly record their Student Number; Course Name and Code/Section; and Instructor Name on all exam documents. Exams with missing or incorrect Student Numbers cannot be graded.

• Exam Candidate Forms
  • Provide all information requested, including assigned seat, if applicable.
• Exam Cover Page
  • Provide all information requested, including checkbox to acknowledge Academic Code.
• Scantron Form (if used)
  • Provide all information requested.
• U of T Exam Booklets (if used)
  • Provide all information requested (list course code with section). Label multiple booklets “1 of 2,” “2 of 2,” etc.
• Scrap Paper
  • Will not be graded; must be handed in with all other exam documents at the end of the exam; will be shredded immediately after exam.
• Crib Sheets (if permitted)
  • Label with Student Number and hand in at the end of the exam.

Exam End

When the end of the exam is called, students must:

• Immediately stop writing or typing—failure to do so is a violation of the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters, subject to penalty.
• Insert all paper into Exam document or one Exam Booklet (if used)—no paper leaves the room.
• Hand a single bundle directly to Proctor—do not hand down the row.
• Keep quiet and remain seated until all exam counts are complete and the room is released by the invigilators This will take several minutes.
• Please collect all personal belongings and throw away any garbage before leaving the room. Lost items may be returned to the Registrar’s Office or the Building Front Desk Reception.

Special Circumstances — Application for Accommodation and Make-up Exams

Students with special, unexpected circumstances such as illness or grave personal difficulties must immediately contact their Assistant/Associate Director to officially apply for accommodation. Please note that application does not guarantee that alternate arrangements will be made. Students should not approach instructors regarding alternate arrangements.

Students should ensure to familiarize themselves with the relevant academic accommodation policies here.

Exam Viewing

Full-Time and Morning and Evening MBA

Important Details

Students who have written a Rotman final exam and have received their final grade for that same course within the last eight weeks are permitted view-only access to their final exam. Requests must be made directly with the instructor.

The instructor and/or TA will be present for the viewing, and a solution guide will be provided. Depending on the format of the exam, the student and the instructor and/or TA may meet either virtually or in-person. If there are multiple requests by students for the same exam, the instructor and/or TA may host a group session.

Students must bring their TCard to the exam viewing session, and may not bring writing implements or notes. Final exams are property of the University of Toronto, and will be collected immediately following the exam viewing session.

Grade Reviews and Academic Appeals

During the exam viewing session, students who believe that the grade has been calculated erroneously or did not reasonably reflect the delivered work are able to request an informal resolution with the instructor and/or TA. Students must provide a clear rationale for the suspected error. Requests that simply say “I believe my answer is correct” or “I believe my answer deserves more points” (or anything along these lines) without a clear explanation of why their answer matches the grading scheme outlined in the solution guide will not be reviewed. This informal resolution request is Step 1 of a Grade Dispute.

Grade disputes that are not able to be resolved by an informal review during the exam viewing session can be escalated to Step 2, in which a formal reread/reassessment can be requested. Details regarding the formal reread/reassessment and appeal process can be found here.

Note: For any grade dispute (formal or informal), the instructor will regrade the entire examination. This may result in an upward or downward adjustment of the grade, or no change at all.

Professional and Specialized Programs

Students in the following programs must contact their Associate Director to review their exams or other deliverables, within eight weeks of receiving their final grade for the course:

• Executive MBA
• Global Executive MBA / Rotman SDA Bocconi Global Executive MBA
• Global Executive MBA for Healthcare & the Life Sciences
• Master of Finance
• Master of Financial Risk Management
• Master of Management Analytics
• Graduate Diploma in Professional Accounting

Online Proctoring

Online exam(s) within a course may use online invigilation provided by ProctorU®, an online proctoring service that allows completion of the assessment from an off-campus location. In all cases, remote recordings and desktop monitoring of the exam will be made and reviewed and held for a limited period of time in order to ensure academic integrity is maintained.

With live proctoring, the remote recordings and desktop monitoring are overseen by a highly-trained human proctor who closely monitors students during the entire exam. The University of Toronto has an institutionally endorsed agreement with ProctorU® that protects the privacy of the recordings, and other personal information.

Set-up Requirements

Students taking their examinations online must agree to be proctored by ProctorU® throughout the duration of the exam. Access to a computer that can support remote recording is your responsibility as a student. You will need to ensure that you can complete the exam using a reliable computer with a webcam and microphone available, as well as a high-speed internet connection. Please note that you will be required to show your T-Card prior to beginning to write the exam.

Access to a computer that can support remote recording is students’ responsibility. Students will need to ensure they can complete the exam using a reliable computer (tablets are not supported) with a webcam and microphone available, as well as a high-speed internet connection. Please note that students will be required to show their TCard prior to beginning to write the exam. ProctorU® has support documents available. These will be provided prior to the exam date and an opportunity to test students’ set-up will be provided.

Detailed information and an opportunity to test your setup will be provided prior to the exam date. For additional information about online proctoring please see course information in Quercus, or visit UofT Online Proctoring Guidelines.

General Process Description

Students must first confirm their identity via an automated process with a webcam picture and photo ID. ProctorU will then initiate a recording of you taking your exam using webcam, mic and desktop capture via high-speed Internet connection. All components of proctoring must be maintained for the duration of the exam. Non-compliance with exam protocols flagged during the subsequent review of the recording by the ProctorU trained proctor and will be investigated to determine whether an academic offence has been committed as per the University of Toronto Governing Council Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters. At the completion of the exam, a report of student exam-taking behaviours is generated for review by your instructor. Exam grades will not be released to students until the integrity of the exam has been verified through ProctorU®, University staff, and the instructor(s).

Privacy and Information Security

The University of Toronto has a contract with ProctorU® that protects the privacy of the recordings, and other personal information. However, as you will be video recorded while writing the exam, please do consider preparing the background (room / walls) so that personal details you would not want visible are removed or move to a room that you are comfortable showing on camera. It is recommended that students using ProctorU services remove the Guardian Secure Proctoring Browser and LogMelnRescue chat tool after completion of the exam.

Retention of Video Content: Recordings captured via the ProctorU® system are available to the University and the instructor for one year after a recording is made. After this period of time has passed, recordings are purged.

Academic Integrity

ChatGPT and Other AI Tools

• The University expects students to complete assignments on their own, without any outside assistance. The use of these tools on exams is in violation of the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters.

Proctor U

• Students taking their examinations online must agree to be proctored by ProctorU® throughout the duration of the exam. All components of the online proctoring service must be maintained for the duration of the exam.
• With live proctoring, the human proctor may reach out to the student if they lose the ability to proctor the exam (e.g. camera view obstructed, loss of remote desktop view). If the proctor contacts the student during the exam through a pop-up message, voice, or a loud beep, the student is expected to respond to the proctor. Failure to respond to the proctor and/or failure to maintain all components of the online proctoring service during the exam threatens the integrity of the exam and will be investigated to determine whether an academic offence has been committed as per the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters.
• At the completion of the exam, a report of student exam-taking behaviours is generated. Exam grades will not be released to students until the integrity of the exam has been verified through ProctorU®, the instructor, and Rotman IT staff.
• For additional information about online proctoring please see course information in Quercus, or visit University of Toronto’s Online Proctoring Guidelines.