Tips for tests and quizzes

Much like collaboration, each course and sometimes each individual test or quiz has specific parameters that must be followed. Tests and quizzes can be stressful forms of assessment, particularly when other life events are also creating personal challenges. Below you will find some tips for maintaining academic integrity in these potentially difficult situations.

Prior to the test

• Thoroughly review your syllabus at the start of the semester and repeatedly as the course progresses. Sometimes students forget that a regulation exists in the syllabus related to exams or quizzes because they have not read the syllabus since the start of the semester.
• Be sure to understand the exact guidelines for your test including:
  • whether or not the exam is open book,
  • for online or take home exams, note permissible and impermissible group work,
  • check to see which items are impermissible including things like calculators, hats, smart watches, and phones.
• Note when deadlines fall within all your courses and pace your studying.
• Access the resource you need to be successful, see the Campus Resources for Students page on this site for suggestions.
• Contact your faculty member or TA with any questions as soon as possible.
• For online or take home exams, take the exam in a familiar environment if possible.
• If you are using a remote proctor for your exam, verify the technology and procedure prior to the exam time.

After the test

• Maintain the tests and quizzes in the manner the faculty member has proscribed, typically this means not sharing the material with anyone or on any website.
• Remember that maintaining academic integrity includes both sharing information and receiving any information that would potentially give a student an unfair advantage over others in the course. This means that another student sending pictures of exam or quiz questions, for example, could constitute a violation of academic misconduct for both parties.