Final Exam Schedule

For all standard session courses, the last scheduled day of class is required instructional time. For courses scheduled in a standard session, a final examination or other final summative experience is required during the published final examination week.

Final examinations or other final summative experiences may not be scheduled during the Study Days period.

No deviations from the published examination period are permitted for courses scheduled in a standard session during the fall and spring semesters, unless faculty have authorization in advance from the Committee on Academic Policies and Procedures (CAPP). CAPP will not consider any faculty request for rescheduling a final examination without unanimous written consent of all students in the class. For the request form and procedures please contact the Registrar’s office.

No student is permitted to omit a final examination or take it early, and no instructor is authorized to permit a student to do so.

Students should plan in advance to avoid scheduling conflicts in their final examinations. If a student is scheduled for two final examinations at the same time, the student should request to take one of the examinations on a different day or time. If a student is scheduled for more than two final examinations in one day, the student may request to take one of the exams on a different day or time. In either situation the student must contact the professors involved no later than two weeks prior to the scheduled examination date and request an accommodation. If an accommodation cannot be arranged, the student should contact the office of Academic Programs at academic.programs@usc.edu.

Faculty are reminded that grades are due 96 hours after the university-scheduled final examination day and time. Therefore, it might not be possible to accommodate late student requests for an alternate, makeup final examination after the published examination period.

When a final examination is scheduled at a time that conflicts with a student’s observance of a holy day, faculty members should accommodate a request for an alternate examination date and time. A student must discuss a final examination conflict with the professor no later than two weeks prior to the scheduled examination date to arrange an acceptable date and time for an alternate examination.

The student and/or professor may reach out to the Office of Religious Life at (213) 740-6110 or vasoni@usc.edu (Varun Soni, Dean of Religious Life) for guidance.

In the case of a documented emergency that occurs after the withdrawal date and/or during the final exam period, students should consult the professor about receiving a grade of Incomplete (IN) for the semester. Faculty and students alike should refer to the rules regarding the mark of Incomplete at the time of the request.

The Registrar’s recommended definition of emergency:
“An unforeseeable situation or event beyond the student’s control that prevents the student from taking the final examination or final summative experience.” Based on this definition, a student may not request an IN before the withdrawal deadline. The rationale is that the student has the option to drop the course until the withdrawal date. The grade of IN exists so there is a remedy for illness or emergency that occurs after the deadline to withdraw.