Spring 2024 Exams

In Case of Emergency

We care about our students, and we understand that emergencies happen. In the event of sudden illness, accident, or last minute emergencies, please follow these steps:

1. Do not reach out to your instructor. Only rescheduling arrangements made through Registration Services will be honored. Exams are graded anonymously, and you are not to take any action that will compromise your anonymity. 

2. Please seek necessary medical or emergency attention.

3. When the visit is complete, please provide documentation via the Emergency Rescheduling Form. Any excuse granted on grounds of illness is conditioned upon receiving a satisfactory medical note on provider letterhead from the attending physician. It must specify the nature of illness and date to resume exams. Reach out to Registration Services as soon as possible:

     a. via phone call at 212-854-2668 or

    b. email

5. A member of Registration Services will respond to you 12 hours following the notification of your emergency.

Please contact Registration Services as soon as you can in the event of an emergency. In order to balance your wellbeing with academic integrity, the sooner we learn of your emergency, the easier it will be for us to respond.

To ensure that you perform to the best of your ability in any of your exams, it is critical that you do not attempt an exam if you are unwell.

• Be sure to inform Registration Services or your Proctor that you are unwell PRIOR to the start of any exam.
• Registration Services will create a new exam schedule for you if you are ill and can provide medical documentation.
• Please note that if you start an exam but cannot finish it, Registration Services will not be able to arrange for you to retake it.

Spring 2024 Exam Settings & Exam4 Modes

Spring 2024 Quiet Rooms for Exams

Please refer to your individualized exam schedule in LawNet. 

Columbia Law School’s examination policies require all students to take exams at the scheduled times. All students are required to be available during the entire examination period as the exam schedule is subject to change. 

As stated in the Law School Rules, “All students should be prepared to sit for examinations at any point throughout the examination period. Under special circumstances, the Dean may permit the rescheduling of examinations but work, personal, or travel arrangements should be made to accommodate the full examination period”.

However, exams can be rescheduled in certain situations as defined below. Please make careful note of the circumstances listed below that would warrant an adjustment to your exam schedule. Requests and schedules are reviewed and determined by the Exams Manager.

• Two (2) Law School exams scheduled on the same day, including a proctored and an 8 or 24 hour take-home exam on the same day. One of the exams will automatically be rescheduled to the first exam day on which the student does not have a scheduled exam and that will not create an exam conflict requiring further rescheduling. Students may not request which exam should be rescheduled; this will be determined by the Exams Manager. 
• Three (3) or more exams on consecutive days. The third exam will automatically be rescheduled to the earliest date that will not create an additional conflict. As of Fall 2023, two consecutive exams (i.e. Monday, Tuesday) are not eligible for rescheduling.
• Illness on the day of the exam: Any excuse granted on grounds of illness is conditioned upon receiving a satisfactory medical note on provider letterhead from the attending physician. It must specify the nature of illness and date to resume exams.
• Birth of a child: An exam will be rescheduled if the student is in labor or is attending the birth of their child. 
• Religious Observance: An exam will be rescheduled if it conflicts with religious observance, including fasting, on the day of the exam. Exams may be rescheduled earlier in the day of the scheduled exam.
• Bereavement: An exam will be rescheduled in the event of a death or serious illness in the student’s immediate family and the student is attending the funeral or grieving.
• In other exceptional and documented circumstances. Examples include but are not limited to:
  • Automobile accident, mugging, robbery, or similar traumatic experience at the time of the exam or period immediately preceding the exam.
  • A subpoena requiring court appearance at the time of exam or period immediately preceding the exam.
  • Military commitment written military orders is required.
  • Weddings: The student is the bride/groom. Must provide a wedding invitation as proof. 

Any-Day remote exams do NOT warrant a reschedule request because students have the option to select any day in the exam period, including weekends, to take these exams.

Requests for an exam deferral must be made through our rescheduled exam form and requires satisfactory documentation of the reasons. Students should be prepared to provide complete documentation, which is subject to verification and approval.

For all other reasons allowed by this Rule, the Dean of Student and Registration Services is the individual delegated to grant permission to students to be excused from a regularly scheduled exam for an extenuating circumstance. Requests to defer exams will be denied if for:

• Any travel/vacation/booked flights
• Personal exam scheduling preferences
• Personal Events (wedding guests, parties, moving dates, social plans) 
• Employment reasons

Examinations will only be rescheduled AFTER the originally scheduled date, never before. 

All rescheduled exams must be taken before the end of the final exam period unless Registration Services needs to reschedule the exam for another time. (usually only in cases where a later exam date is warranted by documented unanticipated extraordinary circumstances such as illness).

Only rescheduling arrangements made through Registration Services will be honored. Exams are graded anonymously, and you are not to take any action that will compromise your anonymity. Therefore, instructors cannot reschedule exams or make any kind of special exam arrangement directly with a student. Please do not approach your instructor about rescheduling your exam or making any special exam arrangement, as it will not be honored.

Exams in courses taken at another Columbia division: Law School students who have an exam conflict in courses taken outside Columbia Law School must reschedule the non-Law School exam.

The Spring 2024 Final Exam Reschedule Request form is now closed.  Please use your LionMail account when filling out this form. You will receive email communication on your request after the form closes. 

Individualized Exam Schedules will be posted on LawNet by Tuesday, March 19 at 5:00 p.m. EDT.

USING LAPTOP COMPUTERS for EXAMS: The Law School offers students taking final exams on their own laptop computers through the use of Exam4.

Exam4 is an exam software used to administer all law school exams. You will need to re-download the software each semester in order to access your final exams.

You will type your answers into Exam4 as you would type into any standard word processor. It is the computing equivalent of an exam bluebook.

No later than a week prior to the day of your exam you will need to download the software to your laptop computer. This will allow you troubleshoot any potential issues that you might have using the software on your computer.

Before the Exam

Download the software (per term) by visiting the Exam4 website. Scroll to New York and click on the name of our school (Columbia Law School). 

1. INSTALL THE EXAM4 SOFTWARE ON YOUR LAPTOP: Detailed general instructions on taking exams are emailed to students before the start of the exam period. You will be provided with the Exam4 download link. Understandably, there will be more variations of notebook computers running the exam software than Extegrity can test. Therefore, it is impossible for Extegrity to predict with certainty if the exam software will work as expected for your specific hardware/software configuration. Extegrity offers technical support through their inquiries page. You are advised to address any technical issues well in advance of your first exam.
2. PRACTICE USING THE SOFTWARE
   1. After installing Exam4, you are urged to take as many practice tests as you can to best familiarize yourself with the software before sitting for an exam. Please also test out using different features such as word or character counts. Many of the problems students experience while taking exams can be prevented by taking practice exams on Exam4 and getting comfortable with the software before the  exam period. Please, do not use the practice tests to prepare notes that you will need for your exam(s) as you will not be able to print the text document or copy it into a different file.

Detailed general instructions on taking exams are emailed to students before the start of the exam period. It is important that you read the information carefully and follow the directions. Please, also review the general information below. If you have any questions please email Registration Services at [email protected].

PREPARING YOUR LAPTOP BEFORE TAKING AN EXAM: To use your laptop to take an exam, you must complete the following steps:

1. VERIFY YOU HAVE INTERNET ACCESS: Although in certain Exam4 modes (Closed & Open Laptop) you will not be connected to the internet, you will need internet access to upload your answer file at the end of the exam. Please visit the CUIT Wireless Network page.
2. BRING A POWER CORD FOR YOUR LAPTOP: You will not be able to use your laptop for your examination if you do not have a power cord. You will have to hand write your exam if you do not bring a power cord into the exam room. You cannot share a power cord with anyone in the exam room.
3. YOU MUST HAVE THE SOFTWARE INSTALLED BEFORE THE EXAM PERIOD. 
   1. NO COMPENSATORY TIME will be given to those who experience difficulty and/or delay because they waited until the day of the exam to install the exam software.

EXAMS WILL START ON TIME, so make sure that you have downloaded Exam4 and have taken several practice exams. If you attempt to install the software right before the exam and have difficulty connecting to the Internet, you will not receive technical support. Also, if you begin any exam late, you will not receive compensatory time.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT: The Law School’s IT Helpdesk supports connectivity to the Columbia Law School network only and its staff can help you with some technical problems. However, Extegrity is responsible for all technical support for Exam4 and you are advised to contact Extegrity directly for technical issues with installing and testing Extegrity's Exam4 software on your laptop. Extegrity offers technical support through their inquiries page. You are advised to address any technical issues well in advance of your first exam.

Final exams administered by Registration Services are graded anonymously. Therefore, students are not permitted to write their name on any page an exam, and must not contact the instructor directly about an exam before final grades for the course are posted. Proctors are situated in exam rooms to facilitate the anonymous exam administration process.

Columbia Law School proctors receive a compensation of $22.00 per hour.

Final exams for the Spring 2024 semester are from April 29 through May 9, 2024.

Please submit the proctor application form if you are interested.

I.   Responsibilities of a Proctor 

• Administer law school exams
• Assist students in the exam room
• Maintain order in the exam room

II. Expectations

• Be patient – Give precise answers to a student’s question. If unsure of the answer to a question, please check with a Registration Services staff member. 
• Be comfortable with public speaking.
• Be alert in the exam room. 
• Be professional - You MUST be respectful towards students and your fellow proctors.

III. What kind of proctor are you?     

Assistant Proctor

• Provides support to the head proctor.
• Distributes and collects exam packets.
• Troubleshoots in the event that a student encounters a problem.
• Tracks student breaks.

Head Proctor

• Responsible for the exam room.
• Supervises assistant proctors.
• Delegates tasks to assistant proctors.
• Communicates and instructs students.
• Manages exam distribution and collection.

The proctor team MUST arrive at the exam room 30 to 40 minutes before the scheduled start time of the exam.  [The scheduled start time is 10:00 a.m. for morning exams and 2:00 p.m. or 3:00 p.m. for afternoon exams.]