Exam Preparation

On or before the day preceding a take-home exam, the Office of the Registrar will send an email to enrolled students confirming the professor’s instructions regarding the exam parameters including the length of the exam.

Each student is assigned a unique Exam Number, each semester.  You must have your Exam Number with you for all exams and you can obtain it from the Exam/Paper Management System.

Students are required to complete take-home exams on a desktop or laptop computer on which the Exam4 software has been installed.

Read the Exam4 instructions and materials found on the “General Exam Information” webpage.  You are strongly encouraged to attend an Exam Information Session.

Download the Exam4 Software Application to the computer on which you plan to take your exam(s) at least 48 hours prior to the administration of your first exam of the semester.  The Exam4 software should be downloaded once per academic term, even if you are scheduled to take an exam in separate time periods (e.g. the October take-home exam period and the December exam period).

Practice exams are strongly encouraged.  Students should run the practice exam in TAKEHOME mode to confirm that Exam4 is compatible with your exam laptop.  You can take an unlimited number of practice tests.  Do NOT wait until the day of the exam to take your practice test.

If you have any technical problems or questions that arise during your practice test, you can always go to the Exam4 website and follow the links for user support.

On Exam Day

It is important to note that take-home exams require three points of contact:

1. Exam Numbers are located in the Exam/Paper Management System.
2. Exam answer files are typed and submitted via the Exam4 software installed on your computer.
3. Exam questions are accessed through the Exam4 Software.

The take-home exam will officially begin (I.E. the clock will run) when the “Begin Exam” button has been selected via the Exam4 Software.

Students must begin and submit their exams by reference to United States Eastern Time (Washington DC time), which is the time zone setting for take-home exams in Exam4.  Students can see how their particular time zone compares to Washington DC time using the World Clock.  There is no timer function in Exam4 that will alert you when the exam submission time is ending.  Please take particular care to note when you start and need to submit your exam according to Washington DC time.  Students must comply with the Washington DC submission time regardless of the time zone where they are taking their exam.

All take-home exam answers must be submitted through Exam4, unless alternate instructions have been provided by the Office of the Registrar and your professor.  Students may not submit answers via alternative formats such as Microsoft Word or email; nor should students send answers directly to Law Center faculty.

Unless expressly authorized by the professor in writing, students are prohibited from copying/cutting and pasting any pre-written text (written prior to starting their exam) into their take-home exam responses.  This rule applies regardless of who authored the text.  Please note that cutting/copying and pasting external text into Exam 4 may change the formatting.

If the take-home exam instructions require a certified word count, the certification must be included in the exam answer within the allotted exam time.

If you believe there is an error, inconsistency, or omission in the exam, please state your assumptions about the issue within your discussion of that issue.  No clarifications or corrections will be provided.

Take-Home Upload Instruction

Please click the Take-Home Exam Upload Instructions and follow carefully.  These instructions should only be used if instructed to do so by the Office of the Registrar and your professor.

After the Exam

Once an exam is submitted for grading, no requests to add or revise a word or character count will be accepted. Your original submission will be sent to your professor for grading.  No amendments or supplements will be permitted or accepted. 

If a student officially begins a take-home exam but fails to submit the answer file within 24 hours after the deadline, the student will be assigned a grade of AF [Administrative Fail] for the course.  Please carefully review the Administrative Sanctions of the Student Disciplinary Code (Georgetown Law Student Handbook).  Students who fail to download an examination may be assigned a grade of AF [Administrative Fail] for the course.

If a problem arises during the administration of a take-home exam, such as the sudden onset of an illness or a computer malfunction, the student must stop working on their exam and immediately contact the Office of the Registrar at 202-662-9220 or at lawreg@georgetown.edu.

If the problem arises outside of business hours, the student should stop working on their exam and send an email with a description of the issue to the Office of the Registrar at  lawreg@georgetown.edu, thereby establishing a record of the problem.

If you experience a medical emergency, stop working on the exam and seek medical attention.  As soon as you are able, contact the Office of the Registrar and await further instruction.

In the event that you experience a technical difficulty in submitting your exam through the Exam4 software application, “Save As” a file to your laptop and email a copy of your exam to examdropbox@law.georgetown.edu by the exam deadline.

A student who fails to comply with his or her obligations during the administration of an exam may be subject to disciplinary proceedings.