The University Registrar’s Office has assigned a specific time and date for the administration of final examinations in most courses in Yale College. The time of the final examination is determined by the meeting time of a course during the term and is indicated by an examination group number in the online course listings. Examination group numbers are assigned particular days and times within the final examination period. These may be found tabulated on the Final Examination Schedules page in the YCPS. If the meeting time of a course is changed, the time of the examination is defined by the new meeting time.

For various reasons a course may not have been assigned a final examination date. That is indicated by the phrase “no regular final examination” in Yale Course Search. The instructor of such a course may secure an examination time and room by sending an email to classrooms@yale.edu to arrange an examination time and place. The examination must be administered at the time defined by the meeting time of the course. (See Final Examination Schedules in the YCPS.)

During the last week of classes, the University Registrar’s Office publishes a final examination schedule that lists the time and place of each regularly scheduled examination. The schedule is posted via a link on the University Registrar’s Office website. Instructors should be sure to announce the date and location of the final examination two or three times during the last week of classes. If a change is necessary (e.g., the addition of an examination, a change in room, the cancellation of an examination), the instructor should email classrooms@yale.edu so that a correction may be issued.

Since the final examination schedule has been carefully designed to make efficient use of the entire final examination period and to minimize overcrowding of students’ schedules, a final examination must be administered on the date and at the time specified. On occasion instructors have administered final examinations at times different from those assigned in the final examination schedule. This is permitted only under the following conditions:

1. that two different and distinct final examinations be administered;
2. that one of these examinations be administered at the regularly specified time within the final examination period;
3. that the alternative examination be administered at a regular examination starting time during the final examination period; and
4. that no student be required to obtain permission to take the alternative examination.