The Registrar defines 17 standard time periods (e.g. 10:00-10:50) and more than 100 nonstandard periods (e.g. 1:30-3:20). Some of the nonstandard periods start at the same hour as does some standard period; others do not. The Registrar publishes a Final Examination Schedule that specifies classes by starting time only. A few entries are for common examinations in multi-section undergraduate courses, 17 entries match the 17 standard periods, 4 are for (nonstandard) periods that start after 5:00 p.m., and there is an "all others" entry.

Many of this department's graduate courses meet in nonstandard periods whose starting times do not match exactly one of the 21 in the schedule. A few meet at nonstandard-nonstandard times that match none of the official nonstandard times. Example starting times have been (1) 11:00 on MW, but not F; (2) 4:00 on TTh; and (3) 8:35 MWF. Sometimes the difference between the actual and listed starting times is minor (as in the first example); sometimes it is substantial.

Students and instructors may have reasonable, but differing, interpretations of the Registrar's schedule. To obviate misunderstandings and conflicts, the following rules are adopted by the Department to apply to COMP courses numbered 200 and above for which a final examination is held.

1. A take-home examination is not "held", hence not subject to the published schedule.

2. A class that meets only during the first half of a semester does not await the semester-end examination period; its examination is to be scheduled by the instructor, after consultation with the students.

3. A class whose starting times are a subset of one of the 17 standard times is considered to meet at that standard time. Example: 11:00 a.m. MW is considered the same as 11:00 MWF.

4. A class whose starting times are within one of the 17 standard periods is considered to meet at the standard time. Examples: (1) 9:30-10:45 MF is considered the same as 9:00 MWF; (2) 4:00-5:15 p.m. TTh is considered the same as 3:30 TTh.

5. A class whose starting times are not provided for in Rules 3-4 may be scheduled for examination as though it met at any one of the standard times it overlaps. The instructor is to consult with the students and announce the choice of schedule not later than the first meeting of the class.

6. A class whose examination cannot be scheduled as provided in Rules 3-5 is considered to be a class "not otherwise provided for" in the official schedule, and its examination is scheduled accordingly.

7. Suppose two classes with overlapping enrollment conflict in examination times but not in actual meeting times (e.g. T at 11 and Th at 11). The instructors jointly select one class to be examined at the time determined by the applicable rule among Rules 2-5 and the other class to be examined at the time determined by Rule 6. In the event of disagreement, the instructor of the class with the higher enrollment has priority.

8. If the meeting time of a class is rescheduled after the end of the Drop/Add period, the time of its examination is NOT rescheduled.

9. The Associate Chairman for Academic Affairs is responsible for resolving, in consultation with the instructors and students involved, any conflict that may remain after the foregoing rules are applied.