The University of British Columbia

Use of the Formal Examination Periods

The following regulations were approved by the Senate in October 1976, amended in December 1990, and again in October 2012 at which point they were renamed from Senate Policy on Examinations to V-103: Use of the Formal Examination Periods. They apply to all formal examinations and in-term examinations associated with credit-based courses at the University. Formal examinations conducted in graduate programs and in post-baccalaureate professional programs are excluded from this policy.

1. Faculties are urged to make full use of the formal examination periods, as scheduled in either Winter or Summer Session.
2. Unless the relevant dean and head, for sound academic reasons, grants an exemption, all courses designed for first- and second-year students shall be examined in the scheduled formal examination period.
3. The holding of any examination, formal or in-term, is forbidden during:
   
   1. the two weeks preceding the formal examination periods of the Winter Session, usually held in December and April; and,
   2. the one week preceding formal examination periods of the Summer Session, usually held in June and August.
   This restriction does not apply to bi-weekly tests or to traditional and current practices in laboratories.