Do not contact your professor. While the natural reaction may be to contact the professor if you are unable to take an exam, it is not the proper procedure at the law school. Exams are graded anonymously, and in order to preserve anonymity, students should contact the Student Affairs Office with questions regarding exam postponement.
Reasons for Postponement (Adopted by Faculty, December 2012)
All students are expected to take exams as scheduled. We realize that sometimes it may be necessary to postpone an exam. We allow postponements in extraordinary cases, including the following:
- Illness documented with medical verification;
- family emergency, such as a death in the family, which may require verification;
- religious observance;
- once-in-a-lifetime special event, such as a sibling graduation or sibling wedding (or similar commitment ceremony); and
- two exams on the same day, or three exams on three consecutive days.
Work reasons are not acceptable reasons for a postponement.
Honor Code Responsibilities for Postponement
If you postpone an exam, it is a violation of the Honor Code to have any communication whatsoever with any student in the class, including others who have postponed the exam, from the time of the scheduled exam until the postponed exam is completed.
Scheduling a Postponement
Postponed exams will be scheduled for the first available day following the original exam date on which the student has no exams scheduled and which does not create an additional conflict. Law school policy prohibits the administration of an exam prior to the scheduled exam date.
In Case of Emergency
For Emergency exam postponements, immediately call the office of the Assistant Dean for Student Affairs at (512) 232-1313 and email StudentAffairs@law.utexas.edu. Please do not panic if you cannot immediately speak to the Assistant Dean. If you are sufficiently ill to need a postponement, you must see a doctor immediately. With medical verification, your exam will be postponed.
Non-Emergency Exam Postponement
For non-emergency exam postponements (multiple exams), the SAO will automatically assign dates to you mid-term.