Examination information

If you are registered with SASS-Academic Accommodations and wish to write your deferred/supplemental exam(s) with them, you must submit a request by email to the Exam Centre.

The following information can be modified or updated without warning up to 48 hours before the exam. It is your responsibility to check this web page regularly.

If you are registered with SASS-Academic Accommodations and wish to write your deferred exam(s) with them, you must submit a request by email to the Exam Centre.

*Please consult with your Professor for full details.

The Faculty of Science’s Undergraduate Office approves and manages deferred final exams of students for all undergraduate science courses: BIO, BIM, BCH, BPS, CHM, EVS, GEO, MAT, PHY and SCI.

To defer any evaluations that take place during the term (midterms, tests, quizzes…), students must contact their professor directly.

For non-science final exam deferrals, please contact the faculty in question and/or the professor.

Procedure to defer a final exam in a science course

To defer a final exam in a science course, you must submit the supporting documentation (i.e. medical certificate bearing the date of the absence, death certificate, etc.) within five business days of the exam date (except if extenuating circumstances prevent you from doing so), to the Office of Undergraduate Programs of the Faculty by email at infosci@uOttawa.ca.

Any extenuating circumstances must be documented. Documents must be sent to Office of Undergraduate Programs of the Faculty by email at infosci@uOttawa.ca.

All deferred final exams for science courses will either take place during the deferred exam period indicated in the university calendar’s Important dates and deadlines or during the next regular exam period in which the course is offered, whichever comes first.

For students who are graduating in June, if you want to defer one of your exams, please note that the deferred exam period will take place in July and you will no longer be eligible to graduate in June. The next convocation will be in the Fall.

Reasons for deferring a final exam

In general, we will only accept to defer an exam for the following reasons:

Exam conflicts

• Two final exams on the same date and at the same time
• Three final exams within four consecutive blocks
• Take-home exams and final projects are not considered within the exam conflicts listed above.

Please notify your faculty at least seven business days prior to the first exam in conflict.The faculty will look at the situation and will determine which exam can be deferred.

Travel, employment and misreading the examination schedule are not acceptable reasons for deferring an exam.

Medical reasons

If you miss a final exam due to illness, please refer to Academic Regulation 9.5.1 d) which governs medical certificates. The key points are the following:

• If you fall ill on the day of the exam, it is essential that you attend a medical clinic on the day of the exam or no later than the day after the exam. We will not accept medical certificates for which you have consulted a medical opinion two days after the date of the examination.
• Medical certificates retroactively covering the date of the final exam or medical certificates presenting an inconclusive diagnosis will not be accepted.
• If you choose to write a final exam despite having a medical certificate, you cannot claim illness to request a deferred exam or a revised mark.

Death of a member of immediate family

• Justified by a death certificate or an obituary notice.

Different time zone

Exams are scheduled per Ottawa local time. If you are in a different time zone and are taking online courses, your final exam may be scheduled at an unusually late hour. Although we suggest that you write your exam despite the late hour, we would agree to defer your final exam to the deferred exam period in July 2021. Written exams during this period are scheduled at either 9 a.m. or 1 p.m. (Ottawa local time).

Students who write an examination

Students who write an examination may not appeal their final grades due to one of the reasons mentioned above. And, students who write an examination during the period of disability specified on the medical certificate cannot later plead illness to appeal their examination results and/or request a deferred exam.

*The student will have to complete such requirements within a maximum of 12 months after the end of the session. If no mark has been filed with the Office of the Registrar twelve months after the end of the course, the DFR symbol will be changed to EIN.

See Regulation 10.6.

Given the exceptional circumstances due to the pandemic and the fact that assessments are online, we recognize that technical issues may arise. If you experience technical difficulties during your final science exam, you should:

• Contact your professor as soon as possible
• Contact the Office of Undergraduate Studies in the Faculty of Science by e-mail at infosci@uOttawa.ca.