<p>D was amazed at an email that one of her profs sent out regarding their upcoming final exam. I laughed and laughed, and it’s been an ongoing joke since she got it!</p>
<p>First paragraph (I edit) —time, place of final; will be proctored, so the proctor won’t be able to answer any questions about the test, blah blah blah.</p>
<p>Then it goes on… (CAPS are my edits)
"Last time we had two people who had to leave the room during the exam to go to the RESTROOM. That’s not cricket. If anyone has a doctor’s excuse, email me back asap and I’ll figure out something. Maybe I’ll chop the exam into two segments, but it’s far, far better for everyone if I don’t do that. In any event, once the exam starts, if you leave the room you have to turn in your paper as finished.</p>
<p>May I suggest that, if you have a problem, GOING EASY ON LIQUIDS for a few hours before an exam will be very helpful. Before college is done with you, you’ll endure many longer and more difficult exams than this one "</p>
<p>OMG! Her prof is actually telling them to make sure and go potty before the exam! So, in those finals “care” packages, make sure and remind your loving S’s and D’s go to pee before they head off to their finals!</p>
<p>It’s not a bad reminder, especially if students drink tons of coffee to stay awake during the exam after staying awake all night cramming for the exam. At H, the rule is that students may not leave the room until 90 minutes after the start of the exam. The effects of coffee may strike before that, especially if one is nervous.</p>
<p>Why exactly can’t students use the bathroom during an exam? Not trying to ruin the light-hearted nature of the thread, just curious why there would be that rule.</p>
<p>beck, it’s because they might have an answer sheet hidden in there, that they could run and check after they’d perused the exam to see what questions are on it.</p>
<p>As a prof, though, I have to say that I do allow students to use the restroom during exams. They have to raise their hand and ask so I know where they are going. Every prof has different policies about trusting students…</p>
<p>“And if you pulled an all-nighter before coming to take this exam, please shower and brush your teeth before your arrival. We’ll all be STUCK in this windowless, toilet-free room for two hours together!”</p>
<p>At Harvard, it is a university rule, not up to individual profs. And yes, it’s to cut down on cheating. By halfway into the exam, cheating provides diminishing returns.</p>
<p>During the French Bac, students may go to the restroom after 1h BUT we (supervising teachers) have to frisk them first for concealed cell phones. I think it’s the moment I detest the most in the whole academic year…</p>
<p>I find this horrifying, and for reasons that have nothing to do with “helicoptering.”</p>
<p>I struggled with a medical problem throughout college that (unfortunately) involved frequent, urgent trips to the bathroom. I never had a professor who refused to allow students to go to the bathroom during exams. If I did, I would not be a college graduate today.</p>
<p>If this professor requires a medical excuse for bathroom privileges during exams, he/she should have said so at the beginning of the semester to give students time to get such an excuse or to drop the course before the drop deadline. In my case, since my problem was being managed mostly by a doctor at home, not by the college health service, getting a medical excuse quickly would have been difficult. I hope nobody in this professor’s class faces a similar situation.</p>
<p>Yes, I find this a little absurd. At Princeton, our Honor Code is such that exams are not proctored, and it seems to work rather well. I have yet to even hear about any restrictions on using the bathroom, under the same principle as the exam being un-proctored.</p>
<p>Anyone with a medical condition would surely be exempted from the rule. But, as I said, at H, it is not at the discretion of the prof. Profs can decide to give take-home exams which function on the honor code.</p>
<p>^^I agree about the inhumane part. My D2’s second grade teacher forbade all 2nd grade students to use the restroom until the school 1st break. One boy made a messed and felt so humiliated.
At least college kids are a lot older.</p>
<p>At least he did acknowledge that he’d “look at” options with doctor’s excuses. But his need to elaborate about going potty before starting the test, was over the top, IMO!!! CountingDown…I’ll let you know if he sends a follow-up reminder on other personal hygiene concerns. Maybe he’ll warn about not eating a lot of cabbage, broccoli, or beans the night before the exam, either.</p>
<p>Obviously a male professor. My roommate had such severe menstrual problems, on the 2nd day of her period she had to change her protection hourly or it would leak through. I’m talking super-overnight pads, every hour. It was only for about a 6 hour span once a month, but that 6 hours arrived whenever it arrived, and she had no control over it. She also had no doctor’s note, as she had always managed to be somewhere that she could get to a bathroom hourly (no long hikes in the forest scheduled that week). She once had a priest who chastised her after mass for leaving and using the restroom during the sermon. You should have seen his face when she smiled sweetly and said, “Fine, next time I’ll bleed on the pew.”</p>
<p>If he wants a doctors’ note, he should ask at the beginning of the semester. Kids with certain chronic illnesses see their doctors regularly. My kids walks a long way to see her doctor and she doesn’t have a fax machine to ask for a note. She would need lead time or have to take a big chunk of time to get it while finals are going on. I also feel he is singling out such kids in a rather demeaning way. If that’s his policy, let him state it early on.</p>
<p>I have never even considered having such a rule for my classes. In fact, if the test is well prepared there is no reason not to have the exam be open book/open notes. I am not testing memorization skills but testing a student’s ability to apply basic principles in both routine and creative ways. </p>
<p>So yes, if my students need to visit the loo, be my guest.</p>
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