Exam Information
Spring 2026 Final Exam Schedule
All times listed on the exam schedule are Eastern.
Exam Rescheduling and Accommodations
All exams are administered anonymously. Please do not contact your instructor with requests to reschedule or extend exam dates. All requests must come through the GTP office and are subject to the regulations outlined here.
Students who believe they qualify for a disability accommodation must request one and receive approval from the BU Disability and Access Services office.
Regardless of format, exams are due by the published deadline. Failure to take your exam as schedule, without a previously approved accommodation, will result in a failing grade.
Exam Types
If your class has a final exam, you will be taking one of these three types – timed, take home, or final project.
Timed Exams
- Method: Timed exams use a software application called Examplify from the company ExamSoft. Examplify locks your computer, so you cannot access anything else, for the duration of the exam. You must download Examplify from the ExamSoft website prior to the start of the exam period.
- Time Limit: All timed exams have a 2.5 hour time limit. International students without prior education in English are granted one additional hour.
- Residential Students: Timed exams will be taken in a proctored classroom at the date and time listed on the schedule.
- Online Students: Timed exams are assigned to a 24-hour window during the exam period, beginning and ending at 2:00pm eastern. You have 2.5 hours to take the exam, and you can start it at any point during the 24-hour window. Once you start, the exam must be completed in one sitting. The latest you can begin the exam and still have the full 2.5 hours is 11:15am on the day the exam window closes.
- Password: Passwords are required to access the exam. The exam password will be posted as an announcement to the Blackboard course site at 1:45pm on the day the exam opens.
Take-Home (Untimed) Exams
- Method: Take-home exams are PDF files that you download from the ExamSoft website and re-upload there once finished. No special software is required.
- Time Limit: Take-home exams have no time limit. You can download the exam file at any point during the window noted on the schedule. You must upload it to the ExamSoft website by 2:00pm on the day of the deadline.
Timed Exam Settings
A timed exam can have one of three settings: secure, non-secure with no internet, and non-secure. Please refer to the exam schedule to determine the settings for your timed exams.
- Secure: Once you begin the exam, Examplify fully locks down your computer. You are not able to access the internet or any other files or applications on your computer for the duration of the exam. Any materials that have been approved for use by your professor must be in hard copy.
- Non-secure with no internet: You are able to access files on your computer during the exam; however, you will not be able to access the internet. If you are permitted to use electronic materials, such as files from Blackboard, you must download those files prior to beginning the exam.
- Non-secure: You are able to access files on your computer as well as the internet.
Final Exam Handbook
Download a printable copy of the GTP Exam Handbook Spring 2026. The exam handbook contains operating instructions for taking your timed exams in Examplify and any take-home exams in ExamSoft, as well as other information necessary for taking your final exams. Please take the time to read it.
Exam Schedule Acknowledgement
All students taking exams this summer are required to review the regulations regarding exam rescheduling posted here.
Additionally, all students are required to complete the Final Exam Schedule Acknowledgement Form to confirm that they have reviewed the exam schedule and the rescheduling regulations.
Click here to complete the Exam Schedule Acknowledgement Form.
ExamSoft website – examsoft.com/bulaw
The ExamSoft website serves two purposes:
- If you are taking a timed exam, you will download the Examplify software from the website.
- If you previously used Examplify at BU Law, you must log in and make sure you have the correct version.
- Note: New students starting in the spring will get access to Examplify in April; new students starting in the fall will get access in November.
- If you are taking a take-home exam, you will download your exam file from the website and upload it there once complete.
If you are scheduled to take a timed exam, please visit the ExamSoft website to ensure your computer meets the minimum system requirements for Examplify, listed on the homepage.
You will use your BU username and Kerberos password to log in to both the ExamSoft website and Examplify (the same credentials you use to log in to your email and Blackboard).
You should verify that you can log in BEFORE your exam starts. You will not get extra time on your exam due to the fact that you are unable to log in.
ExamSoft Guidelines and Instructions
Guidelines and instructions for using ExamSoft and Examplify can be found here: https://www.bu.edu/law/about/offices/registrar/exam-information/examsoft/.
Exam Numbers
All students are assigned a four-digit exam number that will be used in place of your name on all exams, to ensure anonymous grading. Exam numbers are posted about a week before the start of the exam period. To find your exam number, log in to the ExamSoft website, click your name in the top right corner, and then click My Account. Your four digit exam number will be on that page.
Examination Rules
The following rules, which apply generally to the conduct of examinations, may be
supplemented by the course instructor. A student who believes they have good cause for
relief from any of these rules may submit a petition to the Graduate Tax Program
Committee requesting relief.
- All final examinations are “closed-book” unless otherwise specified. A student may not consult books, notes, other materials, or other persons during an examination, except as authorized by the instructor. Students may have in their possession during an examination only those materials specified by the instructor.
- Unless otherwise authorized by the GTP Committee, all final examinations will be at least two hours long.
- Students with appropriately documented disabilities who are enrolled in Boston University courses or programs may be eligible for reasonable accommodations. Students seeking accommodations must provide appropriate medical documentation of their disability so that the Office of Disability and Access Services can determine a student’s eligibility for accommodations and, if the student is eligible, determine appropriate academic accommodations.
- Students whose native language is not English and whose prior education has been in another language may qualify for additional time during mid-term and final examinations. Students who have had two or more years of education in English may not qualify for additional time. Upon matriculation, the Graduate Tax Program will determine whether students qualify for additional time and will notify students of their qualification prior to the mid-term and final examination periods.
- All final examinations, including take home examinations and papers, shall be evaluated on an anonymous basis to the extent possible. Students and instructors are expected to follow exactly the procedures established by the GTP Office for the identification of examination answers and, to the extent feasible, papers, by numbers rather than by name to assure the anonymity of the grading process.
- Use of cell phones or other communication and/or recording devices during examinations is forbidden unless authorized by the course instructor in advance of the examination. Unless so authorized, such devices may not be used and must be shut off during the examination period.
- A laptop or desktop computer may be used during timed examinations by a student who has downloaded the appropriate exam software by the deadline published by the Graduate Tax Program, but only if that computer actually is running such exam software.
- No student may retake an examination for any purpose, except as otherwise permitted under these regulations.
- Students may review essay portions of their examinations after final grades have been released by contacting their instructors. An instructor may not change a grade based upon such a review, unless it is determined that there was a computational or clerical error in recording the grade.
- A student who, for any reason, has been granted permission to reschedule an examination after the regularly scheduled date is prohibited from discussing with other students any aspect of the examination questions or answers prior to taking the rescheduled examination. In the unusual circumstance where a student is granted permission to take an examination prior to its regularly scheduled date, the student is prohibited from discussing the examination or its contents with any student who has not yet taken the exam.
- If a student experiences a technology failure while taking a timed exam remotely, the student is responsible for using their best effort to contact the law school IT and/or exam software IT support personnel to resolve the issue so that the student can complete the exam within the timed requirements. If the student is unable to complete the exam within the requisite time due to technology failure, the student may contact the GTP Office to request additional time to complete the exam. Such request must be made during or immediately following the close of the exam and must clearly explain the issue, including at what point during the timed period the issue arose, and the steps the student took to resolve the issue. The Program Director shall have discretion to determine whether or not to grant the student additional time to complete one or more sections of the exam and may refer the matter to the GTP Committee for determination. Under no circumstances should the student contact the instructor to discuss any technology or other issues encountered during the exam so as to preserve anonymity in grading.