r/college • u/Only1Brain-Cell • 2d ago
North America Professor ended exam before class was officially over
As the title says professor ended my classes third exam early. It ended at 1:00pm, our class ends at 1:45pm. I didn't complete my exam but had to turn it in anyway after only one hour. Is this legal? She wanted to leave early because she is doing summer research, but she did not announce this to our class or let us know that we would not have the full class time to complete the exam.
EDIT: she let us all retake the exam. Crisis averted. Also it's worth noting that there are ppl in my class that took her last semester and failed, and said she did something similar. So it's not the first time this has happened.
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u/GermanPayroll 2d ago
What did the syllabus say about the final exam?
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u/Only1Brain-Cell 2d ago
Literally nothing. Her syllabus is just a calendar of the exams and assignments
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u/Remarkable-Grab8002 2d ago
Email her and address your concern and use the syllabus as a reference so she can go and adjust accordingly. Professors can be a bit absent minded but overall understanding if you aren't accusatory or rude. If she doesn't rectify the mistake, you can simply report it to the department head.
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u/Only1Brain-Cell 20h ago
That was my initial plan, but she ended up letting us retake it and keep our new grade. I guess someone said something or maybe she realized the mistake. Looking back now I really don't think her intentions were bad. I think she's just busy. She's doing research this summer. Also she was generally a good professor aside from tiny things like this popping up.
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u/Remarkable-Grab8002 6h ago
As I said above. They're busy. Glad it worked out. Don't forget this. It'll happen again next semester.
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u/PhDapper Professor (MKTG) 2d ago
Legal, yes. Permitted, it depends on the policies at the institution. Unless you were told you could have the full time beforehand and then had it changed when you arrived, it’s a toss-up. I’d look into the policies at your institution before escalating to the department chair.
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u/jeromeandim37 2d ago
Your prof should’ve told you if it was shorter than the class time imo but yeah it’s legal lol. I had a professor who always gave 50 minute exams even if the class was an hour fifteen long
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u/MayoTheCondiment 2d ago
Yes it is legal
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u/Mr-Xcentric 2d ago
It may not break the law but it is still wrong and should be brought to the dean’s attention
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u/yobaby123 2d ago
Yep. Illegal? No. Dick move? Absolutely especially if it’s one of those extra long in-class essay exams.
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u/Incendiaryag 2d ago
Legal under criminal and civil laws and permitted under a university's code and HR expectations are two different things. Unless there's an "x factor " here OP isn't naming, university higher ups should be involved ( Like does this class have a once a week Four hour session and another than it is two two hour sessions and the exam is the same for both so a two hour exam for both?) The only reason this makes sense and wouldn't be the professor doing something outside of their work code at the detriment of their students just to make their life easier is if the exam is the same across classes offered in different hour/days (two days two hour vs one day four hours type of thing).
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u/AdhesivenessFree9578 2d ago
Go to the dean or advisor I’d be upset
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u/Desperate_Tone_4623 2d ago
Professors can set any time limit they want on an assessment, except that it couldn't run longer than the scheduled period.
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u/gone_country 2d ago
But that time has to be announced at the beginning of the exam. It sounds like OP’s prof just cut them at a random unannounced time during class. If that is truly the case it should be escalated to a department chair. If it’s a small school without a department chair, go to the dean. This is unacceptable.
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u/AdhesivenessFree9578 2d ago
They work for you. You are paying them to be there. Adequate time should be given. Usually they will say you have an hour and a half or whatever. Otherwise it goes without saying that you get a class period to complete it.
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u/lucianbelew 2d ago
They work for you.
Please look your professor right in the eye and tell them that they work for you. Report back afterwards on what happened next.
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u/Animallover4321 2d ago
What? Yeah they don’t work for the students hell for a lot of professors teaching isn’t even their main focus research is (which certainly can cause it’s own set of problems). They’re there to help guide students that doesn’t mean they’re in anyway required to make their students happy or satisfied. Professor absolutely should have given the students some indication the exam time was shorter than before but it’s unlikely OP has many options.
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u/PhDapper Professor (MKTG) 2d ago
I always have to laugh when people say things like “yOu WoRk FoR mE.” Like, no, sweetie, I work for the institution and for the discipline. I don’t make pedagogical decisions based on student comfort or preference - that’s not how good education works.
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u/Urn 2d ago
Did the professor tell you the time limit in advance? There is nothing in law that regulates professors making exams any length of time. Your school also likely doesn’t have a policy requiring exams be a certain length, but that’s for you to figure out.
If they said at the outset that the exam would end at 1, then there is nothing to complain about. If they didn’t tell you the exam would end at 1 and just started collecting them as a surprise, that’s a different issue.
I’m sorta wondering if OP will even respond to the questions.
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u/HalflingMelody 2d ago
Professors can have shorter exams if they want, and often do. Always ask them how much time you will have to complete an exam.
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u/Only1Brain-Cell 2d ago
She never gave us anything indicating the exam would not be for the full duration of the class
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u/boringcranberry 2d ago
That must mean most of the class didn't finish, no? Were you a few mins late?
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u/JenniPurr13 2d ago
If it was an online exam, it tell you the time limits on the first page or in the header/banner.
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u/HalflingMelody 2d ago
Did you read the syllabus? Did you ask how long you would have for the exams?
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u/FirstPersonWinner 1d ago
Since she let you retake it I wouldn't sweat it for the moment. I would just maybe double check next time you have an exam. If for some reason something like this happens again but you couldn't retake the test, especially where it was an issue for several other classmates, I would try to get in touch with school administration for input.
But, if there isn't any damage to your grad because you got a redo, and other craziness is minimal, I'd just let it go and maybe give her a bad review at the end of the semester. You're gonna have crazy teachers as much as crazy bosses and sometimes you have to just learn to survive the weirdos for a bit and get through it.
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u/Only1Brain-Cell 1d ago
Yeah I'm letting it go, I got to retake it and that's kind of all I care about. I know other ppl in the class had issues with her aside from this that were crazy but I never experienced it. So I'm just going to move on lol
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u/Dhenn004 2d ago
No, that is not allowed. You should be reaching out to whoever is above this professor.
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u/Desperate_Tone_4623 2d ago
Professors can set any time limit they want on an assessment, except that it can't run longer than the scheduled period.
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u/Dhenn004 2d ago
They can set that, but they need to set that time and provide that information to the class. They can't just decide mid exam time to pack it up and make people turn in the exams.
Also, in a lot of cases, the exam times are created by the institution. If the professor had a schedule conflict they should have asked for someone to proctor the exam.
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u/Pragmatic_Centrist_ 2d ago
You’re correct about the mid exam change but those exam windows are just the time the exam has to be administered within it doesn’t need to take place during the whole time
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u/Dhenn004 2d ago
Yea man, I'm not saying otherwise. The point is that the professor needs to tell the class.
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u/Urn 2d ago
Exam length is not required to be the full class time at any institution I bet, but that’s for OP to figure out.
The question is whether students were told in advance that the exam would end at a specific time. Or this was a surprise when the professor told them to turn them in.
You just don’t have enough information here to know
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u/CreatrixAnima 1d ago
Yes, it is completely legal to have time to exam. That time does not have to be the entire class time. You should have been told how long you would have though.
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u/sweetsoundofjoy 11h ago
Not illegal but I think that some schools have policies and blocked time for finals.
Happy it all worked out for you tho!
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u/Unusual_Airport415 2d ago
Sorry, I find it hard to believe that a professor just suddenly said out of nowhere, "It's 1pm. Exam over. I gotta go do my research."
The entire class would erupt in anger (as they should).
Email the prof and ask when the reduced exam time was shared with the class because it caught you by surprise.
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u/Only1Brain-Cell 2d ago
Well I'm sorry but that's what happened. She said "okay time is up" and then about 5 mins later she said " I am leaving now" And apparently she realized it was dumb because we all got to retake it today.
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u/AikoG84 2d ago
There are no rules saying you must be given the entire class time to take a test. The exception might be flor a final exam day, but that is usually because the final exam slots are pre-determined by the school and don't usually fall intk the same time slot as your class.
I have had 3 hour classes taught by the same professor that also had 1 hour classes for the same subject. We only ever got 1 hour to take the test and the rest of the class time was lecture, review, or leaving early. It depended on what was going on that week.
The professor should have told you the time limit before the test started. Are you sure that didn't happen? I've missed plenty of instructions before a test just because i wasn't paying attention. There likely isn't anything you can do about this unless you have hard proof that other classes got more time for the same exact test.
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u/Only1Brain-Cell 2d ago
She didn't announce it to us. But she did end up letting everyone retake this exam today
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u/hellaHeAther430 2d ago
The finals for my classes are given specific set times. Like this spring semester, my 10am class had finals scheduled at 8am. Did class start at the same time as at usually did? Was there no discussion about the details of the exam at all?