Individual arrangements in examination events

• Additional time to complete an examination
  • The individual arrangements expert panel recommends 30 minutes of additional time for examinations whose duration is less than three hours, and 60 minutes of additional time for examinations whose duration is three hours or more. For well-grounded reasons, exceptions to this recommendation can be made.
  • A student may also be granted double additional time as part of their individual arrangements. In such cases, the recommended times mentioned above are doubled.
  • The organizer decides whether the additional time is to be allocated at the start or end of the exam. 
• A smaller or a separate examination room. A smaller examination room refers to a room where a small number of students can take the exam (recommendation is fewer than 10 students). A separate examination room, on the other hand, refers to a room where a student takes the exam alone.
• The use of a computer in a paper-based exam or, alternatively, the right to write answers to a Moodle exam on paper. 
• The right to a large screen, to take breaks and to have an assistant present during the exam.

Many individual arrangements, such as additional time or accessible seats, can be implemented in the exam hall. The students may also use foam earplugs.

All campuses have examination rooms for individual arrangements. These are intended, for example, for students who require a separate examination room. These rooms may be equipped with a recording video surveillance, large screens or sofas.

Students must present the teacher with an expert statement or recommendation setting out the individual arrangements to which they are entitled. No copies of the document may be made.

If a student does not wish to show you the statement or recommendation, you can contact the faculty’s accessibility liaison to find out what individual arrangements have been recommended for the student. You can contact the accessibility liaisons at specialneeds@helsinki.fi.

If the course exam is organized by Exam Services, they are responsible for all individual arrangements. Students must request individual arrangements no later than 10 days before the general examination via specialneeds@helsinki.fi.

Exams supervised by a teacher

Additional time may be provided in the exam hall if your booking can be extended. You can arrange for the additional time to be at the start or end of the exam. Please ask the education specialist for your degree programme to extend your booking.

If the booking cannot be extended, ask the student to send a request for individual arrangements for your course exam to specialneeds@helsinki.fi.

Accessible seating in the exam hall: Information on accessible buildings and exam halls can be found on the room booking page. An accessible and/or quiet examination seat can be reserved for a student in the examination hall.

A separate or smaller examination room: If there are more than 10 people attending the examination event you are organizing, please ask the student to send a request for individual arrangements to specialneeds@helsinki.fi.

If the course exam you are organizing is a paper-based exam and a student is entitled to answer on a computer, you, as the teacher, can ask your campus’s Exam Services to lend you laptops tailored for this purpose. These devices are not connected to internet. The student write their answers in Word and saves them to a USB flash drive. You should arrange the collection and return of the loaned device with Exam Services on a case-by-case basis.

Exam Services are responsible for implementing individual arrangements for general examinations and course examinations organized by Exam Services. Students must request individual arrangements no later than 10 days before the general examination via specialneeds@helsinki.fi. If a request is received after the deadline specified above, Exam Services will implement the individual arrangements if they are reasonably feasible.

Exam Services are responsible for implementing individual arrangements for course examinations organized by the Exam Services. Students must request individual arrangements no later than 10 days before the examination via specialneeds@helsinki.fi. If a request is received after the deadline specified above, Exam Services will implement the individual arrangements if they are reasonably feasible.  

As a teacher, please do not request individual arrangements from Exam Services on behalf of a student; instead, advise the student to make the request themselves. This ensures that Exam Services receive the student’s contact details and can send them instructions regarding the examination, as well as contact them if necessary. 

When Exam Services receive a request for individual arrangements for a course examination, they will contact you regarding the submission of examination questions and answers. At that time, please also specify the type of examination in question and whether any materials and/or assistive devices are permitted during the examination. 

You and the degree programme are responsible for arranging additional time for remote examinations and extending the duration of the examination. Students are responsible for having the devices and internet connection needed for the examination as well as their examination location.

Additional time is added to the Moodle exam by making an exception with extended exam time for the student entitled to additional time: open the exam area of the course (quiz or assignment activity), select More from the top bar under the page title, and select Overrides. Select Add user override from the blue button. Select the student entitled to additional time from the drop-down menu and extend the duration of the examination from the end. If, in addition to timing, the exam has a time limit, remember to extend it as well. Finally, save the user override. You can mark additional time for all exams of the course at the same time. Additional time can be marked in this way for both quiz and assignment activities.

Additional time and extending the duration of Examinarium examinations

You and the degree programme are responsible for arranging additional time for Examinarium examinations and extending the duration of the examination. Additional time can be provided by making a personal examination for students in Examinarium. In Examinarium you cannot specify the duration of the examination for individual students, unlike Moodle.

The examiner or the degree programme must make a personal examination in Examinarium for students entitled to additional time. In the case of examinations whose duration is between 30 and 145 minutes, a personal examination with an extended duration is created for the students. In the case of examinations with a duration of 175 minutes (maximum duration), two personal examinations are created for the students, taking into account the additional time. Personal examinations are created by copying the general examination and saving it as one or two new personal examinations, and dividing the exam questions among the examinations if needed. After this, the duration of the examination(s) is extended to include the additional time. In the case of two examination sessions, there is always a break of at least five minutes between them. Then add the students entitled to additional time by using the ‘Add a participant’ feature under the ‘Publish’ tab. Personal examinations are not displayed to other students. Students added to personal examinations need not register for them in Sisu before registering in Examinarium. However, you should connect the personal exam to the Sisu implementation of the course, so that the grades are automatically transferred from Examinarium to Sisu (see more in the Examinarium user guide).

Individual arrangements Examinarium facilities are not intended for students who only require additional time.

Accessible examination facilities

Students can find information on accessible examination locations by selecting "Accessibility type" and "Pääsy pyörätuolilla" (Accessible with wheelchair) when reserving their exam time.

Separate exam room, use of snacks or medicine etc., use of toilet during the exam etc.

Students who need individual arrangements other than additional time or an accessible examination facility for Examinarium examinations should contact the accessibility liaison at Examination Services by writing to specialneeds@helsinki.fi before reserving their exam time and no later than 10 days before the examination to book a place in the individual arrangements examination facilities.

The accessibility liaisons at both Exam Services and Education Services can be reached at specialneeds@helsinki.fi.

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