University of Otago Examination Rules

1. Candidates will be admitted to the examination room five minutes before the examination is due to begin. No candidate will be allowed to enter the room later than forty-five minutes after the beginning of the examination.
2. Whether the exam is in person or digital, candidates must adhere to instructions included in examination material and/or issued by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) relating to the maintenance and monitoring of academic integrity during the examination.
3. No candidate is to bring any book or other written or printed matter or blank paper or information in any form into the examination room except such as has been approved by the Senate. Rough working should be done in the examination book and clearly crossed out. All answer books and paper must be handed in.
4. For digital exams, unless the exam is deemed to be fully ‘open book’ no candidate is to access or use any book or other written or printed matter or information in any form during an examination, except where materials are authorised for a specific examination.
5. Whether the examination is written or digital, except for a single device required to sit a digital exam, no devices with any form of communication capability or audible electronic devices may be used in the examination room, or adjoining areas (e.g. toilets) during the period of the examination. An exception may be permitted if the use is specifically approved in the instructions for the examination.
   1. Assistive technologies with Bluetooth capability can be worn but must be disconnected from any other devices with communication capability.
6. For examinations held in person (whether written or digital) all audible electronic devices or devices with communication capability must be switched off and placed in your bag at the front of the room or handed to the supervisor at the beginning of the exam.
7. The use of electronic calculators is not permitted in any examination unless specified on the front page of the examination paper. This may be restricted to the calculator models that are specified on the University of Otago list of approved calculators (available from the Examinations section of the University of Otago webpage). In some instances, any model of calculator may be permitted provided this is battery powered, silent, truly portable, and free of communication capabilities.
8. Where the use of electronic calculators is permitted no supplementary material or equipment (e.g. operating manuals, reference cards, program cards, print-out attachments, etc.) relating to the use or operation of the device other than spare batteries will be allowed in the examination room without the prior permission of the Group Leader, Examinations.
9. Any candidate who brings a permitted calculator into an examination is responsible for the proper functioning of their device. It is permissible to bring spare batteries into an examination for this purpose. Leaving a supervised examination environment (whether digitally or physically monitored) to replace or repair a permitted calculator during an examination is not allowed.
10. For any examination held or sat in a communal space, or which is subject to digital invigilation, eating, drinking (except water from non-spill water bottles (glass bottles not recommended)), smoking or vaping are not permitted in an examination room.
11. No candidate shall communicate with another candidate in the examination room or copy from another candidate’s answers.
12. Candidates must produce scripts that are readily legible. No special arrangements will be made in the case of a candidate whose scripts are illegible to examiners.
13. For any examination held under supervision in a designated examination space:
    1. candidates will be admitted to the examination room five minutes before the examination is due to begin.
    2. no candidate will be allowed to enter the room later than forty-five minutes after the beginning of the examination.
    3. no candidate is to leave the room until one hour has elapsed from the beginning of the examination, and then only by permission of the supervisor, after they have verified that the candidate has submitted their finalised examination responses or after having taken in the candidate’s script.
    4. no candidate shall be permitted to leave the room during the last fifteen minutes of the examination. The supervisor shall notify candidates distinctly when the examination is finished.
14. No candidate shall continue writing an answer, or add anything to answers, after the expiration of time.
15. No candidate shall communicate with an examiner in regard to an examination either in the examination script or otherwise before the release of confirmed results, except through the Director, Student Experience or their delegated nominee.
16. A candidate for a final examination who, through illness or other circumstances beyond their control, misses that examination and/or is seriously impaired in the examination or the 14-day period immediately prior to the examination, may apply for Special Consideration as per clause 5 of the Examination and Assessment Regulations 2014.
17. A candidate who is a finalist or postgraduate student and who misses a final examination through genuine error, such as mistaking the time or date of the examination, may apply to sit a Special Examination as per clause 7 of the Examination and Assessment Regulations 2014.
18. Breaches of the Examination Rules shall be dealt with under the Student Academic Misconduct Procedures and may incur penalties as detailed in those Procedures and the Academic Statute 2011.

Approved by the University of Otago Senate: 26 June 2024

Updated: 14 May 2026