Honor system on exams

As most of you know, UCF and I expect complete academic integrity on exams and all study activity. This expectation is why university enjoys the honor we give it here in the West.

One feature of this honor system is the normal expectation that, during exams, you close your notes, your textbook and your problem solving manual, and go at the test with only your thinking cap. Once in a while, I give an "open book" test, but usually my exams are "closed everything." I do permit my lecture students to use

1. pencil and eraser
2. a blank page of scratch paper or graph paper
3. a straight edge
4. a calculator

You can definitely use these tools, too. And of course, they have their scantron forms.

I also ask the students to shut down cell phones and iPods, clear their desks of books etc. For online students, you should shut off AIM, Facebook, MySpace, Hi5 etc. during exams, too, and stay off email.

My exams are always loaded with basic questions that cover the basic concepts and sprinkled with a few brain burners that will challenge even a top student. For this reason, you will need most of the hour for each exam. Good. I can see the amount of time you each spend on the exam, so I can tell which students work their you-know-what off, right up to the 60 minute limit -- and which students do not.

We call it the honor system because it reflects the amount of ordinary personal honor you each have. I like this because, although most profs do not take this attitude, the honor I observe in you lets me take an attitude of respect: though most profs never honor you, by semester's end, for those who strive to the utmost, I will honor you.