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Chemistry Attendance and Exam Policy

Student Attendance Policy for all Chemistry Classes.

The Department of Chemistry has agreed on a common attendance and absence policy for all of our courses. Students are expected to attend all scheduled classes and labs and are responsible for any work missed. Failure to attend will lead to a warning, grading penalties, and/or dismissal from the course with a failing grade.

The Department of Chemistry supports college-sponsored activities or events (e.g., musical performances or athletic competitions) and recognizes that they may infrequently conflict with a class or lab. Students should never miss class or lab for an athletic practice. It is the responsibility of students to communicate directly with their instructors during the first week of class to resolve scheduling conflicts. Athletic schedules are available on the web (https://www.colby.edu/athletics). Students on academic probation may not be excused from any class because of extracurricular or athletic activities.

Students that have a critical emergency or illness are not expected to attend class or lab. We do request that, after the fact, the students Advising Dean verify the emergency or illness to the course instructor.

Instructors will notify students in writing of attendance policy violations. The notification will detail the nature of the violation and the consequences of a repeat violation.

Students who are dismissed from a course due to unsatisfactory attendance through the mid-semester deadline (with the exception of first-year students) will receive a grade of WF. Students dismissed after mid-semester day will receive a grade of F in the course, with the exception of first-year students who will be dismissed with a mark of WF.

Policy on Missed Exams.

Students are expected to take all exams at the time that they are scheduled, and there are NO MAKE-UP EXAMS. The grade for an unexcused missed exam is zero.  If a student will be away for an official College activity, it is the responsibility of the student to let the professor know of the conflict, well in advance, so that arrangements can be made for the exam to be administered by a college official (such as a coach). In the event of a serious unexpected medical or family emergency, as soon as possible you must have your advising Dean contact your course instructor, who may then excuse you from the exam (note that only your course instructor has the authority to do so). You should expect, however, that only for extremely exceptional circumstances will you be allowed to miss an exam in any chemistry course, and you should expect to fail the course if you miss more than one exam in that term. Because subsequent topics in chemistry classes typically build upon previous course material, it becomes difficult to catch up if you fall behind. Therefore, students missing an exam in a chemistry course will receive an academic warning from the course instructor because of the potential for failure in the remaining portion of the course.

Policy on Time Extensions for Exams.

Exams are designed to be completed during the class time allotted. Some students may have approval from the Dean of Students Office for time extensions on exams. These students must bring a letter from the Dean of Students Office that gives the appropriate time extension directly to the course instructor each term.

Department Policy on Academic Honesty

The Department of Chemistry does not tolerate academic dishonesty in lecture or laboratory courses. Cheating, fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, or deception in any written, oral, or other form of graded material, including laboratory notebooks, constitutes academic dishonesty. Working together in small groups to study course materials is encouraged as such discussions are useful to generate ideas to solve problems and make learning more interesting. In instances where students work as partners in a laboratory setting, each student may exchange experimental details and data with her/his lab partner and other classmates if expressly permitted by the instructor. However: ALL materials that YOU submit for a grade must be uniquely the results of YOUR work ONLY.

This policy includes exams, pre-lab assignments, lab notebooks, laboratory reports, and homework assignments. All answers to questions must be in your own words, and you must perform all calculations yourself, even when working with a partner. Acts such as copying homework problems, using data from another student or external source, and photocopying material from anyone else’s laboratory notebook to include it in your notebook are serious offenses. In addition, allowing your own work or data to be copied by another student is considered academic dishonesty as well.

Exams, Tests, and Quizzes

On exams (and quizzes), academic dishonesty can take many forms including but not necessarily limited to:

  • Looking at and/or copying material from another student’s exam, or allowing any other student to copy any of your work.
  • Using any sources or materials during an exam that are not expressly allowed by the instructor, creating such materials and leaving them in a location where they might be used by you or another student (i.e., all such materials should be secured in a bag or not brought to the exam, they may not be: on the floor, hidden in your exam, written on your hand, programmed into an electronic device, left in the bathroom, halls, or surrounding area, etc.).
  • Altering your exam in any way after it is handed back to you when asking for regrading of a portion of or all of an exam.

Labs, Homework, and other Graded Assignments

Academic dishonesty is no less serious on laboratory reports and other graded laboratory work, or homework and other graded assignments. As with exams and quizzes, sanctions for any offense range from a minimum of a grade of zero for the entire assignment, to failure in the course, suspension and/or expulsion. Notification of all infractions will be reported to the Department Chair and the Colby Academic Review Board.

Colby Policy on Academic Honesty & Consequences for Academic Dishonesty

Honesty, integrity, and personal responsibility are cornerstones of a Colby education and provide the foundation for scholarly inquiry, intellectual discourse, and an open and welcoming campus community.  These values are articulated in the Colby Affirmation and are central to this course. Students are expected to demonstrate academic honesty in all aspects of this course.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to: plagiarism (including quoting sources without quotation marks around the borrowed words and a citation); presenting another’s work as one’s own; buying or attempting to buy papers or projects for a course; fabricating information or citations; knowingly assisting others in acts of academic dishonesty; violating clearly stated rules for taking an exam or completing homework; misrepresentations to faculty within the context of a course; and submitting the same work, including an essay that you wrote, in more than one course without the permission of instructors.

Academic dishonesty is a serious offense against the college. Sanctions for academic dishonesty are assigned by an academic review board and may include failure on the assignment, failure in the course, or suspension or expulsion from the College.

For more on recognizing and avoiding plagiarism, see the library guide: libguides.colby.edu/avoidingplagiarism

Cell Phone Policy

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the Chemistry Department prohibits the use of cell phones and other portable electronic devices during quizzes and exams for any reason. Any use of portable electronic devices (for example, leaving the room to make or receive phone calls, sending or reading text messages, or accessing the internet) will be considered a violation of academic honesty. The only exception is an approved calculator.