University of Iowa Instructors:

As you prepare for final exams this fall, we wanted to remind you of the process for providing accommodations on final exams.

Student Disability Services encourages instructors to proctor student exam accommodations within their department whenever possible. If you are planning to use a test center for your exams that require student accommodations, please create exams in the Proctored Exams Portal (PEP) as soon as possible.  

Students have been notified they must share final exam accommodation requests with their instructors at least 21 days prior to the exam. Please let your students know if you plan to proctor their exam or if they will need to use the Proctored Exams Portal to schedule an exam time at a test center.

Creating exams in the Proctored Exams Portal

We strongly encourage you to create your semester final exam in the portal now, even if you do not have the ICON or paper exam files ready yet. Creating the final exam now provides students with more time to plan and schedule their exam.

Please follow these guidelines for creating quizzes/exams in the PEP:

• Add the ICON or paper exam file when your exam materials are ready.
  • Paper exam files should be uploaded to the PEP at least 24 hours before the scheduled exam.
• If your students are completing an ICON exam, check that the exam is assigned to the scheduled student(s) in ICON/Quizzes and available to the student(s) at the appropriate time(s).
  • Edit the “Available From Date” and “Available Until Date” in ICON/Quizzes if needed. 
  • Additional times displayed in the PEP do not transfer to ICON/Quizzes. If your student(s) has SDS extended time accommodations, add the additional time in “Moderate This Quiz.” 
  • If your exam is password protected, make sure the Access Code (password) is in the Proctor Instructions in the PEP. 

Important dates and deadlines

• ASAP: Create your final exam in the Proctored Exams Portal
• 21 days prior to exam: Deadline for students to inform instructors of a final exam accommodation request.
• November 22, 5 p.m. CST: Deadline for students to schedule an exam time at a test center listed in the PEP (please share this with your students).

Potential issues with scheduling exams

The PEP recognizes students' accommodations and schedules them at the correct locations. If the test center is at capacity during your preferred exam window, you may either extend the exam window or administer the exam(s) within your department. The SDS Test Center uses block scheduling to best utilize available seating during finals and may ask for flexibility when scheduling exams.

If your students are unable to schedule because the test center is at capacity during your preferred exam window, please contact Student Disability Services by November 22 at 5:00 p.m. CST so we can help identify a solution. 

Please contact your student’s SDS Access Consultant as soon as possible if you have concerns about final exam accommodations. 

Thank you, in advance, for your assistance. 

Campus Test Centers 
Campus Test Centers, test-centers@uiowa.edu
Student Disability Services, SDS-Exams@uiowa.edu