Chicago-Kent home page Student portal Faculty portal Staff portal About The Record Current Record headlines Publication deadlines The Record archives

Office of Academic Administration and Student Affairs

Asst. Dean Stephen D. Sowle

Week of November 5, 2012
Student Portal Page
Student Health Insurance FAQ

U-Pass FAQ
Law School Survival Guide
Joke of the Week Archives


Click here for Dean Sowle's Record Archives

Registration and Training for Bloomberg Law Online Research Resource. [From the Legal Research and Writing Program:] Chicago-Kent students are invited to register for the newest commercial online research resource, Bloomberg Law. Our Bloomberg representative, Erica Horton, will have a table outside the cafeteria on Tuesday, November 6, from 11:00am to 2:00pm. Stop by and pick up your instructions for registering for access. In addition, there will be two training sessions for second, third, and fourth year students on Wednesday, November 7, in Rm. C50, one at 3:00pm and one at 5:00pm. Bloomberg Law is a research resource worth exploring -- it has business and practice materials unique to it that many of you are likely to find useful, in school and in practice.

llinois Bar Exam Information Sessions. The Illinois bar examiners will be holding informational sessions for first-year students, and for third-year and fourth-year students approaching graduation, at Chicago-Kent on Tuesday, November 20, 2012. The sessions will run as follows: (1) 12:00-12:50 pm for first-year day students, in Rm. 590; (2) 5:00-5:50 pm for first-year evening students, in Rm. 590; and (3) 4:00-4:50 pm for students graduating this academic year, in Rm. 590.

You should plan to attend the appropriate session for your status if (1) you are a first-year student and you have questions about the first-year bar registration process; (2) you are a third-year or fourth-year student planning on taking the February 2013 or July 2013 bar exams and you have questions about the application or character and fitness process; or (3) you are a student at any stage of your studies and you have questions about the character and fitness process. If you are unable to attend one of the sessions, you may contact Vanessa Williams at the bar examiners' office (217-522-5917) to discuss the information provided in the sessions. 

See my Record archives for September 3 for more information on bar registration process for first-year students, and for the application process for the February 2013 and July 2013 bar exams for graduating students. We recommend that you download and look over the application and/or registration materials available at https://www.ilbaradmissions.org before the November 20 programs.

Change of Division Requests. Students wishing to request a change of division for the Spring semester (e.g., from evening division to full-time or part-time day division, or vice versa) should submit a Change of Division request. To complete the form, log into Web for Students and select "Request to change division" on the left-hand menu. Please note: Students may not switch divisions until they have completed their first year. The deadline for submitting the form is Monday, November 5, at 5:00 pm.

Fall 2012 Final Exams.

Exam Schedule. The final exam schedule for the current semester is available here. You will be notified of the classroom assignments for your exams prior to the start of exam period.

Exam Conflict/Reschedule Requests: October 25 – November 5. The Student Handbook requires that you take your final exams at the times scheduled unless you have an exam conflict (as defined below), or you have a "serious illness or other extraordinary or compelling reason" beyond your control. If you have an exam conflict or believe you have other reasons justifying the rescheduling of an exam, please complete the Final Exam Reschedule form. To complete the form, log into Web for Students and navigate to the Final Exam Reschedule form. The deadline for submitting an exam reschedule request is Monday, November 5, at 5:00 pm. If your request is approved, you will be notified later this semester of the rescheduled date, time, and location of your exam.

Under current policy, a student is deemed to have an "exam conflict" if the student has two exams at the same time, or has two or more exams within 24 hours (e.g., exams at 8:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., or at 6:00 p.m. and 1:15 the following afternoon). A conflict does not exist if two exams are scheduled exactly 24 hours apart (e.g., exams at 8:30 a.m. one morning and 8:30 a.m. the next morning).

Exam Method Registration: October 25 - November 5. Students have three choices for taking most exams: hand writing the exam, taking the exam on their own laptop computer, or taking the exam on a lab computer. Some professors do not permit one or more of these options (e.g., some require all students to hand write the exam).

Assuming your professor has authorized you to take the exam on computer, we will assume you are taking the exam on your own laptop. You need to register your exam-taking method only if you wish to hand-write the exam, or take it on a lab computer (subject to space availability). Please check with your professor if you are uncertain whether computer use will be permitted for your exam.

If you choose the lab computer option but there are not enough spaces available, we will conduct a lottery after the close of the exam method registration period to determine who can use the lab computers. (This usually is not necessary, but occasionally we have more requests than we can accommodate for lab computers.)

If you wish to register to take an exam by hand or on a lab computer, log into Web for Students and navigate to the Exam Method Registration form. The deadline for submitting an exam method request is Monday, November 5, at 5:00 pm.

Notice about SofTest: Students taking exams on laptop must download and install the SofTest exam-taking program. You will receive information from the Computer Center about when and how to do this. Even though you do not need to submit an Exam Method Registration form to use your laptop for exams, you do need to download and install SofTest. In addition, you must download the new version of SofTest even if you have an older version from a prior semester. You cannot use older versions of the program - you must have the new version of SofTest. This includes first-year students who took a midterm exam on SofTest - you will need to download the new version for final exams.

Unless a professor specifies otherwise, SofTest is configured to lock students out of other programs and services on their computers for the duration of the exam. This means that, unless a professor specifically authorizes access, students will not have access to notes, outlines, or other materials stored on their hard drive or the network.

Notice About Borrowing Laptops from the Computer Center: The Computer Center has a limited supply of laptop computers reserved for use in emergency situations that arise during exam period. Please contact Dean Sowle if you opt to take an exam on laptop, and your laptop suffers unexpected problems that cannot be remedied before your exam. The Computer Center's laptops also may be used (subject to availability) if your computer has problems immediately before or during an exam, as long as the problem is not due to your failing to properly configure or register your laptop to run the SofTest program. Because of limited supply, the Computer Center's laptops are not available for general loaning purposes during exam period. However, if you have exceptional circumstances that you believe justify borrowing a laptop for an exam, please contact Dean Sowle to discuss your situation.

Notice to Hand Writers: Students who are hand writing an exam will be placed in the same room used by laptop users for that exam. Hand writers will not be put in a separate room.

Availability of Professors' Old Exams. Many professors make their old exams available for students to review. Exams after 1992 are available online by going tohttp://library.kentlaw.edu/Courses/index.htm and clicking on the Exam Database link. Exams dating from 1992 and before are bound in volumes available in the 10th floor reading room in the Library. 

ASP Workshop: Preparing for and Taking Exams. The Academic Support Program's third and final Fall workshop will focus on preparing for and taking exams. The program for day students will be held on Tuesday, November 6, 12:00-12:50 pm (Rm. 590). The program for evening students will be held on Tuesday, November 6, 6:00-6:50 pm (Rm. 520). Although the programs aremainly aimed at first-year students, all students are welcome to attend. For more information about the Academic Support Program, visit the ASP web page

Spring 2013 Preliminary Schedule. The Spring 2013 preliminary schedule is linked to this pagePlease note: The preliminary schedule was issued last April (prior to registration for the current Fall 2012 semester), and there will be changes and additions to the schedule before it is finalized. We anticipate issuing the final schedule late in the week of November 12.

Students Speak Survey. The Students Speak Survey is administered annually by IIT for IIT students to provide feedback to the university. We encourage all students to participate in the survey, which will be available from October 22 to November 5 through the following link: http://www.iit.edu/students_speak. Your input will help ensure that the university is delivering the services you need in the most convenient way possible.

Faculty-Student Happy Hour. The Student Life Committee will be hosting a Faculty-Student Happy Hour on Thursday, November 8, from 4:30 to 6:00pm in the Front Lobby. Appetizers and beer, wine, and soda will be served. We hope to see you there!

Joke of the Week. "My mother said, 'You won't amount to anything because you procrastinate.' I said, 'Just wait.'" (Judy Tenuta)

CALENDARS

.: Main Chicago-Kent event
   calendar

.: Academic calendar

.: CLE calendar

.: Alumnae/i event calendar

.: Admissions calendar

Chicago-Kent home page Student portal Faculty portal Staff portal About The Record Current Record headlines Publication deadlines The Record archives