EPC Frequently Asked Questions (for Students)

The EPC is located on UVM’s Athletic Campus in Living/Learning (L/L) A Building.  Our main office is located in room A170, and our testing rooms are in the lobby. The EPC can be reached by crossing Main Street either through the Davis Center pedestrian tunnel/underpass or the crosswalk by the Green Mountain Transit bus stop.  Walk through the center of L/L and enter L/L A from the door across the sidewalk from the Skinny Pancake entrance, which will be on the left side of the building marked by a large, light blue ‘A.’ Turn right down the hallway to the right of the two restroom doors and our main office door (A170) is straight ahead.  

During the academic year, the EPC is open: 

•  Monday through Thursday:  8 a.m. - 9 p.m.

•  Friday: 8 a.m. - 6 p.m.

EPC professional staff follow the UVM Administrative Calendar; the office is open all days of the year that the University is open.  

During the summer and other academic recesses, the EPC is open Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The EPC is closed on weekends (Saturday and Sunday). 

The EPC provides testing accommodations for eligible Student Accessibility Services (SAS) students. This may include-- but is not limited to-- fulfilling extended time requirements, providing a reduced distraction test-taking room, or use of a reader or scribe. Accommodation eligibility is determined between the student and SAS.  

Students are eligible to take exams at the EPC if they have received exam/quiz accommodations through Student Accessibility Services.  Students must first complete the SAS Getting Started form, then meet with an Accessibility Specialist to determine their eligibility for accommodations.  Students eligible for exam accommodations must send a Semester Request to any courses they would like to schedule at the EPC for.  Once these steps are completed, they should be able to schedule exams to be taken at the EPC using the Testing Rooms module in Accommodate. 
 

To take exams at the EPC, eligible students must schedule their exams a minimum of seven (7) days (168 hours) prior to their exam date, being mindful that the system is hourly. On test day, students should come to the EPC as scheduled instead of taking the exam in class. 

When taking an exam at the EPC, a student first must check in at the CatCard desk in the main EPC office, then check in at the main desk. Personal belongings must be stored in our coat room(s) before testing, which is under 24-hour camera surveillance to help protect students’ property and prevent academic dishonesty. 

The EPC provides a reduced distraction environment in all EPC testing spaces. Each workspace in our primary testing room is separated with a noise-reducing divider, and all testing rooms are equipped with white noise machines.   
 

Yes. Students are required to present a form of photo identification when checking in at the EPC.  This may include, but is not limited to, a UVM CatCard, state ID, driver’s license, and/or passport. IDs on your phone (such as CatCard in Apple Wallet) are considered valid forms of photo ID for the purpose of checking in for exams at the EPC. 

Students should bring any permitted test-taking materials, including writing utensils for a written exam and class-specific necessities such as calculators, molecular modelling kits, etc.  

Permitted materials will be outlined by faculty and communicated to the student during check-in to their exam. Some instructors may allow note sheets or open-book materials, which should be communicated to students prior to the exam.  

If taking a Brightspace or other online exam, students should bring their personal laptop for use during the exam. The EPC does not issue laptops to students without use of computer accommodations. If you neglect to bring your own device for an online exam, you will not be able to test. 

The EPC has a limited number of test-taking supplies for use if necessary, including several types of calculators, pens, pencils, and noise-canceling headphones/ear plugs.  

The EPC will provide all scrap paper for exams.  Use of personally provided scrap paper is prohibited for use during testing at the EPC. 

Students will first check in at the CatCard desk by showing staff a form of photo ID. Then they can put away all personal belongings in the coat room, keeping only permitted testing materials such as pens, pencils, erasers, etc. Phones should be turned off or set to airplane mode and left in the coat room. Once complete, students may go to the front desk. The employee at the front desk will ask for your name, locate your exam, and present you with a tracking form. This form includes a section where students are required to read and assent to the EPC’s academic integrity policies and testing expectations.  

The front desk employee will relay specific exam conditions, such as the exam duration, permitted exam materials, exam material restrictions, and/or notes given by instructors. Students are welcome to ask for clarification on any of these items.  If a Brightspace/online exam password is required to access the exam, an EPC employee will enter it on the student's behalf.  Students will then mark their check-in time and provide a confirmation signature on the tracking form. Once complete, they then may begin testing.  

Schedule your exams a minimum of seven (7) days, or 168 hours, before the exam date. Scheduling is on an hourly basis, so you need to make sure you give yourself a time buffer while booking. For example, you cannot book for next Monday at 9 a.m., if it is currently 2 p.m. on the Monday before. 

Students should also keep in mind that exam start and end times must fall within EPC business hours. Extended time accommodations, if applicable, can lock you out of booking for certain time slots that would run past EPC closure. 

Students must provide instructors with a copy of their accommodation letters at the beginning of each semester and obtain approval from instructors to use the EPC. Students then can go into Accommodate and book their exams via the Testing Center module.

Depending on whether or not your instructor has already submitted the exam you’re trying to book for, you will either be able to: 

1. Schedule to take your exam within the date range designated by your instructor (which will vary from course to course), or 

2. if your instructor has yet to upload anything, schedule as close to the date/time outlined in your syllabus as possible. 

Please contact your instructor and the EPC for assistance if you are unable to find an available date/time to take the exam that works for your schedule. If you have an accommodation that impacts the timing of exam scheduling or rescheduling, please be sure to communicate your needs to your instructor ahead of time. 
 

No. It is the responsibility of the student to either ensure that they will have no conflicts when booking to test at the EPC, or to face whatever consequences might occur should they book to test during the time of another class. 

Not at all. It is completely up to each eligible student to decide which and how many (if any) exams to schedule at take at the EPC. 

Unfortunately, the EPC typically cannot accommodate any exam proctoring outside of EPC testing hours. If you have exam scheduling requests outside of EPC testing hours, contact your instructor. 

Yes! Students who are eligible to test at the EPC can schedule make-up exams with instructor permission. These exams should be booked in the same way as normal exams using Accommodate.

If there are unanticipated circumstances that arise, with instructor permission, yes, you can reschedule at the EPC. To reschedule an exam, reach out to your instructor and the EPC. 

It is expected that students using the EPC will arrive on time for their exams. If you arrive late, you may not be permitted to test. After 15 minutes, the exam will need to be rescheduled (if allowed by the instructor) and will be treated in the same way as a missed in-class exam. 

If you believe you'll miss an exam booked at the EPC, it is always best practice to cancel your booking through Accommodate. However, we understand that sometimes unexpected circumstances can arise. There is no penalty from the EPC for missing an exam booked with us, and students should talk to faculty about next steps in the case that an exam is missed.  

The EPC receives exam submissions directly from instructors, through online submission via Accommodate. 

If students have questions during the exam, they are instructed to exit the testing space and speak with EPC front desk staff.  EPC staff will instruct the student to write out their question on a piece of scrap paper.  We remind the student that we cannot guarantee that we will receive a response from the faculty member and send the student back in to continue testing until if or when we receive a response.  EPC staff will then check the submitted proctoring conditions for the exam and attempt to contact the faculty member. Email is the EPC’s preferred contact method for faculty, but we can call, text, or send Teams messages upon request.  

If we receive a response while the student is still testing at the EPC, we will produce a written copy of the response and deliver it to the student at their seat.  If the student finishes their exam before a response is received, but the student still has time remaining in their exam booking, we allow the student to choose if they will turn in their exam without hearing from faculty or if they would like to return to their seat and wait out the remaining time in hopes of getting a response (the student is NOT allowed access to personal belongings or other materials while waiting for a response).  If faculty indicate that they will be unreachable during the exam, we will still send an email with the student’s question on behalf of the student to ensure that their question is on record. 

If there is any kind of problem with an exam, EPC staff will do whatever we can to help!  Students should alert the EPC front desk, and we will do everything in our power to troubleshoot or contact instructors with any exam issues.  In the case that an exam problem cannot be resolved (for example, if a Brightspace exam is not open or isn’t set for the correct amount of time), we can let the instructor know and advocate on the student’s behalf to ensure fair testing conditions. 

Although students are strongly encouraged to use the restroom prior to testing, all students are permitted to take brief breaks as needed during exams. Only students eligible for Breaks During Exams accommodation will receive stop-the-clock breaks. 

Non-accommodated breaks will count against exam time. 

Students will be accompanied by EPC Staff during breaks. 

Students are generally not permitted to use the restrooms located in Living/Learning A Building lobby without express permission from EPC staff.
 

If instructors allow extra/different exam materials which were not communicated to the EPC, we will first ask students to present anywhere the instructor may have established this in writing. If students can show written confirmation from their instructor that the extra testing materials are allowed, they will be permitted to use them. 

Written confirmation includes email communication or Brightspace posts by the instructor. If the instructor mentioned the materials in class or otherwise without record, the EPC must wait for instructor confirmation before students can use any additional materials.  In these cases, we will contact the instructor, and the student may begin their exam with only the testing materials which were explicitly allowed by their instructor. 

If the exam takes place online via Brightspace or another online platform and students are required to come into the classroom to take the exam, students with exam accommodations can schedule these exams at the EPC. 

However, if the exam is a take-home exam and other students will NOT be required to come into the classroom to test, students with exam accommodations should NOT schedule these exams at the EPC.