This is primarily for teaching assistants who have been assigned to invigilating an ECE 204 mid-term or final examination; however, there is no reason for students not to see this.

Most mid-terms are in many rooms. Please show up half an hour before the start of the mid-term at the room that has the smallest room number. This is an easy rule that allows you to find the room, even if you lost the e-mail telling you where to show up.

1. LAYING OUT EXAMINATIONS: The examination has pre-arranged seating through Odyssey. When you are given the examinations for your room, the examinations will have numbers such as A1, A3, A5, etc. The letter specifies the row, while the number specifies the seat within the row. In general, the seats are separated by two, leaving one space between the students. The Proctoring Package should have been sent to you, but there is no need for you to print this out. It will be brought by the instructor. Please note, the proctoring package has both student names and uWaterloo Student ID numbers, so any e-mail with that information should be considered confidential, as should any print-out of the proctoring package. From the package, you can see the seating arrangement of your specific room, and you will lay the examinations out in that order. The printing order is beautifully designed, for you first walk down the first row from A1 to A19 (for example), and then you double back and put down the examinations from B19 to B1, and then the next ten examinations are C1 through C19, etc.

2. SEATING: If a student does not know which room they are to be in, you can ask them to look it up on odyssey at https://odyssey.uwaterloo.ca/teaching/schedule (although, all students will have already used this and should be aware of it). Alternatively, you can also show them the “Midterm Posting List” which will also be distributed to the invigilators. This list is numerically ordered by the uWaterloo Student ID Number and indicates the room and seat for each student.

3. GENERAL RULES: A few rules:

1. Generally, no head coverings of any sort apart from those associated with religious dress. If a student has a "lucky" hat or something like that and indicates this, it's okay the hat does not obscure the eyes (so, for example, turning a baseball cap backwards); however, this is seldom and you have the right to ask the student to take it off if the hat in any way obscures or hides the eyes.
2. Only water bottles are allowed, and they should be transparent. This is more important for final examinations, so if a student has a translucent or opaque water bottle, you can ask to inspect it and ask the student to open it up to ensure it does not contain notes. Even if the water bottle is clear, do make sure that there is no writing on the other side of any label.
3. No food. I once had an examination where a student brought in McDonald's french fries. Even though I asked the student to finish the fries immediately and dispose of the container before the examination started, the lingering and overpowering odour distracted many other students for some time thereafter.

4. WASHROOM BREAKS: There are no questions. None. Period. Oh, wait, except for "May I go to the washroom?" At most one student can go to the washroom at a time, so one TA will walk the student to the washroom, and then walk the student back. Please ask them to demonstrate that they do not have a cellular phone on their person by padding themselves down as you listen for a more solid strike. If the student has a large coat on, please ask them to take it off; however, do not touch the student under any circumstances. Please stand outside the washroom.

Note: I have found course materials including a text book in the washrooms previously, so it might be useful to walk through the washrooms, but these days, chances are, students will instead try to use their cellular phone.

5. TAKING ATTENDANCE: After the first half hour, one TA can take attendance. The attendance form will be given to you when you pick up the examinations. You can view the attendance form in the Proctoring Package. Basically, you take attendance in the same order that you laid out the examinations.

For each student:

1. Pick up the card, and ask the student to look up, possibly asking them to lower a mask. Do this for all students, even if you know the student, just that everyone is treated fairly. If for religious reasons, someone does not want to show you their face, just ask the student to point out any other student in the class that can confirm their identity, and then ask that other student.
2. If someone does not have their WatCard, remember that the front cover of the examination has all their details and their picture. As long as they look like that person on the picture, that’s fine.
3. Ask the person to sign next to their name, and generally I will put my finger down indicating where that should be. Sadly enough, that is sometimes necessary. If someone puts their signature in the wrong place, ask the student to cross it out, and sign in the correct location.
4. When you read their WatCard, consider remembering their first name, and then when they have finished signing and you’re picking up the attendance form, consider saying “Good luck, John.” or “Good luck, Mariam.” This makes it a little more personal.

I have caught one graduate-student who was writing an examination for a second-year undergraduate student. I don’t know how common impersonation is, but you don’t hear about that too often, so hopefully it is rare.

6. REQUIRED ATTENDANCE: No one leaves in the first hour, and no one leaves in the last fifteen (15) minutes. The first hour is to allow students to arrive late. After the first hour, no one may enter, so please pick up any examinations that do not have a body in front of it. If a student insists on leaving, remind the student that this is a violation of Policy 71 under the “obstruction or interference” clause. Leaving early interferes with the security of the examination in case a student arrives late; while leaving in the last fifteen mintues interferes with the writing of the examination by other students. If the student is visibly frustrated, take their name down, and if there are extra invigilators, ask the student if they would be willing to at least remain seated outside the examination writing area until the first hour is finished: as soon as the first student leaves, no student who is late can begin to write the examination.

7. COLLECTING EXAMINATIONS: At the end of the examination period, all but one TA will stands at the front and one of those will say: “The examination is over, please put your pens or pencils down. Everyone must remain seated until all examinations are collected.” The third TA will then go and pick up one examination from each person, so generally, one row at a time. If that one TA picks up one examination from each student, then there is no possibility of an examination going missing. In twenty years, I’ve never lost a mid-term or final examination, and this is the approach I’ve always used since about 2005. Under no circumstances direct the class to, for example, “Pass your examinations to the middle.” This allows for the possibility of a student not handing in their examination through subterfuge. If, however, one examination is physically collected from each student, and no one leaves early, then there should be no issues with this. Please note, having just one TA pick up all the examinations is potentially a waste of time, but honestly, it’s much easier than having to count the examinations at the end.

If a student gets up during this time, just point to the student and tell them to sit down. If the student does not, inform the student that it is an academic violation of Policy 71 under the “obstruction or interference” clause. The student is explicitly interfering in the safe and secure collection of an academic evaluation. If the student continues to leave, remind the student that this is immediately a 0 on the mid-term followed by a further penalty of 5% from the final grade. If the student continues to leave, record the name of the student based on the seating plan.

8. RETURNING THE EXAMINATIONS TO THE INSTRUCTOR: When you are finished collecting all the examinations, take the examinations to the room with the smallest numeric value (the same room from which you collected the examinations) and hand the examinations to the instructor or the instructor's designate. You can then leave.

9. MARKING: The examinations will be taken to WPrint and uploaded to Crowdmark, and you will receive instructions on grading and rubrics from the instructor. You can start as soon as the examinations are uploaded.