Standard Semester

NDSU operates on a semester system consisting of two standard 16-week fall and spring semesters, plus a final examination week. In all semesters, variable-length, short-session courses are available, and meet the same total contact (class) hours as the same course taught in a standard 16-week semester. See definition of an academic credit.

Mid-term of a standard semester is approximately 40 class days after the standard semester start. 

Summer Semester

The 12-week summer semester is designed to provide coursework that is offered within various expedited time intervals called sessions. Summer classes carry full academic credit because classes meet the same number of contact hours as the standard fall or spring semester in these expedited sessions. Students should refer to the Dates and Deadlines webpage on the One Stop website for session start and end dates, as well as the drop/add deadlines for each session offered during the summer semester. 

Final Examinations & Dead Week

NDSU Policy 336: Examinations and Grading outlines final exams and the Dead Week policy. 

Final Examinations

The schedule for final examinations is determined and published by the Office of Registration and Records. Final examinations in one-credit courses are usually given during the last regular class period. Final examinations for summer classes and distance-delivered classes are arranged by the instructors. Classes  scheduled outside the standard scheduling patterns do not have published final examination periods. Instructors are to make arrangements to administer examinations at times that are least disruptive to students’ existing schedule of final exams. Final examinations for all other courses may not be rescheduled during the final examination period, or given prior to the start of final examination period. 

According to the State Board of Higher Education policy, the examination period is instructional time and, if
a final examination is not given, some instructional use of this period is expected. No student shall be obligated to take more than two final examinations scheduled for the same calendar day. In the event that a student has three or more final examinations on the same calendar day, the student shall notify the instructor(s) from the highest numbered course(s) no later than two weeks before the last day of class to schedule a make-up examination to be administered at a mutually acceptable time.

Dead Week

Only one exam or quiz per course may be given during the last two weeks of the semester (prorated accordingly for variable length courses), which includes finals week. Exceptions include summer classes, self-paced/correspondence courses, make-up exams, courses in which laboratory is incorporated with a lecture, one-credit courses, and quizzes that account for less than 5% of the students' overall grade. If a professor chooses to give an exam during the last week of classes, he/she is expected to make some instructional use of the final examination time.