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Disclaimer: I have no idea what exams for writing courses even look like, so this is a general answer. … So, if there is such a subject, you either have to announce beforehand that there will be a question about it in each (none) of the exams or you have to ask about it only in one of the exams. …

Unless you want to split the requirement for passing the course over several exams for everybody, the only alternative would be to make exams so easy that almost everybody passes, but this strongly diminishes …

In most exams I attended or proctored, we used the following rule: If you want to leave early, you raise your hand, a proctor collects your exam, and then you leave quietly (to reduce the disturbance). … However, if you stay until the end, everybody stays at their desk and the proctors go round to collect the exams and then everybody is free to leave (because the number of proctors is limited, and to avoid …

For calculators in particular, consider not requiring students to own them at all, but have your department acquire a batch sufficient for exams. …

The professor reused questions from previous exams (perhaps without noticing) and one third of the students informed themselves about previous tests. …

First of all, exam conditions should be properly specified, as it is unfair to make the exam a guessing game as to what you can do and what not. Most examination rules, boards, etc. recognise this. I …

If both exams are equally difficult, a 90% failure rate in the second exam indicates that the exams are fair and have a reasonable difficulty. … If exam success completely depends on luck, you would expect the failure rates to be the same for both exams. …

FWIW, we had such a rule for online exams during the pandemic, but only for three hours after the exam (this was to account for students receiving time extensions). … My experience with the German academic system is that teachers expect all exams to be public knowledge amongst the students at their university as soon as they are written. …

However let me give you some perspective from a system that does allow it (Germany, STEM fields): For most written exams, our university gives students one attempt to re-take a passed exam when they have … personal experience: Only ten percent of students who meet the requirements for improving their grades, register for the make-up exam (which is a non-committing easy act that ensures we have enough exams …

On top, the exam review should be surveilled to spot if anybody is writing in their exams. …

As already hinted at in the other answers, timed written exams¹ (and every other examination method) are inherently incapable of fully fairly assessing the qualities of interest in a student, as they will … The latter are mostly students who are not nervous about exams and thus advantaged anyway. …

Also you can debate whether the examinor’s approach to exams – relying on the contents being kept secret to some extent – is a good and effective one. …

To elaborate somewhat on the argument that oral exams allow you to assess understanding while written exams do not: In theoretical physics and mathematics (for non-mathematicians), there are essentially … On the other hand I know many people who had trouble with these exams as they couldn’t (or did not want to) bluntly memorise stuff or are unable to perform correct calculations under pressure. …

While there may be some odd professor who has an actual preference for a handwriting style per se, the more relevant factors are whether your writing is easily readable and whether it does not distrac …

The following assorted suggestions stem from standard procedure at my department, which has a long-lasting experience with oral exams, and positive experiences reported by fellow students suffering from …