---
title: Find and join your exam
description: Open your exam from the invite email, from My Exams, or with a join code.
sidebar:
  order: 2
features: [student_home, exam_emails, invite_import]
---

You can open an exam in three ways: from the invite email, from **My Exams**, or with a join code. If your exam is in Canvas, read [Take an exam from Canvas](/docs/test-takers/canvas) instead.

## Your invite email

Your educator can send you an invite email. The email has a link to the exam and a join code. When the exam has a time window, the email shows when it opens and closes, in the exam's time zone.

![An invite email that shows the exam title, the open and close times, a link to the exam and the join code](/docs/blume-assets/content/docs/test-takers/images/s01-email-invite.png)

When the exam opens, Hawkeye can send you a second email. It says the exam is open now, and it has the join code and a link to the join page.

## Create your account

1. **Open the link in your invite email**

    If you do not have an account, Hawkeye asks you to sign in. Choose to sign up.

2. **Enter your first name, last name, email and a password**

    Your educator sees your name next to your recording. Your educator may have filled in your name for you. You can change it before you save.

3. **Confirm your email address**

    Hawkeye sends you an email with a confirmation link. Open the link. Hawkeye then takes you back to your exam.

> **Use the email address that got the invite**
>
> My Exams shows your invites only when your account uses that address and the address is confirmed.

## My exams

After you sign in, Hawkeye shows **My Exams**. At the top is the **Join an Exam** box. Under it, your exams are in three groups:

- **Upcoming**: the exam opens later. A countdown shows the time until it opens. Times show in your own time zone.
- **Open Now**: you can take the exam. Press **Start**. If you already started, press **Resume**. For a Canvas exam, press **Open in Canvas**.
- **Past Exams**: exams that you submitted, sessions that ended before you submitted, and exams that closed before you started them. This group is folded. Select **Past Exams** to show it.

![My Exams with the Join an Exam box at the top and one exam under Upcoming with a countdown to its open time](/docs/blume-assets/content/docs/test-takers/images/s06-my-exams-upcoming.png)

When the countdown reaches zero, the page reloads and the exam moves to **Open Now**.

![My Exams with the exam under Open Now and a Start button](/docs/blume-assets/content/docs/test-takers/images/s07-my-exams-open.png)

## Join with a code

1. **Find the join code**

    The code is in your invite email, or your educator gives it to you.

2. **Enter the code**

    On My Exams, type the code in the **Join an Exam** box. Then press **Join**.

If Hawkeye says the code "doesn't match any exam", check the code and type it again.

## If the exam is not open yet

You can open the exam before its window opens. Hawkeye then shows a countdown. It does not show the pre-check yet. Keep the page open. When the countdown reaches zero, the page moves on to the pre-check.

![A page that says Biology 101 Midterm hasn't opened yet, with the open time and a countdown](/docs/blume-assets/content/docs/test-takers/images/s05-after-confirm.png)

If the page says "This exam has closed", the time window ended before you started. Ask your educator if you need another chance.

Next: [The pre-check, step by step](/docs/test-takers/pre-check).