"They get half, or part way through [with their test], and they faint or fall ill with exhaustion," he said.

Once that happens, Smith said, Harvard protocol calls for an exam proctor to transport the student to UHS and arrange for them to be admitted. If the student has seen the exam, exam conditions must be maintained in the hospital room until the situation is resolved.

"There can be no contact that would compromise the exam," Smith said.

In practice, this means the phone is removed from the hospital room and the student is allowed no visitors.

Most of the time, the illness is not serious, and the student finishes the test at some point in the next 24 hours. Until then, "we try to make the hospital room resemble an exam room," Smith said.

Because Ho had not actually seen either of her two exams when she was admitted, she was given the option of taking a makeup test in March or taking the exams in the hospital.

The proctor, Ho said, convinced her that getting the test over with was the best option. As a result, quarantine conditions were imposed.