diff --git a/uoftscrapers/scrapers/buildings/__init__.py b/uoftscrapers/scrapers/buildings/__init__.py
index ce93c03..b5716fe 100644
--- a/uoftscrapers/scrapers/buildings/__init__.py
+++ b/uoftscrapers/scrapers/buildings/__init__.py
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@
 from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
 from collections import OrderedDict
 from decimal import *
-import json
 import os
 import re
 
@@ -83,13 +82,12 @@ def get_map_json(campus):
         Scraper.get(Buildings.host)
 
         headers = {'Referer': Buildings.host}
-        html = Scraper.get('%s%s%s' % (
+        data = Scraper.get('%s%s%s' % (
             Buildings.host,
             'data/map/',
             campus
-        ), headers=headers)
+        ), headers=headers, json=True)
 
-        data = json.loads(html)
         return data
 
     @staticmethod
@@ -99,11 +97,10 @@ def get_regions_json(campus):
         Scraper.get(Buildings.host)
 
         headers = {'Referer': Buildings.host}
-        html = Scraper.get('%s%s%s' % (
+        data = Scraper.get('%s%s%s' % (
             Buildings.host,
             'data/regions/',
             campus
-        ), headers=headers)
+        ), headers=headers, json=True)
 
-        data = json.loads(html)
         return data
diff --git a/uoftscrapers/scrapers/exams/utsg.py b/uoftscrapers/scrapers/exams/utsg.py
index 11c7966..2ba0fe0 100644
--- a/uoftscrapers/scrapers/exams/utsg.py
+++ b/uoftscrapers/scrapers/exams/utsg.py
@@ -28,10 +28,15 @@ def scrape(location='.', year=None):
                 'Referer': UTSGExams.host
             }
             html = Scraper.get('%s%s' % (UTSGExams.host, p),
-                               headers=headers)
-            soup = BeautifulSoup(html, 'html.parser')
+                               headers=headers,
+                               max_attempts=3)
 
-            if not soup.find('table', class_='vertical listing'):
+            try:
+                soup = BeautifulSoup(html, 'html.parser')
+            except TypeError:
+                soup = None
+
+            if not (html and soup and soup.find(class_='vertical listing')):
                 # no exam data available
                 Scraper.logger.info('No %s exams.' % p.upper())
                 continue
diff --git a/uoftscrapers/scrapers/utils/layers.py b/uoftscrapers/scrapers/utils/layers.py
index cb70b66..289a840 100644
--- a/uoftscrapers/scrapers/utils/layers.py
+++ b/uoftscrapers/scrapers/utils/layers.py
@@ -10,7 +10,6 @@ class LayersScraper:
     """
 
     host = 'http://map.utoronto.ca/'
-    s = requests.Session()
 
     @staticmethod
     def get_layers_json(campus):
@@ -18,16 +17,13 @@ def get_layers_json(campus):
 
         Scraper.logger.info('Retrieving map layers for %s.' % campus.upper())
 
-        headers = {
-            'Referer': LayersScraper.host
-        }
-        html = LayersScraper.s.get('%s%s%s' % (
+        headers = {'Referer': LayersScraper.host}
+        data = Scraper.get('%s%s%s' % (
             LayersScraper.host,
             'data/map/',
             campus
-        ), headers=headers).text
+        ), headers=headers, json=True)
 
-        data = json.loads(html)
         return data['layers']
 
     @staticmethod
diff --git a/uoftscrapers/scrapers/utils/scraper.py b/uoftscrapers/scrapers/utils/scraper.py
index bc1981a..64e5bda 100644
--- a/uoftscrapers/scrapers/utils/scraper.py
+++ b/uoftscrapers/scrapers/utils/scraper.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ def get(url, params=None, cookies=None, headers=None, json=False, max_attempts=1
                     doc = r
                 else:
                     sleep(0.5)
+                    attempts += 1
             except (requests.exceptions.Timeout,
                     requests.exceptions.ConnectionError):
                 attempts += 1