On this page

• Deadline to submit your form
• How to complete the form
• Check the status of your form
• After you submit your form
• How we store your data

If you have been affected by exceptional circumstances, you can ask the exam board to consider the impact they have had on your assessment(s).

The exam board decides what action (if any) should be taken to mitigate the impact on your academic performance.

Deadline to submit your form

Submit your form as soon as possible after your assessment.

Usually, the final deadline will be in May 2025 (exact date tbc), before the exam board meets to consider your progression or award. However, if you wish to submit an exceptional circumstances form relating to an assessment for Teaching Block 1 units, you should do this by 16 December 2024.

Your school will communicate with you if they have a different deadline because you have a different assessment period.

Supplementary year: 2024/25

If you are taking a supplementary year in 2024/25 and complete all your assessments in Teaching Block 1, the deadline for submitting your form is 16 December 2024.

Reassessment or supplementary assessments

The deadline for submitting the form for assessments taken in the 2025 Reassessment Period (which will be late July to early August) will be published later in the year.

Dissertation in postgraduate Master’s degrees

The deadline for submitting the form for PGT dissertations submitted in September 2024 is 10 October 2024.

The deadline for submitting the form for PGT dissertations submitted in August 2025 will be published later in the year.

If you miss a deadline for a good reason (such as being in the hospital), you can follow the academic appeals process after you receive your results to explain why you could not submit them before.

How to complete the form

Provide a clear explanation of the impact

You must explain the impact of the circumstance on your studies and or/assessment on your form. This will help us understand how you have been affected, and decide what mitigation is appropriate, if any, or if we can provide other support.

If you do not provide enough explanation of the circumstance and its impact upon your assessment or explain why additional mitigation is needed, your request may not be accepted. 

You must submit the relevant form and supporting evidence by the stated deadline. Remember that supporting evidence is not sufficient on its own.

Open the form

Enter the dates affected

This may be throughout the year or during a particular assessment.

It is usually 7 days or more, but may be less in some circumstances.

• Submit a form for each teaching block or assessment period affected by your circumstances.
• Submit a new form if your circumstances have gone beyond the end date of a previous form.
• You can link your forms to show where circumstances are related.

If you are submitting a form to tell us about circumstances that will affect you beyond the current date, you can select a date in the future.

For example, if you need recovery time after an operation or have an upcoming court case. This does not replace your school's normal process for planned and authorised absences.

The form will limit how far in the future you can set this date so if your circumstances continue beyond this, you will need to submit another form.

If you transfer course

If you transfer to a new course, you will need to submit a new form for any ongoing circumstances. This does not apply if you transfer to or from an integrated masters course.

Select units and assessments affected

Choose the units or assessments affected by your circumstances. These need to correspond with the other information provided e.g. dates and evidence.

If your exceptional circumstances are accepted, the exam board will only consider applying mitigation to the assessments or units you selected.

If you are not registered, or the wrong units show, contact your school office before you submit the form.

Evidence to support your request

You must submit evidence to support your request. You can use:

• new evidence to support your request or,
• evidence you have uploaded before for a previous request (as long as it still meets the requirements).

Where possible, only submit your form when you have the evidence ready. If you need to submit evidence after you have submitted the form, contact your school and ensure it's been uploaded before the form's deadline.

You cannot delete files once uploaded. If you:

• upload the wrong file but you have not submitted yet, abandon the procedure and start again.
• submit your request and upload the wrong file, contact your school and ask them to remove your form. Then submit a new form with the correct file(s).

Upload your files

Edit your form

If you need to edit a submitted form, contact your school. They will set the status of your form to 'Further action required'. Resubmit the form after you have edited it.

You cannot delete the form once it has been submitted. Contact your school if you want to delete it.

Check the status of your form

You can check the status of your form at any point. Find out what the different statuses mean.

After you submit your form

Your school's Exceptional Circumstances Committee (ECC) will review your form and evidence.

They will inform the exam board of the impact of your circumstances, but the exam board are not given any details about your circumstances. Find out about the potential outcomes the exam board can take. 

How we store your data

Find out how we keep your personal data safe and secure.