The following guidelines are for extenuating circumstances requests for all undergraduate and postgraduate taught students. There is separate information for postgraduate research students.
Extenuating circumstances are circumstances beyond your control which have had an impact on your assessed work. Extenuating circumstances can fall into the following categories:
The University has a specific policy and guidance on late submission of coursework and online examinations for:
Circumstances where you are unable to submit your online examination by the deadline.
Please ensure that you submit your claim before the relevant deadline even in the event that you are still awaiting evidence, so that your claim can be considered. It is important that you press submit on your claim. If you are still awaiting evidence, please note this in your claim, the type of evidence expected, and when your evidence is likely to be ready for upload.
If you are submitting your claim after the deadline – please contact your department to see whether it is too late to be considered.
In general, extenuating circumstances will be of a medical or personal nature affecting you for any significant period of time and/or on the day of the assessment event, or immediately preceding the time of the deadline.
It is important to realise that only the most serious extenuating circumstances will have any significant impact on your overall performance, particularly when degree classifications are being considered. Therefore, the Board of Examiners is unlikely to take any action unless it is believed that the extenuating circumstances have had a material effect.
Judgements can only be made about the impact of extenuating circumstances in light of the evidence of your academic ability demonstrated in non-affected work. Judgement cannot be made about your potential to have gained a higher mark if there is no evidence in the rest of your performance to support this. Unless it appears that the extenuating circumstances have had a material effect on your results, it is unlikely any action will be taken. You should therefore consider carefully before submitting a form (see also how extenuating circumstances claims are assessed).
It is not possible to list every circumstance that would not be accepted or taken into account. However, some of the more obvious examples are listed below:
Find out what you need to do to make a claim and when the deadlines are:
If you need any further help and advice, please contact or visit the Student Services Hub or SU Advice who will be happy to assist you.