Exceptional Circumstances

When a student believes that their performance may be adversely affected by exceptional circumstances in advance of an examination or deadline for returning assessed work, they should seek advice from their Adviser of Studies, Personal Tutor or the relevant Students’ Union officer(s), on the options open to him/her. These options might include withdrawal, deferral of the examination, applying for an extension to the deadline for submitting coursework or applying for a waiver to any penalty imposed for late submission.

IMPORTANT:If you turn up and attempt an examination, or submit a piece of assessed work, you are deeming yourself fit to be examined.  The decision on whether to attempt the examination or submit the assessed work, and the consequences of that decision, shall remain the sole responsibility of the student in question. Please remember that exceptional circumstances should not be submitted as an insurance against possible poor performance and acceptance of exceptional circumstances will not result in individual marks being raised.

Exceptional circumstances for the purposes of assessment decisions are defined as unforeseen factors or factors outside the student’s control which may adversely affect performance, such as illness during an examination. If you are suffering from a short-term acute illness, eg vomiting and diarrhoea, migraine, flu, food poisoning etc then you can self-certify if you notify the School before, or on the day of, the missed deadline or assessment. The online form with which to notify the School is available at go.qub.ac.uk/notify you must then fill in the online exceptional circumstances form, which is available at go.qub.ac.uk/pharmecform,together with all necessary evidence, within 3 days of return to the university or by the published deadline for circumstances arising during examinations. Boards of Examiners are not obliged to consider any medical certificate or evidence of exceptional circumstances presented after the University’s published deadline.

Chronic conditions for which some students have received support and reasonable adjustments do not constitute exceptional circumstances, though a worsening of a condition may do so. A detailed guide for students to exceptional circumstances is available at http://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/AcademicStudentAffairs/AcademicAffairs/StudentGuidance/ExceptionalCircumstances-AStudentGuide/