Extenuating Circumstances for Exams

We hope that you do not experience any difficulties which impact your exams in the January 2026 Exam Period (5th - 23rd January 2026) but if you do, there are support options available to you.

If you have eligible circumstances you are able to apply to have any exam(s) you are unable to sit or complete deferred to a future assessment period.

You may also be able to apply for Temporary Provisions if you experience a sudden short term condition which impacts you during the exam period.

Please read the information on these options carefully and contact Hwb with any questions. You may also find the University Extenuating Circumstances (ECs) Policy helpful.

FAQs for Exams

How to Apply to Defer an Exam

Students with eligible circumstances may apply to have any of the January 2026 Semester 1 Exams deferred. If approved, this gives students the option to defer one or more final assessments, and sit the deferred assessment in a future assessment period.

Click here to apply

To apply to defer an exam, please submit a request via the Extenuating Circumstances system on eVision. You can find guidance on how to submit an exam deferral request here.

Requests must be submitted within the 10 working days before the affected assignment deadline, or within the 5 working days after the affected assignment deadline. You can submit more than one deferral request, and the submission deadline applies for each assessment you wish to defer. Late applications will not normally be accepted.

Appropriate supporting documentation is required in order for a deferral request to be approved. When submitting your deferral request, please upload any supporting evidence you have to confirm your circumstances. If you are unable to submit evidence as part of your initial deferral request you will be given a deadline to provide it by.

Please Note:

Non-finalist students who have approved deferrals will sit any deferred exams in the August 2026 Supplementary Exam Period.
Finalist students who have approved deferrals may choose to either sit any deferred exams in the May/June or August 2026 Exam Periods.

Supporting Evidence

Supporting evidence must:

Indicate how the circumstances have affected a student’s performance and/or may have affected a student’s ability to attend, complete, or submit an assessment on time.
Be dated within one month of the affected assessment.
Be supplied by a third party and submitted by the student.
Clearly explain the circumstances.
Confirm the time period affected by the circumstances.
Be submitted as soon as possible.
Where documentation is written in a different language an official translation must be provided.
Be submitted as a Word document, JPEG or PDF (the University systems are not able to read supporting documents that are in HEIC format).

Examples of appropriate evidence are:

Potential Circumstances	Examples of appropriate evidence
Technical Issues (i.e. wifi/connection disruptions, access issue etc.)	Screenshots of error messages with a date/time included. A dated service disruption notification. An update from a network provider page. Communication outlining the disruption, including email or social media posts. Correspondence with a service provider or technical team to indicate the issue, date/time, and attempt to resolve the issue.
Physical Health or Wellbeing/Mental Health related circumstances	A note from your doctor, GP or health centre indicating the circumstances and the dates affected. Hospital admission or discharge letter. A note from the central University Wellbeing or Welfare teams if you are receiving support from these services. In the case of students with fluctuating health conditions/disabilities that have been approved by Wellbeing and Disability Services the adjustment proforma shall be taken as evidence if the circumstances cited on the EC request relate to the documented health condition.
For bereavement	We realise that this is a difficult time for everyone and it can be difficult to obtain evidence. The types of evidence we can consider include, but are not limited to: A copy of the death certificate (if available) A copy of an order of service, or a funeral notice A copy of a Funeral Director’s Letter If you find that the bereavement means that you are struggling with your wellbeing/mental health you can provide evidence of this (please see the above guidance on appropriate evidence) The above are just examples. If you are struggling to obtain evidence please contact Hwb for guidance and support.
If you are the victim of a crime	Police Report, a crime reference number on its own will not be sufficient.
Caring responsibilities	In the case of short-term caring responsibilities and domestic difficulties which impact a student’s ability to prepare for or undertake assessments, a statement from a family member/friend. In the case of a long-term caring responsibilities, a carer’s Passport.
For other circumstances that are eligible	Please try to describe the circumstances in as much detail as possible and provide as much evidence as you are able, and we will contact you if further evidence will be required.

The absence of any supporting documentation will result in the application being rejected unless the student can provide a satisfactory explanation in their application as to why they have been unable to provide such evidence. The University recognises that it will be difficult for some students to obtain evidence in the current climate and will consider applications sympathetically if appropriate explanation is provided.

You may also find the University Extenuating Circumstances (ECs) Policy helpful.

How to Apply for Temporary Provisions

Temporary Provisions

Temporary Provisions apply for students who have sudden, short term conditions that occur during the exam period and disrupt your exams. This includes sudden onset medical conditions (broken limb, pregnancy, sight impairment, etc).

Please note that any temporary provisions agreed for either online or onsite exams will ONLY apply to the exam period in which provisions are requested, and ONLY to assessments that are 24 hours or less in duration. If you have ongoing long-term conditions that may impact you in future exams, we recommend that you contact the Disability or Wellbeing Services to discuss long term provisions to support you in future.

To apply for Temporary Provisions please contact Hwb for guidance.

Important considerations and timing:

Please note that Extra Time may not be possible on short-notice, and we may require up to 2 working-days notice to put provisions in place once the request has been processed and approved. We will email your student email account to confirm which assessments will have provisions in place.

If the provisions that you need are not available, or if you do not feel that these provisions will be sufficient, then you will need to consider deferral instead.