If you know in advance that you will not be able to attend a scheduled examination (e.g. an extraordinary event requires you to be elsewhere), you should apply as early as possible. In all cases, a completed Special Examination Form must be lodged at the RSCS Office within 72 hours after the scheduled examination.
If you are feeling merely unwell on the day of, or in the days preceding, a scheduled examination, you are advised to apply for Special Consideration. Only in extraordinary medical circumstances (e.g. being hospitalized, inability to walk, severe fever) will a Special Examinations be granted. If you decide not to sit the exam and apply for a Special Examination, you should take a Special Examination Form to a medical practitioner and have them complete Section B. This needs to be done while your symptoms (`objective evidence of a serious medical illness') are still evident to the practitioner (and certainly within the 72 hour time frame).
Students with ongoing issues of a medical nature are advised to register with the Disability Services Centre well before the examination period. The Special Examinations policy is designed for short-term, unexpected illness. The Disability Services Centre is able to provide more practical solutions to long term issues than is enabled by this policy.
Grounds for Special Examination
(courtesy of the ANU College of Business & Economics for the
initial version of this policy)
The following circumstances are acceptable grounds for an application for Special Examination, on provision of supporting documents:
- a member of the armed forces involved in compulsory exercises;
- a person in full-time employment required to be absent from the ACT by his or her employer;
- a person representing ACT or Australia at a national or international sporting or cultural event;
- a person on jury duty;
- a death in the immediate family that directly affects your ability to attend the scheduled examination;
- religious obligations which are not covered by special examination arrangements;
- relevant educational purpose (e.g.. commencement of northern hemisphere course); and
- inability to attend an exam due to a serious medical condition or emergency.
- a cold or mild virus;
- an illness for a few days preceding exams (it is the whole semester's work which is assessed);
- a sore throat or cramping;
- a minor headache;
- mild gastro-intestinal infections;
- feeling out of sorts, etc, on the day of the exam;
- a minor accident involving a few hours paperwork;
- misreading, misunderstanding or failure to read an examination timetable (unless the Dean is satisfied that the timetable is in some way at fault);
- two exams on the same day;
- exams on succeeding days;
- what you regard as an inconvenient or onerous exam timetable;
- routine demands of employment;
- routine family problems such as domestic tension with or between parents, spouses, and other people closely involved with the student;
- difficulties adjusting to university life, and the demands of academic work;
- stress or anxiety associated with examinations or any aspect of academic work;
- routine need for financial support;
- an interruption to study during the semester;
- demands of sports, clubs, and social or extra-curricular activities;
- family or personal travel arrangements which conflict with the exam timetable; and
- other instances of minor illness or minor circumstance that are not listed as appropriate grounds earlier in this section.
