Exceptional Circumstances

During the course of your degree programme, you might be faced with situations or difficulties that are outside of your control and negatively affect your academic performance. These are collectively known as 'exceptional circumstances' (ECs) and there are a number of ways you can seek support to deal with these.

See the latest Exceptional Circumstance Policy. Please refresh your browser to ensure you have the latest version if returning to this page. The policy includes a list of what the University considers to be exceptional circumstances (for example, the death or serious illness of a close family member or friend, a serious short-term illness or injury; see clause 10 in the policy) but please note that the list included in the policy is not exhaustive, and other reasons will be considered. If your circumstance is not on the list please talk to your Student Support Coordinator, School or Department Director of Academic Tutoring. The Support Centres (or Henley Helpdesk or ILSI Admin Office) can provide further advice and assistance. Please also refer to the policy for information about what are not considered exceptional circumstances and where you can find support for such matters.

Please note there are strict deadlines by when you should submit exceptional circumstances requests. Requests submitted after these deadlines are not normally considered. If they are considered, your progress through your degree will be delayed as your request will have been received beyond the point where your requirements can be accommodated in the current academic year. These deadlines are different for each type of Exceptional Circumstance request and details on these can be found below and in the separate FAQ pages.

You are strongly advised to discuss any circumstances that are affecting you with your Academic Tutor or School Director of Academic Tutoring, Student Support Coordinator (or Henley Helpdesk or ILSI Admin Office) or Reading Students' Union Academic Advisor first.

If you are a postgraduate research, University of Reading Malaysia, NUIST-based, Study Abroad or HBS Greenlands student please contact your support staff or school for information on how to submit an Exceptional Circumstance request.

If you are suffering from a long-term condition, you may be considered disabled under the Equality Act and be entitled to reasonable adjustments. If so, please register with the Disability Advisory Service (DAS), who will be able to look at your circumstances, and consider if you would benefit from having an Individual Learning Plan in place, so that you have adjustments across all of your modules (including assessments). DAS will also be able to provide advice on further support available to you.

Our support package includes three different types of Exceptional Circumstance request depending on your particular situation. See below for an explanation of these and the links for more detailed information on how and when to submit a request, together with Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).

1. Exceptional Circumstances form (standard EC)

You can submit a standard Exceptional Circumstances request if you feel that your circumstances or difficulties have negatively affected, or will affect, your ability to complete coursework, to attend classes or to prepare for your exams. Through this process you will be able to request, for example, a longer coursework deadline extension, re-arrangement of an in-class test, or absence from a mandatory timetabled event.

You should submit a standard EC request for any assessments or adjustments that fall outside the Post Results Exceptional Circumstances and Self-Certification process. It is important that on the request form you describe the impact your circumstances have had on your studies. You will be required to provide evidence for your circumstances and this evidence should clearly show the timeframe of your circumstance and the assessment period you are asking to be considered. For types of evidence please refer to the latest Exceptional Circumstances Policy.

Please read the standard EC FAQs for more information including how and in what time frame you can submit a standard EC request.

2. Self-certification

This is a simplified form of the standard EC provision that supports students affected by short-term unexpected illness or disruption to their studies. Self-certification allows you the opportunity and responsibility to submit a claim for a five working day extension, without the need to provide evidence. This will be automatically granted; however, it is only permitted twice in one academic year. This is in recognition that it is not always possible or appropriate for you to seek an appointment, or consult with a GP, for short-term illness, nor is it always possible to obtain evidence for other short-term circumstances.

Subsequent requests in the same academic year will need to be submitted using the standard exceptional circumstances form and will require evidence in the normal way.

On the self-certification request form, assessments will be available to select for extensions from two working days prior to the original coursework submission deadline and until two working days afterwards.

Please note: The self-certification option is not available for every type of assessment and can only be used for a five working day extension for eligible coursework. Please read the self-certification FAQs for further details on how and on what timescales you can submit a self-certification request, and what assessments fall in scope for self-certification. If the assessment you are wanting to apply a self-certification for is not in scope for self-certification you will need to submit either a standard EC or PREC request as applicable.

3. Post Results Exceptional Circumstances form (PREC)

This is a specific type of EC provision that supports students who believe that their performance in centrally timetabled examinations has been affected by an exceptional circumstance during either the main examination period or resit period, or if they have missed one or more examinations. You can only submit a Post Results Exceptional Circumstances (PREC) form following publication of your results. You will be asked to provide evidence of your circumstance with your PREC request and therefore should gather this evidence at the time of your circumstance so that it is ready to submit along with that PREC request.

PREC requests MUST be made within 5 working days of the publication of your results. Requests submitted after this time are unlikely to be considered or, if they exceptionally are granted, your progress through your degree will be delayed. For further information, please contact your Student Support Co-ordinator, or Henley Helpdesk or ILSI Admin Office. Information on the PREC deadlines for Summer and Resit Examinations 2024.

Please read the PREC FAQs for information on how to submit a PREC, the PREC deadlines for this academic year, and information on key academic staff in your School who you should talk to immediately after receipt of your results to provide relevant advice on whether a PREC submission is right for your circumstance.

Outcomes that can be requested by a PREC (read PREC FAQ for more detail) are:

Deemed not to have sat (DNS) - This outcome means you have been given the chance to have a fresh attempt at your examination during the next examination period. Further Information on the FAQ page.
Repeat Year
Have online exam marked if submitted late due to an exceptional circumstance.