Problems on the day of an Examination
Late on the day
All examinations in the morning session (AM) begin at 9.00am. All examinations in the afternoon session (PM) begin at 1.00pm. It is your responsibility to arrive in plenty of time and with all appropriate materials.
You will be issued with an examination timetable before each examination session. This will contain all information required including dates, locations, times and seating arrangements. You must familiarise yourself with this before arriving for all examinations.
If for any reason you are going to be late, you need to ring the school at the earliest opportunity. Please leave a message, explaining which examination you are due to be taking, the reason you are running late and when you will be arriving.
If you arrive after 9.30am for the morning session, or 2.00pm for the afternoon session, you will be allowed to sit the examination, however, there is a strong possibility that the Awarding Body will not accept the script, unless a very strong reason is given and we can be assured confidentiality has been maintained.
Illness on the day
If are suffering from a minor ailment, we will expect you to arrive for your exams with suitable medication which you will be allowed to use if necessary.
For very serious problems, please ring in at the earliest opportunity to inform us. For serious cases we may apply for Special Consideration. This means that any situation/ailment which may have affected a candidates examination performance can have an additional allowance available, at the Awarding Bodies discretion. The school must support all applications and sufficient evidence must be available.
The allowances that are available are quite small percentages, and are on a scale, as shown below, dependant upon the severity of the situation:
5% - Terminal illness, very recent death of immediate family
4% - Life-threatening illness of the candidate/immediate family, major surgery at or near time of exam, severe disease
3% - Recent traumatic experience, recent serious illness, recently broken limbs, recent domestic crisis
2% - Illness at time of assessment, extreme distress on the day of an exam, recent viral illness
1% - Minor ailment, headache, illness of another candidate in the exam room (causing disruption)
Due to the small allowances avaliable, we only encourage applications in cases where the above percentages would actually become beneficial to candidates final marks.
If you suffer any problem/personal situation as detailed above, you must either speak to the examinations officer on the day itself, alert an invigilator, or contact the school at the earliest opportunity. Therefore, if a request is appropriate, this allows time to make arrangements and gather evidence if necessary.
If you require further advice/explanation please see the examinations officer, who will endeavour to assist you.
