Find the right support for you

It’s important that you let us know about any issues you may be experiencing as soon as possible so that we can assist you in finding the right support. Waiting until the end of the year before telling anyone will limit the options available to you. 

Examples of exceptional circumstances:

  • An illness (including mental health) that impacted your ability to attend an exam or meet an assessment deadline or adversely affected your performance in an assessment
  • Family illness
  • Pregnancy-related illness
  • Bereavement
  • Unforeseen travel disruption normally causing delays of over an hour, for example industrial action or road traffic accident
  • Acute personal difficulties/Domestic disruption
  • Jury service

If the due date hasn't passed for your coursework/exams 

  • If you feel that circumstances have impacted you to the point that they could affect your results, you should talk to your Personal Tutor, Programme Leader or Programme Support Officer to see if you may be able to request a coursework extension or have your exam(s) postponed. See the Extension request/exam postponements section below for further information.

If the due date has passed for your coursework/exams 

  • If you have completed your coursework or sat your exam before the full impact of your circumstances are known you should also discuss this with your Personal Tutor, Programme Leader or Programme Support Officer. If you have a valid reason for not reporting this earlier you may be able to request that your circumstances are considered by the Assessment Board when they are looking at your results. See the Request for board consideration section below for further information.

For full information:

Read our student guidance for exceptional circumstances (pdf - 116kb) Find out more in our Exceptional circumstances policy and procedure (pdf - 196kb)

 

Extension request / exam postponement requests

Online applications for extension requests and exam postponement requests in myHub were launched in 2022/23 to simplify the process of requesting an extension / postponement - please login to myHub (with your BU student account) to make a request.

Important: If you were unable to submit an assignment or sit an exam and did not request an extension prior to the deadline / date and time of exam, then please continue to request assessment board consideration below.

If you have any queries, please contact the Programme Support Team for your course - check with AskBU to find out who this is.

Log in myHub to complete the extension request / exam postponement request

Self-certification of short-term sickness

You may self-certificate for illness up to 5 days. The myHub application form allows you to specify this when you apply and if you are a student in the Business School, Faculty of Media and Communications, or Faculty of Science and Technology you do not need to do anything else.

NHS students on practice or theory, in the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences will still need to record a separate self-certification form to satisfy NHS requirements. Please check with your faculty Programme Support Office whether you need to do so and use this form in addition to completing your request in myHub, if you do.

Complete the self-certification of short-term sickness form (word - 48kb)

What happens once I have submitted my exceptional circumstances?

If you have requested a coursework extension(s) or an exam postponement(s) then this will be considered by your Programme Leader (or their nominee). You will normally be advised if this has been authorised within five working days of submitting the form and supporting evidence. For coursework you will be given a new deadline. Postponed exams are normally sat within the next exam period.

 

Request assessment board consideration

Please use this form if:

  • You were unable to submit an assignment extension or exam postponement request before the assignment deadline/exam start time (and have a valid reason for the delay)
  • Your circumstances have continued to have an impact on your performance in assessments beyond the assignment extension/exam postponement that has been granted
  • You completed your assessment before becoming fully aware of the impact of the circumstances.

Request assessment board consideration (word - 55kb)

More information