Extensions

Extension requests are dealt with by staff in your School. You will be sent an email with the outcome of your application. In the meantime, it’s best to keep working on your coursework as long as you are well enough to do so.

Additional Consideration

Any other request gets approved by your School Special Circumstances Committee. If the Committee thinks that your work was affected by the issues you raise then they will make a recommendation to the Progression and Awards Board. You might not hear about the outcome for Additional Consideration for some time, sometimes not until the end of the academic year.

The outcomes you can get from an Additional Consideration request are:

• First attempt resit - this is where your original mark is removed and whatever mark you get in this resit goes in its place, whether you do better or worse
• A further exceptional resit attempt - this is capped at a pass mark like a standard resit
• Consideration of your circumstances when looking at your degree classification - if your results are within the discretionary band you might get put up to the higher classification
• Removal of penalties for late submission or going over the word count
• Resitting all or part of the year as an internal student - you would be able to attend teaching but would need to pay tuition fees again

There can be other decisions made on an exceptional basis. Resits are usually only allowed for work that has been failed, and they must be taken at the next available opportunity (this is usually the next assessment period).

If your circumstances are serious and will last a long time, it might be a good idea to take some time out from your course. The university has information on how to take temporary leave on their website.

If you get an outcome that you’re unhappy with, speak to LUU Advice confidentially and we will advise you on next steps.

FAQs

When will I hear back from my application?

Extension requests are usually dealt with soon after they’re submitted.

Additional Consideration requests are not dealt with straight away. You might not hear about the outcome for some time, sometimes not until the end of the academic year. For example, if you ask for board consideration at classification you might only hear the full outcome once you get your finalised results.

I’ve applied for mitigating circumstances but not heard anything back, what should I do?

If you haven’t heard back about an extension and your deadline is near, you should weigh up whether to risk submitting the work late but at a better quality (and hope that the request gets approved), or on time but at a lower quality.

Keep in mind that if you submit work late and your extension isn’t approved, you will receive late penalties. To deal with this, you may still be in time to make another mitigating circumstances application, this time for Additional Consideration. You would need to ask for the late penalties to be removed. You can also request this through an appeal if you are too late to apply again.

Please note that if you submit your work on time and it passes, you will not be allowed to resit even if it is of a lower quality than normal.

If you want to know where your application is up to, you need to contact your School’s Student Support Office.

My application has been rejected, what can I do?

If your extension request has been rejected, your coursework deadline will not change. If you can submit your work, you should do so, but keep in mind you won’t be able to resit if you pass (even if this is lower than your usual standard). If you submit your work late, you’ll receive late penalties, but you might be able to appeal against this.

If your Additional Consideration request has been rejected, you should speak to us about appealing. You would be appealing against your finalised academic result for the module the request was related to, not the rejection of the mitigating circumstances applications itself.

Talk to LUU Advice about your situation and we can advise on whether to appeal, when you can do this and how to get started.