Additional Consideration FAQs

Frequently asked questions

You should submit your request after the impacted assessment deadline and as close to the circumstances as possible. You cannot submit your request in advance.

The following deadlines apply:

Self-certification requests must be submitted within 7 calendar days of the last affected assessment date. All missed assessments in the 7-day period can be included on the request.

For Full Requests for Additional Consideration, there are two deadlines for students depending on your course:
- Full requests must be submitted as soon as possible after the impacted assessment deadline, and no later than 14 calendar days after the last affected assessment date.
- If you are a BSMS undergraduate medicine BM BS student, full requests must be submitted as soon as possible after the impacted assessment deadline, and no later than 7 calendar days after the last affected assessment date.
Applying as soon as possible after your assessment will help to ensure your Course Examination Board is made aware of the upheld Additional Consideration outcome for your impacted assessments so that this can be applied when making progression and award decisions. This means that if the Examination Board offers you a deferral attempt on your impacted assessments you would have the optimum amount of notice and time to prepare for the assessment in the resit period.

If you are unsure when to submit your request (e.g. because you are currently unwell and don’t know how long your recovery will be), please seek advice from the university Support Services.
Please contact one of the University’s support services, such as your Personal Academic Tutor, a Student Support and Guidance Tutor, the Brighton Students’ Union via Get Advice or your Course/ Module Leader.

They can help you decide whether a request for self-certification or full request for Additional Consideration is the most appropriate route for you and advise you on providing supporting documentation.
Here are some things you can try:
- Ensure you are sending the email to additionalconsideration@brighton.ac.uk
- Make sure you are submitting your form and documentation as attachments (PDFs are best) · follow the guidance from Outlook for attaching a document
- We cannot accept forms sent as links or through OneDrive
- If the files are too large, put them in compressed (zip) files and send the zip file(s) to us as an attachment
- Send the email with the form attached from your @brighton.ac.uk or @bsms.ac.uk email address
- Contact the IT service desk for help – explain that we cannot access files sent through OneDrive, SharePoint or other cloud sharing services
You should submit a request for Late Submission if your circumstances prevented you from submitting by the assessment deadline, but you managed to submit within the two-week late period. You may also submit a request for Unrepresentative Performance alongside this, if your circumstances also impacted on the quality of your submitted work.

Please be aware that there is no late period for work undertaken in the resit period.

You should submit a request for Non-submission/non-attendance if your circumstances prevented you from submitting your assessment by the assessment deadline or within the two-week late submission deadline or prevented you from attending an in-person assessment.
You should only submit a request for non-submission/attendance if your circumstances prevented you from submitting your assessment (or prevented you from attending an in-person assessment). If you did not submit the work, then you do not need to claim for Unrepresentative Performance as your work will not have been marked.

If a module has two or more assessment tasks, please add each task on a separate line on the form and request the appropriate type of Additional Consideration for that task.
If you are unsure of the details of your modules or assignments or deadlines you can either check with your school office or check the details on your MyStudies Account.

It is essential that you provide this information on your form as we need to confirm that your request has been submitted on time and that your supporting documentation covers the impacted assessment deadlines.

We also require this information in order to record any upheld outcomes on your student record, in order that the Examination Board is able to apply your Additional Consideration to the correct assessment when considering your progression or final award.
Please contact one of our support services, such as your Personal Academic Tutor, a Student Support and Guidance Tutor, the Brighton Students’ Union via Get Advice or your Course/ Module Leader to get help with your request

We don’t need you to provide multiple documents to support your request. You only need to provide sufficient evidence to confirm the circumstances that you have described in your form.

Please make sure that any dates on documents are clearly shown, and the dates should match the timing of your assessment deadlines. Please don’t provide old documentation from a previous academic year or time-period as this cannot be used to uphold your request.

If you’re finding it difficult to provide documentation and have made your Course leader or Personal Academic Tutor aware of your circumstances, you may wish to ask them to provide a supporting statement for you, which you can submit with your form.

Please note that it is your responsibility to provide your supporting documentation. We cannot request this on your behalf.

If you are unable to provide supporting documentation, please ensure you complete the correct section of the request form to explain why. Your case may then be considered by the Additional Consideration Sub-committee. It is very rare for requests to be upheld without evidence, particularly when it is reasonable to expect you would have been able to provide supporting documentation.
Supporting documentation is expected to be provided alongside full requests for Additional Consideration where it is expected that this documentation would be readily available. This documentation should be provided with your original request. The Additional Consideration office may determine that the documentation you have provided is inadequate (for example, it does not verify the circumstances on your form, or does not cover the impacted assessment dates), in which case your request would not be upheld, and you would have the option to submit an Outcome Review.

Examples of acceptable supporting documentation include:
- a medical certificate or letter from a medical practitioner e.g., a doctor, or extract from your medical notes;
- other certificate or official record;
- letter or form from an appropriate external professional (e.g., counsellor);
- evidence of engagement with internal (University) wellbeing support services (e.g. counselling appointment or email from SSGT following a meeting;
- supporting statement from a Personal Academic Tutor, or similar;
- third party confirmation e.g., police report.
We do not accept photographs or videos as supporting evidence. This includes photographs of prescriptions or prescribed medication, and images/videos of illness or injuries.
Yes - but only if you include a full translation into English by a verified translation service. You cannot provide your own translation. It is your responsibility to obtain a translation. Please contact either your Student Support and Guidance Tutor or the Brighton Students’ Union via Get Advice for advice on how you may be able to obtain a translation of the documents.
That’s okay. You don’t have to provide lengthy personal accounts for Additional Consideration requests. Keep your description focussed, ensure you explain what the circumstances were and why this impacted the assessments. The Additional Consideration Office needs to be able to conclude with confidence that your circumstances meet the criteria at the time of your impacted assessments, and that this is supported by independent documentation.

All forms and supporting documentation will be processed sensitively and confidentially, and in line with GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). The details of your request are only shared with those involved in making the decision about whether the request can be upheld or not. This would be the Initial Assessor and potentially the Additional Consideration sub-committee. Information on our privacy notice is available: Additional Consideration Privacy Notice

If you do not want to provide personal documents, you can also ask your SSGT, PAT or Course Leader to provide a statement on your behalf confirming your circumstances.

If supporting documents indicate a fitness to practice issue or a safeguarding concern, we may share information to relevant authorised persons. Authorised persons include the University’s Senior Safeguarding Officer if there are safeguarding concerns, or the Cause for Concern office if there are concerns about the student’s wellbeing, safety, or the safety of others

We will not pass on details of your circumstances to your academic school, who will only be informed that your request was upheld.
If you have a Learning Support Plan (LSP) you should seek advice from the Disability and Learning Support Team before submitting a request for Additional Consideration, if your circumstances relate to the reason you have an LSP in place.

Additional Consideration should not be used as an alternative to Learning Support Plans, although there may be occasions where unforeseeable factors present themselves which mean that a Learning Support Plan is unable to provide adequate reasonable adjustments for a situation alone.

If your LSP has an unwell recommendation for exams you may wish to provide a copy with your request if you have been unable to attend your assessments.
If you have a Learning Support Plan, you may also request a reasonable adjustment to the process for requesting Additional Consideration, by ticking the appropriate box on the form.

This is only for adjustments you require to apply for Additional Consideration. Do not include adjustments in place for your academic programme of study.

Some examples of reasonable adjustments you may request are to receive information in a different format, to request extra time to provide information (for example, if we need to request additional information which was missing from your form), assistance with completing the form, or a referral to support services.

If you are submitting your request late due to your disability, you should also make this clear in the late rationale section of your form.

If you require assistance with completing your request form, we may refer you to one of our support services, such as your SSGT.
Probably not. University regulations (see GEAR B5.7.16; PEAR C12.7.16; PGTEAR B18.7.16) permit students to apply for Additional Consideration in limited and specific circumstances:
- vii. unforeseeable IT/technical issues that are very close to the deadline for uploading/submitting the assessment and/or prevent student engagement with the assessment (e.g., failure of Wi-Fi/university IT system/failure of specific packages or equipment which are only available with the University, and where this failure is documented by a member of the University’s technical staff). 
Hardware failure and computer/printer/equipment problems are not normally accepted as grounds for Additional Consideration.

Poor time management is also not grounds for Additional Consideration, and so you must ensure you leave enough time to submit any assessment.

You may request Additional Consideration if you experience technical issues relating to a failure of your Wi-Fi, or the University’s systems (e.g. Turnitin), and you are able to provide supporting documentation from an appropriate independent source (i.e. your Wi-Fi provider, or the University’s Information Services team) verifying the technical issue experienced. In this case, please provide evidence that you notified the University of the issue(s), ideally before the deadline, and a copy of any response you received. Note that copies of assessment scripts and screen shots of error messages are not acceptable supporting documentation.
No. You should bear in mind the summer resit period when making your summer holiday plans. Additional Consideration cannot be upheld for a planned holiday, or for related travel disruptions (for example if your flight home was delayed).

You may request Additional Consideration if your travel is related to an unexpected or unforeseen situation, such as the illness or death of a family member abroad. You should provide evidence of the family emergency and your travel documents in your supporting documentation.
If you missed the 7-calendar day deadline for a Self-certification request, you can still submit a Full request if you are within the deadline for this following your last impacted assessment. You will need to provide supporting documentation with your full request.

If you have missed the 14 calendar days (7 calendar days for BSMS undergraduate medicine BM BS students) deadline for a full request for Additional Consideration you can still submit a late request.

You should submit your request as soon as possible and ensure that you complete the relevant section of the form, providing a reason for missing the deadline. Normally late requests are only accepted where the unexpected or unforeseen circumstances prevented submission by the deadline (e.g., you were unwell during that entire period).

Being unaware of the Additional Consideration process or the appropriate deadline are not considered to be sufficient reasons for late requests to be accepted.
Late requests are defined as requests which are received more than 14 calendar days after the last impacted assessment and no later than 14 calendar days after receipt of your exam board results notification

For BSMS undergraduate medicine BM BS students the deadlines are shorter, and late requests are defined as requests which are received more than 7 calendar days after the last impacted assessment and no later than 7 calendar days after receipt of your exam board results notification.

Late requests can only be accepted and reviewed in exceptional circumstances:
1. you must provide a valid rationale for lateness, with supporting evidence if possible;
2. and the Initial Assessor must determine that unexpected or unforeseen circumstances have prevented submission of your form by the deadline - for example, you were suffering from a serious illness or hospitalisation that impacted you from the date of your assessments until the date that you have submitted the form.
Your rationale for lateness should explain how your circumstances prevented you from submitting your form within the deadline. An example of an acceptable rationale is that you were hospitalised, and this prevented you from accessing the form and being able to complete it within the time frame. If you have documentation that supports this, we recommend that you submit it with your request.

You must provide this rationale as our regulations require that you submit your request within the deadline, and all students are expected to meet this deadline.

Your rationale enables the Initial Assessors and the Additional Consideration Sub-committee to make fair and consistent decisions within the University's regulations and consistent with the other Additional Consideration requests submitted on time.
The University of Brighton offers In-Year Module Retrieval (IYMR) on certain assessments. This allows students the opportunity to retrieve failed work in selected Semester One assessments without having to wait for an Exam Board decision. Normally, if you pass your In Year Module Retrieval assessment this means that you will not need to redo the assessment over the summer resit period, but your mark will be capped at the pass mark.

If you are impacted by circumstances that prevent you from completing your IYMR retrieval work then you do not need to submit Additional Consideration as you will normally be asked to complete a referral task over the Summer. Your attempt number will not be impacted, but your mark will still be capped. Additional Consideration cannot be used to uncap an IYMR retrieval assessment mark.

You should however request Additional Consideration for any impacted Semester One assessments (within the deadline), as this may allow the Examination Board to remove the cap from your IYMR work and/or offer a summer deferral at the first attempt.
If you have completed your form correctly and provided suitable supporting documentation, your case will normally be reviewed and an outcome communicated to you within 14 calendar days. This outcome will let you know whether your request has been upheld, not upheld, or escalated to the Additional Consideration Sub-committee for decision.

If we have to contact you to request further information in order to process your request, then you can expect to receive your outcome within 14 calendar days of providing the full information.

If your case is escalated to an Additional Consideration Sub-committee, you will be informed of the date of the Sub-Committee and should expect to receive your outcome within 14 days of that committee meeting.

You are strongly recommended to submit your Additional Consideration request within the deadline, as this will enable it to be processed by the office in good time for consideration by your Examination Board.
Cases will be escalated to an Additional Consideration Sub-Committee for various reasons, including where your circumstances are complex or if supporting documentation was not provided. The form will be treated as confidential, with your personal details removed. The members of the Sub-Committee will decide whether or not to uphold your request and you will be contacted with the outcome, normally within 14 calendar days of the meeting.
If your request for Additional Consideration was upheld, the decision will be noted on your student record and your school will be informed. The Examination Board will take these circumstances into account when considering your progression or final degree result.

Additional Consideration cannot be used to request a new assessment date, nor can it be used to raise marks. The normal outcomes where Additional Consideration is upheld are listed in the Additional Consideration full guidance document . For specific queries around submissions and outcomes please contact your School Office. Any deferral attempts will normally be taken in the normal resit period.

The Additional Consideration office does not make decisions about how the Additional Consideration is applied to your profile for award and progression (e.g. decisions about deadlines, extensions, deferrals, or referrals).

You will have to wait until your Course or Phase Examination Board meets for your Additional Consideration to be applied. Your Examination Results notification will indicate how your outcome was applied e.g. you may be offered a deferral attempt at your exam or assessment in the resit period.

If your request is upheld, the Examination Board will take your Additional Consideration into account in relation to the listed assessments only. If your request relates to an assessment which you were taking at a second or third attempt, it will not result in your results being uncapped as this penalty was applied by a previous Examination board, but you may be offered a further deferral attempt at the same attempt number.

If you submitted your request late, and your Additional Consideration was upheld after the Examination board met, there will be an additional meeting of the board to revisit your results in light of your upheld request.

Unfortunately, our regulations do not permit an application for previous assessment attempts which have already been ratified by an Examination Board, e.g. assessments taken in the previous academic year.
No. The Examination Board will be able to see that you have an upheld Additional Consideration request and will factor this into their decisions around your progression or final degree result, but they will not uplift your grades. They may allow you to re-submit the assessment or re-sit the exam as a first attempt/without a cap at pass mark. If you are already on a second or third attempt at this assessment you may be offered a further attempt at the assessment, but the cap cannot be removed from the module.
If your request was Not Upheld, you can a request an Outcome Review on the following grounds:
1. If the Additional Consideration procedures were not followed properly;
2. If the University did not fully consider the request, for example, it overlooked relevant information that you included;
3. If you have new supporting documents that you were unable, for good reason, to provide earlier in the process.
You can submit an Outcome Review within 14 calendar days of receiving the outcome email from your initial request.

If you are an BSMS undergraduate medicine BM BS student you must submit an Outcome Review within 7 calendar days of receiving the outcome email from your initial request. The Outcome Review form must be used.

Your outcome email will give you the reason the request was not upheld and you can use this feedback to guide you.

Please seek support and guidance from the University Support Services prior to submitting your Outcome Review.
If your Outcome Review was not upheld by the Additional Consideration Sub-committee you will receive a Completion of Procedures letter confirming that the internal procedures of the University of Brighton have been completed.

If you are still dissatisfied with the outcome you may be able to apply for a review of your Outcome Review to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education (OIA) provided that the complaint you take to the OIA is eligible under its Rules. The Completion of Procedures letter will confirm how you can submit a complaint and the deadline by which it needs to be submitted to the OIA.