Apply for an assessment deadline extension
Sometimes personal circumstances, like illness, or bereavement, might impact your ability to study, prepare for, or finish your assessment. Learn more about what to do.
You can apply for:
- An automatic short extension
- An evidenced extension
- An assessment at the next opportunity
- A resit or referred work extension
You can apply through MyAcademicRequests and will be required to complete a declaration as part of your application. If your request is approved, you will be given a new deadline to submit your assessment.
If you have already submitted your assessment, you won't be eligible for any type of extension.
If you're unable to access the online platform, please complete the offline application form and send it to your School Administration team.
Automatic short extension
An automatic short extension is for seven days. This extension will apply to all coursework-type assessments that are due for submission within seven days of your request.
On-the-day assessments such as examinations, presentations or lab work are not eligible for automatic extension and must be requested through the assessment at next opportunity route.
You can apply for an automatic short extension from seven calendar days before the deadline and no later than 72 hours after the deadline. You can self-certify for this type of extension, without needing to have additional evidence.
You can submit up to two automatic short extensions in each academic year. You cannot use both of these for the same assessment.
Any additional extension requests will need to be supported by evidence.
Once submitted, your extension application can’t be retracted.
Evidenced extension
An evidenced (longer) extension is for up to 14 days. You can apply for a evidenced extension any time before the assessment deadline, but no more than seven days after the deadline.
You will need supporting evidence for this type of extension. Learn more about example of supporting evidence.
On-the-day assessments such as examinations, presentations or lab work are not eligible for evidenced extension and must be requested through the assessment at next opportunity route.
If you have had an automatic short extension, you can apply for a longer, evidenced extension within 24 hours of the revised deadline, but will be limited to an additional seven calendar days.
If you have an access statement which permits extensions, you can submit one evidenced extension to cover all relevant assessments throughout the academic year. You should use your access statement as evidence to support your submission.
Once you have applied for an evidenced extension, we will get back to you within five working days to confirm if you extension request has been accepted.
Sometimes you may be waiting for evidence. In this case, you can complete a self-certification form, and upload that to your MyAcademicRequest. This can be used for an extension of up to seven days, anymore than seven days will need additional evidence.
A good response describes the circumstances clearly and outlines the issue you are having.
"I had been feeling unwell for over a week so visited my GP. I have now been diagnosed with bacterial tonsillitis and have been prescribed antibiotics today. I would like to request an extension of 14 days as I’ve been advised the antibiotics will likely take a few days to have any effect. I have been unable to focus on my work whilst feeling unwell and need time to recover. I have uploaded a medical note from my GP, along with my prescription, as evidence."
Assessment at the next opportunity
Sometimes your personal circumstances might affect you for longer than 14 days or mean that you can’t sit an exam or other in-person assessment. When this happens, you can ask to delay until the next assessment opportunity, which will usually be in the summer.
You can apply if:
- Your personal circumstances impact you for more than 14 calendar days.
- You will miss an exam or presentation on the assessment day.
- You initially requested an extension for seven days or up to 14 days, but your circumstances lasted longer.
- You are waiting for an Access Statement or reasonable adjustments.
You can apply for a delay until the next assessment opportunity as soon as possible, before or no later than seven days after the assessment date or deadline. To do this, you will need to provide supporting evidence (see examples of supporting evidence).
If you have been unwell in the seven calendar days up to or after the assessment deadline, or in the seven calendar days before the start time of the assessment event, you can complete a self-certification form and upload that to your MyAcademicRequest as supporting evidence.
Submit an assessment at the next opportunity request through MyAcademicRequestsResits or referred work
Personal circumstances can impact your ability to finish an assessment or sit an exam at any time. This can happen when you have to resit, or take an exam at the next opportunity, or when you need to submit referred work.
If this happens to you, you can submit an extension request for these assessments by logging into the MyAcademicRequests portal and selecting the ‘Make a resit extension request’ at the top of the assessments selection page. This will list all your assessments across the academic year and you should select those you are requesting the extension for; regardless of the initial submission date.
When reviewing the request, the number of previous attempts and/or opportunities to submit or take an assessment may be taken into consideration.
Get support
We understand that you may be anxious, distressed or find it difficult to talk about your personal circumstances. You might also need advice and support.
If you want to talk to someone about your assessments, we suggest you speak to your Personal Tutor, Course or Module Leader or Course Administrator. They will be able to offer advice and can help you to access other sources of support, such as wellbeing, if you need it.
We offer a range of support services to help you deal with your personal circumstances, and you can find a list of the services we offer on our website.
You can also get independent advice by booking an appointment with our Student’s Union Information and Advice Service.