Mitigating Circumstances
Extenuating or mitigating circumstances are those events which have had a detrimental effect on your study, to the point that it is in your interest to draw the department’s attention to them and ask for them to be considered in mitigation of poor performance. Such circumstances include (but are not limited to) illness, both bodily and emotional; the severe illness or death of a close family member; a shocking or traumatic personal experience. In addition, sudden, unexpected changes in family circumstances might affect your ability to make academic progress as a consequence of their demonstrable emotional impact upon you, and may also be considered as mitigation.
The University procedures for handling evidence of mitigating circumstances is published here. If you have evidence of mitigating circumstances affecting your performance in examinations you should complete the Mitigating Circumstances Declaration Form (accessed from the right hand menu of this page).
The completed form together with the evidence should be submitted in hardcopy to the undergraduate office P565.
If you do not include the Declaration Form with your application, then your application will not be considered.
Deadlines
- Mitigating Circumstances involving examinations: if you are prevented from attending an examination paper, or any part of an examination, for medical reasons, you should submit the Mitigating Circumstances Declaration Form with a doctor’s note confirming your inability to take or complete the exam at the prescribed time. You are strongly encouraged to do this as soon as possible after the missed examination. You must submit the required documentation no later than 3 working days following the day of your last University examination.
- All other cases of mitigating circumstances should be submitted no later than Thursday of week 37 (Term 3, week 8). (This is 5 working days in advance of the Mitigating Circumstances Panel meetings in Physics, which are scheduled for Thursday of week 38.)
