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Exceptional circumstances

Find out how changes to Type B requests affect your applications

Changes to Type B requests

We hope that your time here at Oxford Brookes University will be happy and productive. However, we recognise that unfortunately sometimes our students can experience serious personal difficulties which can affect their ability to study or undertake assessment.

The University has a procedure in place for students who are experiencing exceptional circumstances that are affecting their ability to study or undertake assessment.

Information and advice

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Exceptional Circumstances Procedure
Student writing

Submitting an application
Students with support staff

Support and further information

What are exceptional circumstances?

The University considers an exceptional circumstance to be:

  • personal circumstances that are out of the control of the student; and
  • that the student could not reasonably have prevented or accommodated; and
  • they must have had a significant and demonstratively negative effect on the student’s ability to study or undertake an assessment.

Additionally, the timing of the circumstances must be relevant to the affected assessments and/or period of study. 

All elements must be met in order to substantiate an application for exceptional circumstances. 

Types of assessment

Assessments at the University take many forms but in terms of exceptional circumstances, they fall broadly into 3 categories:

  • deadline assessments - assessments not taken under controlled and timed conditions such as essays, assignments and placements.
  • non-examined event assessments - assessments taken under controlled and timed conditions such as, tests and presentations.
  • examined event assessments - formally examined assessments taken under controlled and timed conditions such as exams.

You can apply for extensions or resits on deadline assessments, or an opportunity to take an event assessment again at a later date. To do this you will either need to make a Type A, Type B, Type C or Type D application. For more information, please see the Exceptional Circumstances Procedure.