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Special consideration and arrangements
- Overview
- Eligibility and supporting documents
- When and how to apply
- What happens next
Eligibility and supporting documents
New special considerations portal in 2022
We have launched a new special considerations portal for Semester 1, 2022. Designed to be easy to use, the new portal will help improve the process of applying for a special consideration or special arrangement.
If you submitted your special consideration or special arrangement application before or on 30 January, your application will remain in the old special considerations portal. Don’t worry, your application will still be processed, and you can log into the old portal to view updates, submit an appeal or make changes to your application.
COVID-19 update: eligibility and supporting documents
As a result of COVID-19, there may be circumstances out of your control that impact on your ability to complete an assessment task. This may include self-isolation, travel bans, carer responsibilities, work commitments, attendance requirements or IT issues impacting online study.
Check our Coronavirus advice page for information on applying for special consideration and documents required in these situations. Be aware as an alternative to a medical certificate or other medical documents, you can submit a student declaration, with any available supporting evidence, that describes the misadventure, illness or injury that you suffered and for how long.
If you have an exam scheduled between 10pm and 6.59am in the timezone you're living in, you may be eligible for a special arrangement.
We assess your eligibility for special consideration based on your circumstances and the supporting documents you provide.
Your application cannot be submitted if it does not include any attachments of supporting documents. It is important you attach the right supporting documents or your application will be automatically declined and you will need to reapply.
Your supporting documents need to:
- describe what happened in detail
- demonstrate the impact of the circumstances on your academic performance
- include the period of time which you were affected
- be truthful and accurate
- be in English
- if you need to translate non-English language documents contact an accredited translation agency, such as NAATI.
You will need to provide documents as a pdf, tif, tiff, gif or png file. Word file formats (doc and docx) are not accepted.
Depending on your circumstances, you will need to provide different types of supporting documents as outlined in the table below.
Special consideration supporting documents
| Exceptional circumstance | Supporting documents |
|---|---|
| Short term illness or injury | Provide one of the following:
If you are unable to obtain a professional practitioner certificate due to extenuating circumstances, you will need to provide a statutory declaration stating your illness or injury including the reason as to why you are unable to obtain a professional practitioner certificate or medical certificate. |
| Personal misadventure of a family member or close friend |
|
| Technical issue | Provide the following documents:
|
| Death of a family member or close friend | Provide the following documents:
If you are unable to obtain a professional practitioner certificate, include a statutory declaration outlining your circumstances, accompanied by supporting documents. Your statutory declaration needs to indicate how your ability to study has been impacted by your circumstances and when you expect to be able to complete your assessments or return to your studies. |
| Unexpected primary carer responsibilities | Provide one of the following documents accompanied by relevant supporting documents:
|
| Attendance at a funeral of a family member or close friend |
|
| Natural disaster | Provide the following documents:
|
| Circumstances preventing you from receiving supporting documents | Provide the following documents:
|
Circumstances which are not eligible
Special consideration is not granted for circumstances that are considered reasonably foreseeable or avoidable, or within your control, such as:
- public transport and traffic delays
- predictable emotions such as nervousness and stress associated with assessments
- personal events such as birthdays, weddings or travel plans
- minor ailments or illness where you are still capable of completing assessments
- balancing workloads from other units of study, disciplines or faculties
- misreading or misunderstanding your timetable, Academic Plan or the unit of study outline
- information and communications technology problems – except where they could not have been prevented, avoided or the effects minimised by reasonable diligence on your part.
Special consideration should not be used if you are unable to sit an exam due to a clash. Find out what to do if you have an exam clash.
Special arrangements supporting documents
| Essential Commitment | Supporting documents |
|---|---|
| Australian Defence Force or emergency service (including army reserve) | |
| Employment of an essential nature (where the student has little or no discretion with respect to the employment demand) | |
| Legal commitment | A copy of the summons, subpoena, court order or notice of selection for jury duty stating:
|
| Parental or adoption commitments | A signed certificate on an official letterhead from a medical practitioner/midwife/relevant adoption agency stating:
|
| Religious commitments or beliefs |
|
| Sporting or cultural commitments representing the University, state or nation | |
| COVID-19 assessments scheduled in a different time zone | Provide the following document:
|
What do my documents need to include?
Depending on the circumstances or essential commitment, you will need to supply specific supporting documents as outlined below.
Professional practitioner certificate
This certificate needs to be completed in full, signed and stamped by a registered medical or health practitioner who is not related to you. You can download and print the form (pdf, 320KB). The certificate needs to:
- outline the duration (giving start and end dates) of impact
- evaluate the degree of impact that the illness, injury or carer’s duties has had on your ability to attend classes and learn or to complete assessments.
Statutory declaration
A statutory declaration is a signed, written statement that allows a person to declare something to be true in the presence of an authorised witness. You'll need to use a NSW statutory declaration form and have it signed by a Justice of the Peace.
Your statutory declaration should include:
- your full name and student number
- a statement about the impact of the illness, injury, misadventure or essential commitment on your ability to attend classes, learn or complete assessment requirements
- a statement describing the duration of this impact (including a start and end dates)
- if your circumstances are of a sensitive nature, please indicate when you expect you will be able to complete your assessment or return to your studies. If you need more time at the end of this period, you can submit another application.
- details of any group work that might be affected.
Obituary, funeral notice or funeral program
A dated obituary from a newspaper, a funeral notice or funeral program that includes:
- the full name of the deceased person
- the funeral date.
If you need to travel interstate or overseas for the funeral, you will need to provide supporting documents such as a travel itinerary or statutory declaration for the additional time you are away.
Eviction notice
The notice needs to include:
- official landlord (if applicable) or residential agency letterhead
- your full name
- date of terminated tenancy
- signature from appropriate representative
- representative phone number
- date the notice was created.
Police report
This is produced by the police and should include:
- your full name
- a claim number or charge sheet
- a signature from police
- a police phone number
- the date the report was created
- the date the incident occurred.
If a police report is unavailable when you submit your application, you will need to provide a statutory declaration that includes how the incident has affected your studies, along with a COPS event number, which is evidence a crime has been reported.
Official letter
This should be written on an official letterhead and needs to include:
- your full name
- the details of your unexpected commitments
- the impact on your ability to study
- a physical signature and phone number of an appropriate representative
- the date the statement was created.
Student Declaration
In the student declaration you should describe the misadventure, illness or injury that you suffered and for how long. The student declaration can be used as an alternative to a medical certificate or other medical documents if there is sufficient reason as to why you are unable to obtain a medical document from a professional practitioner. The conditions for making student declarations are outlined in the template. Be aware there are serious consequences for dishonesty in a Student Declaration.
Last updated: 28 January 2022
