Problems

Illness, injury and personal issues

If your exam performance or attendance is negatively impacted for reasons outside of your control, you may be able to apply for exceptional circumstances. Where possible, the Exams Team can also provide assistance.

Some examples:

General - For any problems during the exam, raise your hand and an invigilator will help. Any comments, email exams@brookes.ac.uk and let us know.
Illness during the exam - Ask an invigilator for help and a first aider will be called if required. You may permanently or temporarily leave the exam room with an invigilator’s permission. A report will be completed, which you can request for use as exceptional circumstances evidence.
Injury to writing arm - Bring medical evidence in advance to the Exams Office. We may be able to offer you the option to type the exam on a PC but this is not guaranteed.
Illness or injury that requires you to bring equipment or medication to the exam - Please complete the medical item registration form online if possible. Alternatively, bring the items to the exam and speak to an invigilator before the exam who will give you a medical item registration form to complete.
Mobility - If you have trouble entering the exam room (e.g. you are on crutches), contact us in advance. If possible, you can be seated near the door. You will be provided with assistance.
Bereavement - Whether you attempt the exam or if you cannot attend, you can apply for exceptional circumstances with suitable evidence.

Queries and disturbances

If you have a question about the exam paper (e.g. you think there is an error), raise your hand and an invigilator will provide you with an Exam Paper Query Form. Complete this form, carry on with the question as presented and the form will be presented to the Module Leader for review after the exam to raise the query.
In the event of a fire alarm, follow the invigilator's instructions to evacuate the room.

Mitigation

Students will be notified by email of any decisions about mitigation for disturbances or errata.
If an uncapped resit offer is planned, students will be notified by email on results day. Respond as soon as possible to ensure you are registered.

Some examples of mitigation responses are provided in the table below:

Type of exam	Error/issue	Example/s	Mitigation response
Any	Exam room evacuation	Fire alarm	Resit offered
Any	Exam room significant disturbance or medical emergency	Student suffering a fit in the exam room and first aider called in Mass technical failure in a PC exam	Resit offered
Multiple choice	Spelling, grammar, punctuation or numbering problem that does not change the meaning of the question	Missing comma, jumping from question 1 to 3	No additional mitigation required
Multiple choice	Duplicate question	The same question is included in two places on the paper	One question should be removed from the total marks available. If the student got the question right on either occurrence then they should get the mark.
Multiple choice	Duplicate answers	Option A and option C have the same answer against them	The question should be removed from the total marks available. This must not be more than 10% of the marks available.
Multiple choice	Ambiguous question/s worth up to 10% of the marks of the exam	Question has two different answers which are both correct Question has different interpretations not represented in the answers.	Question is discounted from the marking
Multiple choice	Ambiguous question/s worth over 10% of the marks of the exam	Question has two different answers which are both correct Question has different interpretations not represented in the answers.	Resit
Multiple choice	Confusing or impossible question	Question has no correct answers	Resit
Calculations based paper	Punctuation or numbering problem that does not change the meaning of the question	Missing comma, jumping from question 1 to 3	No additional mitigation required
Calculations based paper	Confusing or impossible question	Question gives an incorrect formula	Resit
Long or short prose answers	Spelling, grammar, punctuation or numbering problem that does not change the meaning of the question	Missing comma, jumping from question 1 to 3	No additional mitigation required
Long or short prose answers	Ambiguous questions where there is more than one correct interpretation	Not being clear whether a student should give one factor affecting a decision or multiple factors	Marking should be adjusted so all reasonable interpretations of the question can gain full marks
Long or short prose answers	Ambiguous question/s worth up to 10% of the marks of the exam	Question has two different answers which are both correct Question has different interpretations not represented in the answers.	Question is discounted from the marking
Long or short prose answers	Ambiguous question/s worth over 10% of the marks of the exam	Question has two different answers which are both correct Question has different interpretations not represented in the answers.	Resit
Long or short prose answers	Ambiguous or confusing questions where the meaning is substantially lost.	Using different names for the same person/entity in the question	Resit