This help guide is designed to be read in conjunction with the university’s guidance on ECs, which can be found here.

Top tips for submitting ECs

1. If a situation is affecting your studies, it’s important to speak to your course team as soon as possible. They may be able to help with extra support or give an extension for any upcoming deadlines.
2. If this is not enough and you have valid grounds for doing so, you may be able to submit ECs.
3. Take a look through the university’s guidance on what is normally classed as grounds for an EC claim. Generally they relate to personal and health unexpected circumstances that occurred in and around the time of the assessment.
4. If you need to submit an EC, there’s a fairly small window to do it in. They can be submitted five working days before an assessment/exam is due although occasionally, it may be possible that they are accepted a little later. You can check that with Assessments or with SU Advice.
5. You’ll need to download and complete an EC form (through the link above). Take the time to read it carefully. If you have multiple assessments to submit an EC claim for, you can do them all on one form (no need for multiple forms!)
6. Evidence is super important (we can’t stress that enough). This needs to be independently verifiable – a good example would be a letter from your GP (note that supporting letters for family or friends are not acceptable). 
7. Evidence must be correctly dated (also very important!). For example, if your EC is due to a medical issue and your evidence is a GP letter, you must make sure it is dated around the time of assessment.
8. The SU advice team can check through your EC claim before you submit it to Assessments. If you’d like us to do that, or if you have any questions, please book an appointment
9. Once you’ve submitted the form, you’ll receive an acknowledgement email. Your EC claim will be forwarded to the next available EC panel, and you normally find out the result when you receive your statement of results (it will either say ‘ECs valid’ or ‘ECs not valid’ along with further instructions on any reassessment dates).
10. It is worth noting that the University now has a Fit to Sit policy and therefore if you hand in an assignment, you have declared yourself fit to do so which means it cannot be retrospectively covered by ECs. This may also make it harder for you to make an appeal at a later date.
11. If you are uncertain about whether to use the EC process or not, we suggest discussing it with your tutor at the earliest opportunity or contacting SU Advice for an informal chat with one of our advisors.