An exceptional circumstance is a circumstance that is unplanned and affects a learner’s ability to attend or perform on the day in an exam.

Exam exceptional circumstances are either ‘personal circumstances’ or ‘examination circumstances’. These are called outline reasons. Under each outline reason there are detailed reasons, such as a medical condition or a disruption.

It is not possible to produce  a list of every exceptional circumstance, but each request should correspond with one of the following reasons.

Personal circumstance

• Bereavement
• Medical condition*
• Domestic circumstance
• Exceptional absence

Examination circumstance**

• Examination arrangements***
• Disruption

* Schools, colleges or training providers don't need to specify the nature of the medical condition when submitting a request, but they must hold documentation such as a letter or statement from their head of centre confirming that it affected the learner.

** To be considered for a request, learners must have been affected during the exam by a disruption, or other exam circumstance, reported by the chief invigilator.

*** Exam arrangement related exceptional circumstances include situations where the centre fails to implement a pre-agreed assessment arrangement.

*** We'd always encourage the learner to attempt the exam but if they have an extra time assessment arrangement and this means that they're scheduled to sit more than six hours of exams in one day, they can use the EECCS if they believe they would be too tired to sit their last exam of the day.

We will only accept EECCS requests from schools, colleges or training providers. We won't accept requests from learners or their representatives. Each request must be approved by the head of the school, college or training provider. Learners must consent to an EECCS request being submitted on their behalf.

The head must be sure that:

• The reason for the request is exceptional and satisfies one of the following:
  • The learner was unable to attend the exam due to a personal circumstance
  • The learner’s performance was fundamentally affected by a personal circumstance
  • The learner was affected during the exam by a disruption or other exam circumstance, reported by the chief invigilator
• The reason for the request falls into one of the categories (outline and detailed reasons).
• Appropriate documentation is held to support the request.
• Alternative academic evidence for the impacted exam component(s) is available.
• The learner completed all non-exam components.
• An estimate has been submitted for the learner.

Learners should be aware that the final grade awarded is based on the academic evidence and may not agree with the estimate.

Your school, college or training provider must provide alternative evidence for the question paper component of the relevant qualification. We'll consider a range of evidence. Evidence must cover the specific skills, knowledge and understanding requirements of the course.

All academic evidence submitted in support of requests must have been generated before the date of the timetabled exam.

The following are examples of the types of learner evidence that could be considered under this service:

• Prelims or mock exams
• End of topic assessments
• Performance recordings
• Classwork

We're unable to accept any further learner evidence after we've issued your result.

We'll provide our examiners with the learner's estimate, alternative academic evidence, any relevant non-question paper component learner materials (for example a folio or project), and any attempted question papers related to the request.

Examiners will review the academic evidence and award a grade subject to the following conditions:

• Where the learner hasn't attended any parts of the timetabled exam and therefore only alternative academic evidence is available, any grade awarded will be at the lowest band point available; for example A2, B4 or C6.
• Schools, colleges and training providers should inform us if a learner has a conditional offer from university that requires an A1 band. In these cases, by exception, should the learner's alternative evidence justify an A grade, the examiner will also determine the appropriate band.

Learners should note that the grade awarded by a Qualifications Scotland examiner may not agree with the learner’s estimate that was submitted by the school, college or training provider.

We'll issue results through the normal certification channels and on published dates.

Learners who have undergone exceptional circumstances consideration are excluded from the Appeals Service for the same qualification. This is because the EECCS includes a marking review of any/all submitted external assessments that are related to the request.

Learners can appeal their EECCS request outcome on two possible grounds:

• they believe that our decision to refuse an EECCS request (based on all the evidence available to us at the time) is wrong or

• they believe there was procedural irregularity in our handling of an EECCS request, which contributed to a decision that (based on all the evidence available to us at the time) is wrong.

Learners should speak to their school, college or training provider if they want to appeal an EECCS outcome - the appeal must be made through the head of school, college or training provider on a learner’s behalf.