Exceptional circumstances

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 ist of every exceptional circumstance, but each request should correspond with one of the following reasons.

Peronal circumstance

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

Examination circumstance**

• Examination arrangements***
• Disruption

* Schools, colleges or training providers are not required to specify the nature of the medical condition when submitting a request, but they must hold documentation such as a letter or statement from the 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.

As a result of the changes to the exam timetable that we made in February, we’ve extended access to the EECCS for 2025.

For this year only, you may also be eligible to use the service in the following situations.

Extra time assessment arrangements
If you have an extra time assessment arrangement, you may be due to sit more than six hours of exams in one day. If your school or college can arrange overnight supervision, you may be able to move one of your exams to the following day. You should speak to your school or college about this in the first instance.

As an alternative, and for 2025 only, you can ask your school or college to submit an EECCS request for the last exam that you are due to sit on a day when you have more than six hours of exams.

Holiday bookings and overseas travel
If you have booked a holiday or overseas travel based on the original exam timetable and are now going to miss an exam due to the changes made in February, you can ask your school or college to submit an EECCS request for you. This again applies for 2025 only. You will need to provide written proof that your booking was made before Monday 3 February when the timetable was updated.

We will only accept EECCS requests from schools, colleges or training providers. We will not accept requests from learners or their representatives. Each request must have been approved by the head of the school, college or training provider. Learners must have consented 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.
• All non-exam components were completed by the learner.
• An estimate has been submitted.

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 will 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 are unable to accept any further learner evidence after we have issued your result.

Examiners will be provided 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 has not 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 SQA 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 an SQA examiner may not agree with the learner’s estimate that was submitted by the school, college or training provider.

Results will be issued 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. This must be done through the head of school, college or training provider on a learner’s behalf if:

• they believe that SQA’s decision to refuse an EECCS request, based on all the evidence available to SQA at the time, is wrong.

or

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

Learners should speak to their school, college or training provider if they want to appeal an EECCS outcome.