Department of Computer Science

Mitigating Circumstances Affecting Performance

Boards of Examiners are empowered to take into account mitigating circumstances such as illness or personal circumstances which may have adversely affected performance.

• It is the student's responsibility to keep their personal tutor or head of department informed of illness and other factors affecting their progress during the year and especially during the examination period;
• Students who believe that their examination performance may have been impaired by illness, any other form of disability or other exceptional circumstances must advise the head of the department responsible for the programme (or his/her designated nominee) in writing within five working days of the examination affected in order that this information can be taken into account by the Board of Examiners.
• A valid doctor's medical certificate must be supplied to verify reported illness; self-certification will not be acceptable.

Should you wish mitigating circumstances to be considered you must follow the following procedures.

For practical assignments, class tests, and project work: If such work is affected by illness or other personal circumstances, you must inform the Student Office, in writing on the Board of Studies form. You also need to approach the lecturer responsible for the module (or, in the case of projects, your supervisor) preferably before the deadline for the submission of such work or date of the class test, otherwise as soon as possible afterwards. The module lecturer is empowered, as appropriate, to offer an extension of the deadline for practical assignments or project work to allow the piece of work to be completed.

Unless a deadline extension is sufficient to resolve the effects of your mitigating circumstances, the case will be referred to the Mitigating Circumstances Committee and the Board of Examiners for further consideration. For practical assignments and class tests, the Board of Examiners can recommend that (a) you are allowed to (re-)take the assessment at the next normal sitting, in which case your circumstances will not be given further consideration, or (b) the impact of the affected mark on your overall results will be considered at the end of your honours year when your degree class will be decided.

It is of vital importance that you contact the lecturer responsible for the module, as referral to the Mitigating Circumstances Committee and the Board of Examiners should be avoided for continuously assessed work if at all possible.

For examinations: If you are absent from an examination, or you believe your performance to have been affected by ill-health or other special circumstances, you must inform the Student Office, in writing on the Board of Studies form, within five working days of the examination of the reasons for your absence or under performance, supported by any appropriate evidence. In the case of first and second year examinations, an excused absence or failure will normally result in the resit examination being sat as a first attempt at that module. In the case of a final year examination the Board of Examiners will act in accordance with the University Code of Practice on Assessment:

Where a student who, owing to ill-health or other special circumstances, has not completed all assessments or whose performance in his/her assessments is considered by the Board of Examiners to have been affected by ill-health or other special circumstances, the Board of Examiners should decide whether it has sufficient evidence of the student's achievement to determine the award. If the Mitigating Circumstances Committee considers that they have enough work, they will recommend the award which should be made (including the class of the award, if appropriate) and that you be offered the option of either accepting that award or of re-taking/re-sitting the missed/affected assessments as a "first attempt" at the next ordinary sitting. Where the Board of Examiners decides to award a pass degree or considers that there is not sufficient evidence to determine the award but decides to offer an aegrotat degree, then the student concerned should be given the opportunity either to accept the pass or aegrotat degree or to take/retake the missed/failed assessments at the next ordinary sitting of those assessments.

Note that the above procedure is intended to apply both to circumstances affecting the examination itself, and those affecting the period leading up to the examination.

To facilitate the submission of claims for mitigating circumstances, students will be supplied with a form before the start of each examination period. This form can also be obtained from the Student Office or downloaded from http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/student/officialforms.html. This form, together with supporting evidence, should be submitted to the Student Office within five working days of the examination concerned, by anyone wishing to draw attention to mitigating circumstances, or reasons for absence from an examination.

Account of illness or any other special circumstances can only be taken by the Board of Examiners if the above procedures are followed: in particular notification of the mitigating circumstances must be received, in writing, within five working days of the examination affected.