Illness, injury or a bereavement around exam time can be recognised. Here’s what special consideration is - and what it can and can’t do.
Special consideration recognises that something outside your control - temporary illness, injury, bereavement or similar - can affect an assessment. It covers two main situations: a small adjustment to marks if you sat the assessment but were disadvantaged, and, in limited cases, still awarding a qualification if you missed an assessment but completed enough of the others. Tell your school or college as soon as possible if something affects you at the time of an assessment; your centre then applies to the exam board within its published deadline - don’t wait until results day.
Case 1 - you sat the assessment but were disadvantaged. A percentage adjustment may be made to recognise the disadvantage. JCQ’s normal scale runs from 1% up to a maximum of 5% of the raw marks for the affected component, depending on how serious the circumstances were.
Case 2 - you could not sit an assessment. In certain circumstances a qualification can still be awarded using your performance in the other components you completed, provided the minimum assessment requirements are met. For GCSEs with AQA, OCR, Pearson and WJEC, for example, at least one whole component worth 15% of the total assessment must normally have been completed for an acceptable-absence award to be possible.
In some situations, temporary access arrangements can also be put in place where illness or injury affects how you take the assessment. In all cases the process is time-sensitive.
Don’t wait for results. Tell your centre as soon as possible if something affects you at the time of an assessment, so it can apply within the board’s published deadline. Planned access arrangements (e.g. extra time) are different - they’re normally agreed in advance for an ongoing need.
Your school or college applies to the exam board, not you or your parent directly. Tell them about the circumstances as soon as possible. Source: JCQ ↗
For students who sat the assessment, JCQ’s normal scale is 1% to a maximum of 5% of the raw marks for the affected component, according to severity. Source: JCQ ↗
In limited circumstances a grade may still be awarded from your other completed components - but only if you’ve met the minimum requirements (for GCSE, normally a whole component worth at least 15%). Source: JCQ ↗
Planned access arrangements are normally agreed in advance for an ongoing need. Special consideration deals with temporary circumstances affecting you at or around the assessment, and can sometimes include a temporary adjustment to how you take it. Source: JCQ ↗
See the key results-day dates and your options if you’re unhappy with a grade.
Results day & key dates →Last checked August 2026. This is a plain-English summary of official guidance; always check the linked Ofqual, JCQ and exam-board pages for the definitive rules, which can change.
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