Special considerations

When a candidate has sat an assessment under adverse circumstances through no fault of their own, or has been absent from an assessment for acceptable reasons, a centre may ask for Special Consideration to be applied for the affected component. Cambridge Assessment English will consider the circumstances and may, at our discretion, award a small additional tariff to the overall mark for the component.

How a Learner qualifies for Special Consideration

Candidates must inform their centre if they wish to be given Special Consideration.

Special Consideration requests can be made by centres for candidates who cannot perform to the best of their ability due to adverse circumstances immediately before or during an exam. Examples include illness, bereavement or circumstances affecting the conditions under which an exam is taken. Special Consideration may also be appropriate for candidates who were temporarily or permanently disabled at the time of the exam but for whom Special Arrangements were not in place or were not adequate or satisfactory. Special Consideration is applied for by centres after the exam. They must complete a Special Consideration form, available from our support website.

Here are some examples of acceptable and unacceptable reasons. These lists are not intended to be comprehensive.

Examples of acceptable reasons:

Illness during or immediately preceding the exam.
Distress owing to factors such as the death of a close friend or relative, acute family/domestic problems, etc., immediately preceding the exam.
Suffering from shock (e.g. owing to a road accident).

Examples of unacceptable reasons:

Unfavourable exam conditions which could be foreseen. It is the centres responsibility to ensure that candidates are examined under suitable conditions.
Minor disturbances, except when occurring in Listening tests. Centres are permitted to use discretion when the immediate remedy of allowing an appropriate period of extra time to compensate for time lost will offer sufficient alleviation of the difficulty. In all such cases, a Special Consideration Form should be submitted to Cambridge Assessment English containing a full written report of the action taken, which clearly indicates that the report is for information only.
Indispositions such as hay fever which are variable in their effect, except where the candidate was clearly affected on the day of an exam.

Applications must be supported by a medical certificate if due to an injury which the centre is unable to verify, and in all cases of illness.

Cambridge Assessment English will not consider applications for Special Consideration after the issue of results under any circumstances.

What level of Special Consideration will be given?

We will review the evidence to see if the circumstances reported have impacted negatively on the candidate’s performance: if we believe that there has been a negative impact, we will adjust the marks appropriately in accordance with guidelines provided for awarding bodies. Depending upon the circumstances, this will be set between 0 and 5% of the total marks for the component. Cambridge Assessment English, in line with other awarding bodies, will not enter into discussion with centres, candidates or their parents on the level of special consideration which should be applied.