In a limited number of circumstances students will be able to self-certify for an assessment to have one-off mitigation applied to an essay submission deadline or online exam. It recognises that the ongoing uncertainties of the pandemic may create unavoidable, but short-term disruption to a student’s assessment. The policy will allow students to request:
What types of assessment you can self-certify for:
Reasons for self-certifying:
Self-certification for essays or exam assessments may only be made ONCE per module and cover ONLY the following circumstances:
Students do not need to provide evidence to support a self-certified claim. However, please note that fabrication of the above circumstances using self-certification will be treated as academic misconduct.
SSPs: Students who have assessment adjustments as detailed on their SSPs should use their SSP if they require mitigation for a disability-related reason (and not the Self-Cert process). They may, of course, use the Self-Cert process if their circumstance is not related to their SSP.
An important note about exam deferral:
You must think very carefully before choosing self-certification for deferral of an exam. Deferral of several exams may create significant overload of work for submission in August 2023. Please be warned: you cannot be mitigated for having exams or other assessment deadlines close together in August. The August re-assessment period is the final opportunity for you to complete your assessments for the academic year, and failure to progress, or further mitigation for these assessments will mean you will have to take a period of leave of absence until the next re-assessment opportunity.
If a student finds that the above self-certified mitigation is not sufficient for the assessment in question then they must consult the full Exceptional Circumstances affecting Assessment process (see below), and if they submit an ECA claim then students MUST provide documentary evidence to support their claim.
Important details about the Self-certification process:
If you complete a Self-Certification of Assessment request, then the essay extension or exam deferral is AUTOMATICALLY approved. You can withdraw a Self-Cert request at any time up until the start time of the exam, or essay submission deadline. You must keep a record a which assessment and module you have self-certified for on eVision. The system will keep track of how many Self-Certs you have made, and once you have reached your limit of 3, then you will not be able to select any further assessments on eVision. Once the Self-Cert deadline has passed then Philosophy will send you a confirmatory email for the exam deferral or essay extension that you have selected.
Where do I complete a Self-Cert request?
Students must complete and submit your request via their eVision Assessment and Progression pages. All the information you need is on the University web pages under Self-Certification.
If circumstances in your life significantly affect your performance in assessed work (including examinations) or lead to you needing a deadline extension for such work, then you can submit an evidenced 'exceptional circumstances' claim. Please speak to your supervisor if you experience this kind of difficulty.
The University defines an exceptional circumstance as a problem which goes beyond the normal difficulties experienced in life. They are often one-off, life-affecting events, whereby the circumstances must be exceptional (i.e. serious and unusual) relative to the normal daily challenges that academic study presents, and unpredictable in that the student could not reasonably have been expected either to avoid them, or to allow for them in planning or preparing the assessment work during the assessment period for which you are claiming.
If your difficulties affect your studies beyond one assessment period, do please discuss with your supervisor the other options open to you.
ALL ECA applications must be supported with documentary evidence from a third party professional. No ECA claims will be endorsed without evidence. You may submit your ECA application without evidence, but the evidence must then be provided to us as soon as possible after, and not later than 3 weeks from when you make your ECA application. Please see pp. 9-11 of the Exceptional Circumstances Policy for accepted forms of documentary evidence.
Once a decision has been made by the ECA Committee about your ECA claim then we will write to you, via your UoY email, to notify you of the outcome. You should read all the information carefully in this email.
ECA queries and contact
If you are a Philosophy student and have questions about the ECA process which cannot be answered by these web pages then please do email Karen Norris (for Undergraduate students) or Carol Dixon (for MA and Graduate Diploma students) at philosophy-ex-circs@york.ac.uk
Disability Services are available to advise any student with substantial and long-standing professionally diagnosed health difficulties - either physical or mental health - which have a negative impact on their ability to study. They can arrange academic support and adjustments if you have disability or long-term health condition, and students should contact them in the first instance for advice.
The definition of Disability is that of the Equality Act - any long-term condition that has a significant impact on day-to-day life. 'Long-term' means has lasted or is likely to last 12 months or more, whilst 'day-to-day life' in this case means study related activities, and this includes mental health conditions such as depression or anxiety.
All students with long-term conditions can be offered practical help with their studies, exams and written assessments, via a Student Support Plan. Any support arrangements that you may have had at school or college are not carried over once you are at University, so if you are aware of having long-term issues as described above then we would urge you to get in touch with Disability Services as quickly as possible for advice and support. The sooner you do this, the better, in terms of seeking the support and practical help you may need thoughout your degree course. There are step-by-step instructions showing how to request support via the Disability Services web pages.
Once you have an SSP in place then this will provide you, your Department(s) and Disability Services with information as to what teaching support and assessment adjustments you have in place. It is your plan, so you must be clear on what support is available and how you ask for certain adjustments.
If your SSP permits you to request occasional summative essay extensions, or an exam deferral, due to disability-related reasons then please follow the instructions below. Please do not use the self-certification process for mitigation due to disability-related reasons: use the SSP process below. Please note that Extensions are not permitted for online or closed exams.