Overview and FAQs
If you have experienced a short term, serious and unavoidable disruption that has impacted your ability to complete or prepare for an assessment task, you may be eligible to apply for Special Consideration.
Students are encouraged to read our Special Consideration articles to find information on eligibility requirements, the application process, and other useful FAQs.
Requirements for Special Consideration
If you are applying for Special Consideration, be aware of the below requirements.
Short-term circumstances or events which are serious, unavoidable, significantly disruptive, and beyond the students control maybe eligible for Special Consideration.
Read our eligibility article to find examples of eligible and non-eligible circumstances.
Supporting evidence is a requirement of an application for Special Consideration. It determines if your application is eligible and impacts what the outcome to your application will be.
Supporting evidence must:
- identify the nature of the circumstances
- include dates and/or the length of the circumstances
- explain the severity and impact of the circumstances
- clearly describe how the circumstances have adversely affected your capacity for effective study related to the assessment task
- include the date(s) on which you were seen by the professional providing the evidence (if applicable).
Read our supporting evidence article for examples of supporting evidence.
Note: Providing misleading or fraudulent information/documents is considered a breach of the Macquarie Student Code of Conduct. Breaches will be reported to the Complaints, Appeals and Misconduct Team and no Special Consideration will be granted.
If you submit or attempt your assessment task at the originally scheduled time/due date, you may not be eligible for Special Consideration.
It is important you only attempt/submit your assessment tasks when fit to do so.
Read our attempt/submit article for more information and an example scenario of when to submit or not submit an assessment.
Special Consideration is designed to support students with short term disruptions or exacerbations.
Students with ongoing health conditions or circumstances are recommended to explore support options such as reasonable adjustments offered through Accessibility Services at Student Wellbeing. If you are not already registered with Student Wellbeing, you should contact the Accessibility Service at Student Wellbeing to seek support.
If you are already registered and are seeking to apply for Special Consideration, see our FAQs in the IEAP planned extensions article. This outlines when the IEAP planned extension can or cannot be used.
Seeking further information? Read our frequently asked questions article to find answers to other common questions you might have regarding the Special Consideration process and applications.
How to apply
Before applying you should read and review the Special Consideration articles for relevant advice. Then follow the below steps when submitting your application(s):
Only eligible circumstances or events may be considered.
Supporting evidence is a requirement of your applications. More information regarding evidence can be in our supporting evidence article.
As not every assessment task is assessable, read unit guides and check iLearn for assessable tasks before applying.
Applications must be submitted:
- using the application form
- within five working days of the assessment due date.
You must include your supporting evidence when applying.
The University will aim to let you know the outcome of your application within five working days of applying or otherwise providing all necessary supporting evidence (this may take longer during peak periods).
In the meantime, be aware applying does not guarantee that you will be approved. Once fit to do so, you should continue to work on your assessment and complete a finalised assessment as soon as possible.
Students should be mindful application outcomes will be reflective of the disruption period which is confirmed by their supporting evidence. Hence application outcomes such as retrospective extensions can occur (eg an extension date which has already past).
Read our how to apply article for further information.