Special consideration

An awarding body’s decision to award special consideration in vocational qualifications will be based on various factors, which may vary from learner to learner and from one assessment to another. These factors may include the severity of the circumstances, the date of the assessment and the nature of the assessment.

It is important to note that it may not be possible to apply special consideration where units/qualifications confer ‘Licence to Practise’.

For timetabled exams or for coursework, controlled, practical or oral assessments, you apply via the special consideration online portal on Interchange. 

If a candidate has been disadvantaged by sitting the wrong paper then you will need to apply for special consideration as ‘absent’ for the paper they missed. Keep the original entry if it was correct before the wrong paper was taken. Do not change entries to match the wrong paper. Approval is subject to meeting the minimum requirements for enhanced grading.  

If a candidate leaves the exam early and you are applying for special consideration then please let us know how long they were present for, as well as the duration of the overall exam.  

If an application you have made has been rejected when you expected it to have been accepted, contact the special requirements team at srteam@ocr.org.uk and they will review the outcome. Some applications are automatically rejected by the online system.

For general qualifications and Cambridge Nationals, if all or part of a candidate’s work is lost or damaged through no fault of the candidate, please submit an application via the special consideration online portal on Interchange. 

If that is not possible, then complete and submit a Notification of Lost Centre Assessed Work (JCQ/LCW Form 15), which is available from the JCQ website. 

Marks should be submitted in the normal way and the moderator must be informed of the application.