Special consideration

An awarding body’s decision to award special consideration 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, and the date and nature of the assessment. 

• ‘Present but disadvantaged’ special consideration can be applied for in any timetabled examination. A small amount of extra marks can be granted in line with the details of the disadvantage affecting the candidate at the time of assessment. 
• ‘Absent for a good reason’ can only be applied for if the absence is for an eligible reason and the candidate is certificating in the same series as the examination, or will be certificating before the post-results period ends for the series. The missed examination needs to be the only outstanding assessment contributing to certification, otherwise a resit will need to be taken at the next available opportunity. 
• It is not possible to grant special consideration for internally assessed units as the flexible nature of the qualification allows claims to be submitted when a candidate is ready to certificate.

Due to the structure of the various vocational qualifications, it is only possible to grant special consideration to Cambridge Technicals timetabled examinations. Applications must be submitted 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 and being in a position to certificate, as indicated above.

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.

Please note that, following the publication of results, applications will only be accepted in the most exceptional circumstances and must be submitted before the deadline for reviews of results for the respective examination series.

A member of the senior leadership team must produce compelling evidence to support a late application.

An application for special consideration cannot be submitted after the completion of a review of results.

If all or part of a candidate’s work is lost or damaged through no fault of the candidate, please complete the form below and email it to srteam@ocr.org.uk.

You may find these tips helpful when making your application:

• When searching for a candidate, try searching using one field – the more fields you enter, the less likely you'll return any results
• For Cambridge Technicals, please use the eight-digit OCR candidate number instead of the four-digit centre candidate number
• If you can't find an individual candidate, try using the ‘multiple candidate’ option which will list all candidates entered for a component or unit (and then just select the one candidate you need)
• If you need to submit an application for a number of students affected by the same reason and for the same unit, please use the ‘multiple candidate’ option. If you have more than ten candidates, there will be more than one page so make sure you select all the candidates you need to.

If you have any queries, please contact the OCR special requirements team at srteam@ocr.org.uk.

Where a candidate has been fully prepared and entered for one of our qualifications but has encountered exceptional mitigating circumstances beyond their control and is unable to sit any of our set examinations/assessments, please contact our special requirements team. We can advise you of the process and the information required. Based on this information, we may issue a statement of recognition. A statement of recognition records the candidate’s potential qualification grade(s), according to the centre, had our set examinations/assessments been completed. 

The statement of recognition is designed to support the candidate’s progression to the next stage of education, training, or employment. It can inform discussions with Further Education/Higher Education institutions, other education providers, and employers, to facilitate progression. The statement of recognition is provided by OCR based on the information supplied by the centre and is not a qualification certificate. This is different to an honorary certificate. 

If you think you have a candidate for whom a statement of recognition may be appropriate, please email the special requirements team at srteam@ocr.org.uk.