Special consideration

You can apply for special consideration in cases where the student has been fully prepared for the examination but their performance or attendance on the day of the examination/assessment has been affected by factors beyond their control, such as ill health or a family crisis.

For more information on special consideration please refer to the JCQ document a guide to the special consideration process.

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.