Inevitably, some students will encounter difficulties attending or completing examinations or continuous assessment.

For example, you might be ill.

In such circumstances, always ask your lecturer whether you can resit the continuous assessment at a later date.

However, this may not always be possible.

Here’s what happens

  • Basically, the DCU-wide rules apply.

  • You should:

    1. ensure that you have suitable documentation (e.g. a doctor’s note),

    2. complete DCU’s R30 (extenuating circumstances) form, and

    3. submit that form (with supporting documentation) to the registry.

What happens next?

It is not normally possible to complete a missed exam or lab exam at a later date.

You should continue your course, completing any further examination requirements.

When the exam board meets at the end of the year, your extenuating circumstances will be considered and, if appropriate, taken into account.

That does not mean that the exam board will simply invent marks for the missed examination elements. It means that the exam board will consider, in light of all of your circumstances, how best to finalise your marks.

Sometimes, the relevant module will be recorded as deferred. Other times the exam board will simply let a passing marks stand.

It depends very much upon what the exam board assesses will be in the best interest of the student at hand.

That is why these issues are not considered until the end of the academic year, when all of your marks are known and the best resolution can be found.

All of the continuous-assessment and exam marks that you receive during the course of the academic year are provisional. Only the exam board has the authority to finalise your marks, and that decision is only made at the end of the academic year (when all of your marks are known).