Experiences of special consideration after a medical emergency during A levels

[Curiouscase]

Please can you tell me your experience of ‘special consideration’ in A Levels? My DS suffered a medical emergency in his A level today.

School said they will apply to exam board for special consideration for all his exams.

Realistically, what does this mean? Will exam board take into account his grades from school assessments prior to exams? Or just add 1-5% to his score (a quick google suggests the latter).

Obviously his main worry is it impacting his uni application. (Will also post on FE board)

Thank you

I think the latter is the best you can hope for. I hope everyone’s ok now and the rest of the exams go well.

Yes the most you can hope for is a % uplift. The max as I understand it is 5% which is for very serious issues. Hopefully he is OK now and it won’t impact the rest of the exams.

Former admissions tutor here.

My understanding, which you should not rely on as it is older, is also the latter. The mitigation is quite minimal.

In these times when so many degree programmes are in recruiting mode, I think it would be worth DS emailing the admissions teams at his Firm and Insurance choices. He should briefly explain the situation and attach evidence. If he can honestly say something about being fully recovered and looking forward to university, so much the better. But I would not stretch this point.

Hopefully if he does not make his offers, one or both programmes will give him a second look. It can’t hurt.

Best wishes to DS.

PS DS’ email should say the school is applying for mitigation. Everyone knows it is mingy.

DC has a friend whose mum very sadly passed away in the middle of A levels. I don’t think there was any uplift in grades BUT the uni she went to (not Russell Group but v good in the subject) agreed to offer her the place based on her predicted grades.

So I would say it’s worth contacting the uni admissions team in case they can give any leniency that end.

Thank you. He experienced a severe epileptic seizure.

@poetryandwine I will ask him to contact the unis - I don’t think he could say he is fully recovered as it is an ongoing condition. What evidence do you think could he provide? He has already stated on his application that he has epilepsy.
Thank you

Teaching Assistant in a college here. I work with adults who are retaking or taking GCSEs. We would have to provide as much detail as we could about what had occurred and the action we took and how this would have affected him.

How the exam boards saw it would depend on whether he was able to continue after the medical emergency, and how much the emergency would have affected that continuation. It is difficult to know how the exam board would see your son's case specifically. Is he likely to have medical emergencies in future exams. If so, the school could probably do an emergency application for rest breaks, allowing him to have a break in the time if an emergency occurred.

@stichguru thank you. He has already had an allowance for extra time, agreed before the start of exams.

Do both. Let school apply for mitigating circumstances and let the uni’s he’s accepted offers from know this has occurred. Provide evidence (was seizure witnessed? Did he go to hospital? Can neurologist provide a letter of support?)

So sorry to hear your son has been ill.

Special consideration, the schools exams officer should apply and I think its per exam board. This is the full guide to how it works:

https://www.jcq.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/09/JCQ-A-guide-to-the-special-consideration-process-FINAL_2025_26.pdf

They add a percentage to the paper but if its say 3%, its 3% of the whole marks. Maximum is 5%.

I would also let the university for his first choice and maybe also insurance know. There may be a form to fill in and its important to do it well before results. In theory they don't double count so if its awarded by exam board, the university don't also but in practice they may allow more leeway.

Thanks for your update, OP.

Epilepsy should be recognised simultaneously as a momentary emergency and not of ongoing consequence - DS should include a brief description of medical management. (If his seizures are not controlled, he may wish to think about deferring until they are, so as not to disadvantage himself.)

I agree with PP that a message from the school referencing an invigilator statement would suffice. Or a neurologist’s report validating the epilepsy, as long as DS is clear in his message that the seizure will be the basis for the school’s request for mitigation.

I wouldn’t wish this circumstance on anyone so I am loathe to sound glib, but I believe that with professional evidence on his side DS will get reasonable benefit of the doubt, if there are seats lacking bums.

I personally would go for the neurologist confirmation and indicate that the school would be submitting for mitigation. I think the medical confirmation removes any doubt.

Again, very best wishes

A letter from his teacher? They could do it electronically and send to him as a PDF (with their email address on the letter) and your ds could attach it to his email. I’m a programmer lead at a university and I’d be happy with that as evidence.

The other thing to consider, though you may well have done this already, is whether there is a good hospital nearby his university and if he needed you to get there quickly could you.

I would also consider whether he might need a year out to get medication sorted or to reduce stress / improve mental health if that's a factor. Hopefully he will get better quickly but sometimes people need time to recover.

Hi OP. I have PM'd you.

This paper should go as medically absent and then the marks from other exams in the same subject will be used and a formula applied. He should also get an uplift for papers sat when special consideration is processed. He could easily get the grade he deserves - don't panic. Exam boards totally have procedures for this. We once had somebody who had a nosebleed all over his maths GCSE!

If things did deteriorate (I really hope not) and he was admitted to hospital there is a separate process for this since a campaign run by some parents a few years ago.

I’d ask the schools exams officer to confirm what happened and what they’re asking of the exam board, and let you have a copy, or send a copy to the unis.

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/special-consideration-in-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2022-exam-series/background-information-for-special-consideration-in-gcse-as-and-a-level-summer-2022-exam-series

this is the .gov page. My son’s teacher has asked for the letters from the oncology team (which we have provided) but hasn’t mentioned telling the university. We will look into this. Thanks for the advice.

i hope your DS recovers soon @Curiouscase

Thanks for all your responses, you are all really helpful.

My DS’s MH took a massive nosedive during his A levels (a sort of mini breakdown) and he got special consideration.

The exams officer was really helpful - but yes, as he actually did the exams he got 1-5% added although idk how much of that percentage was actually given. He got his grades for uni and is about to finish his degree.

@titchy and @Piggywaspushed had good ideas, OP. Medical note plus school note attached to DS’ query to admissions is optimal.

(No worries that this is a continuing condition. If the seizure was ‘my first seizure in over a year’ or a whatever, it would be good to say that. If not, he can just leave it out. I doubt anyone will feel a twinge of discrimination.)

I understand a breakthrough seizure need not mean much. I agree with @OneZanyCat that if there is significant breakthrough before uni begins getting DS’ health sorted is worth considering a deferral if necessary. I would expect universities to grant this in a flash as DS would have medical support (neuro letter).

Again, best wish to him.

I agree with this - if he was unable to finish his paper (I'm not sure if this is the case?) then 5% uplift is not enough, and you should try to get the paper disregarded.

I also hope this paper can be disregarded.

I would second asking the uni. We did this for DS last year and his Firm had a specific form to complete.

Uni expected the school to apply for mitigation to the exam board (in this case, a power issue affected the whole group) but the form gave DS a chance to explain how it had impacted him personally beyond the time lost to the issue. He also had to attach a letter from school.

A recommendation on a side issue. As soon as DS is 18 get him to sign Power of Attorney for Health (and finances) for you. Otherwise if he has a seizure as an adult the medical system cant inform you of his condition or take direction from you. You can also get yourself added to his GP records as someone who can be informed of his medical info using their specific forms/process

Someone we knew had a Crohn's flareup during one of his exams. He decided to tough it out (he had a level of denial about his health problems) but when the results came out the results on this one paper were significantly lower than expected. The rest were fine but unfortunately he narrowly missed his Cambridge offer.

Cambridge effectively told him that they wished they had known sooner, as they could have interpreted his results differently. He was encouraged to reapply, albeit with a resit, so he got there in the end.

He should contract the University now, and also make sure he has appropriate medical evidence. I hope he recovers well.