Can university turn down appeal when they’ve failed to provide agreed exam adjustments
Daughter gets 25% extra time in her uni exams - she always uses this time. She sits exams in a room on her own as has severe anxiety. Recently sat an exam and we only realised a couple of days later when next exam was much longer that invigilator had not included her extra time in the finish time. Daughter had come out of the exam incredibly upset as for the first time had completely run out of time. Exam department admitted and apologised for the error, advised to put in for special consideration. This was turned down as the panel said exam result (74%) was similar to other results (79% and 93% in other modules) so extra time would have made no difference. The module that was affected previous exam and coursework in the high 90's.
On seeing her marked paper she lost 3/70 marks in the first 90 minutes, then when aware of only 30 minutes left (should have been 60) panicked and spiralled only got 7/30 marks left.
She has been told by Student Union only option is to appeal and if successful an uncapped resit. She has extreme exam anxiety and would have to give up weeks of holidays to study again. Seems incredibly unfair for unis error. Any advice would be appreciated please.
A: SenseCheck
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- 24 Apr 2026
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Too fact specific, I can't generalise.:
Dear Ms McDonald,
This is only an observation, not legal advice, but I would have thought there may be grounds to appeal.
The university appears to have accepted that an agreed disability-related exam adjustment was not provided. Given that the adjustment had been put in place because your daughter would otherwise be disadvantaged by the ordinary examination process, the failure to provide it strongly suggests that she was placed at a substantial disadvantage in that assessment.
The issue is therefore not simply that she still achieved 74%, but whether she was denied the conditions the university had already accepted were necessary to allow her to sit the exam on a fairer footing.
The marked paper may be important evidence, particularly if her performance materially deteriorated once she believed she had only 30 minutes left, rather than the 60 minutes she should have had.
If your daughter experienced significant anxiety or distress as a result of the error, it may also be sensible to ensure this is properly documented. That might include a short account from your daughter, contemporaneous notes, any communication with student support, disability or wellbeing services, and, where available, relevant medical or disability evidence. This may help the university understand not only the mark achieved, but the actual impact of the missing adjustment on her during the exam.
It may be sensible to frame the appeal around procedural irregularity, failure to implement agreed reasonable adjustments, and inadequate consideration of the actual impact of the error.
There may also be a fair question about remedy. An uncapped resit may be the university’s standard response, but where a student has severe exam anxiety, it is worth asking whether that is an adequate remedy, or whether another outcome is available under the university’s regulations.
If the internal appeal is unsuccessful, your daughter may wish to ask the university for a Completion of Procedures Letter. This confirms that the university’s internal process has finished. She could then consider a complaint to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, usually called the OIA. The OIA will not normally re-mark work or interfere with academic judgment, but it can consider whether the university followed a fair process, applied its own regulations properly, gave adequate reasons, and dealt appropriately with the failure to provide agreed disability-related exam adjustments.
I look forward to reading any comments others may make.
24 Apr 2026
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