Exams – getting the support you need
How do you feel when we mention exams...slightly nauseous? Sinking feeling in your belly? You’re not alone. Exams are stressful for anyone. Especially if you’ve got cancer. But you’re entitled to extra support, so check out what’s available and get ready to smash those exams.
Am I entitled to any support?
Absolutely. The Equality Act protects disabled people from being treated unfairly and helps reduce disadvantages. And you automatically meet the Equality Act definition of ‘disabled’ from the day you’re diagnosed.
Under the Act, exam boards in England, Scotland and Wales must not discriminate against disability and make changes to support you. These are called ‘reasonable adjustments. In Northern Ireland you have similar rights under the Special Educational Needs and Disability Order (SENDO).
Your school, colleague or university also has a legal duty to support you – find out more about this here.
What support can I get?
Here’s a list of the most common reasonable adjustments exam boards make:
- Changes to materials (eg. large print or braille)
- Access to assistive software (e.g. computer readers of voice recognition software)
- Help with specific tasks. Another person could read your questions or write down the answer you give
- Changes to how the exam is done. Oral vs written. Typing vs written by hand
- Extra time
- Exemption.
How is my level of support decided?
Exam boards only have to make reasonable adjustments if your diagnosis makes it substantially harder for you to demonstrate your knowledge. It’s decided on a case-by-case basis; not a one size fits all. This means:
- You won’t automatically get the same support as another student with the same diagnosis
- You may get different levels of support for different exams
- If your diagnosis doesn’t affect how well you can do an exam, you won’t get support.
- How much your diagnosis affects your ability to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding
- Impact. If an adjustment will help you out a lot, they will try and make it happen
- Cost. A pricey adjustment is less likely to be agreed
- Difficulty. Complications will try and be avoided
- Validity. They don’t want to give you an unfair advantage so will make sure the change is fair
- Other rules. If an exam is required by rule, they won’t want to offer you a different form of assessment.
Do I need to apply to get support?
No, it’s up to your school, college or university to apply on your behalf. They will need to set out what adjustments you need, and this will be based on how you study day-to-day.
If you haven’t done so already, tell your place of education about your diagnosis so they can start putting plans in place – the sooner the better too. There’s advice on how you can do this here.
For more information on what support is available visit Contact’s website or give their helpline a call on 0808 808 3555.
