What are Mitigating Circumstances?
These are circumstances or events beyond your control which have:
- Adversely affected your ability to perform to your full potential in an assessment;
- have resulted in non-submission of an assessment;
- have resulted in late submission of an assessment or non-attendance at an assessment.
Please Note:
- An ‘assessment’ includes clinical placements in Years 3-5. Specific guidance on mitigating circumstances as it applies to placements is included below.
- Additionally, specific guidance on mitigating circumstances as it applies to Y3 APEP and Y5 QEPEP is provided below – this includes information on how to request a 5 working day extension in light of experiencing mitigating circumstances.
What could be considered as Mitigating Circumstances?
Grounds for mitigation are unforeseeable or unpreventable circumstances that could have, or did have, a significant adverse effect on the academic performance of a student.
Please ensure you have referred to Section 4.0 of the Policy on Mitigating Circumstances and Coursework Extensions to ensure you meet the grounds for mitigation.
You can also find additional guidance via the School of Medical Sciences Student Information Hub.
Mitigating Circumstances relating to health concerns
As a medical student registered on a professional degree programme, you are required to take responsibility for your own health.
You are expected to seek help from healthcare services in a timely manner when you have any potential health concerns and ensure you follow-up with any planned reviews / management plans.
Additionally in ‘Achieving good medical practice‘ the GMC and MSC state that medical students have a professional responsibility to have insight into their own health and how it might impact on their ability to perform at work.
As such, you should demonstrate in your application how these expectations have been met.
If the MBChB MCP has concerns about your ongoing health concerns and/or fitness to study/practice they may recommend onward referrals for further support.
Temporary Injury or Illness
If you have a temporary injury of illness (i.e. contagious illness, temporary injury which limits mobility) that potentially impacts on your ability to attend an assessment you must read the MBChB Examinations and Assessments Policy for Students with a Temporary Injury or Contagious Illness which details the actions you should take.
It is important to note that by attending an assessment you are declaring that you are ’fit to sit the exam’ and therefore cannot also submit mitigation for issues that arise on the day related to your temporary injury/ illness.
You will also need to get some evidence to support your application about your illness, you may wish to provide medical records – such as appointment slips or prescriptions.
Long-term or recurring conditions
If you have a long-term or recurring medical, or mental health condition that affects your studies, you should strongly consider registering with our Disability Advisory and Support Service (DASS). This will allow you to access a variety of support that is appropriate to your needs.
Students who are registered with DASS will not normally have to provide medical evidence for mitigating circumstances requests that are related to your DASS support plan.
If you’re not registered with DASS, we may ask for medical evidence for mitigating circumstances relating to a long-term or recurring medical or mental health condition due to the MBChB being a professional Programme.
What should I do if I have been affected by mitigating circumstances?
If you feel your studies or examinations and assessments may be, are being or have been affected by personal circumstances, you should inform the Programme immediately. You should do so by making contact with:
In GEM Year, Year 1 and Year 2 – to discuss your situation and support needs please contact the Student Pastoral Support (SPS) team (med.sps@manchester.ac.uk).
To apply for mitigating circumstances you must also complete the ‘Mitigating Circumstances Form’– if you have any questions on the latter you can contact The Student Support and Wellbeing Team on sms.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk.
In Years 3, 4 and 5 – to discuss your situation and support needs please contact your Clinical Education Campus SPS teams or the Programme’s central Student Pastoral Support (SPS) team (med.sps@manchester.ac.uk). To apply for mitigating circumstances you must also complete the ‘Mitigating Circumstances Form’– if you have any questions on the latter you can contact The Student Support and Wellbeing Team on sms.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk.
When do I submit Mitigating Circumstances?
You must submit a Mitigating Circumstances form, with supporting evidence, before the assessment period if you wish your circumstances to be taken into account. If the request for mitigation relates to circumstances that arose during the assessment period the form must be submitted within five working days of that assessment.
What if I can’t submit Mitigating Circumstances until after my exam?
Please note: Requests for mitigation submitted after the assessment has taken place (except as a result of circumstances that have arisen during the course of that assessment period which should be submitted within five working days of the end of the assessment period) will not be considered without a credible and compelling explanation as to why the circumstances were not known, or could not have been submitted, before the beginning of the assessment period.
If you submit your mitigating circumstances application over five working days after your examination your application cannot be considered. In this situation, we recommend you contact SMS.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk to discuss your options including a potential academic appeal.
What if I don’t have supporting evidence?
If you do not have evidence available, you should still submit the form by the deadline and forward the evidence as soon as possible to sms.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk
MB ChB Mitigating Circumstances Procedure
Please ensure you read the MB ChB Mitigating Circumstances Procedure carefully before submitting your Mitigating Circumstances Form.
Please note:
The MBChB MCP will consider at the panel only those cases where a student submitting mitigating circumstances has failed an exam-based assessment. The MBChB MCP cannot make or recommend any adjustment to a student’s score. Instead, accepted mitigation is used to allow a student to retake that assessment at the resit sitting at a further first attempt (or in the case of Progress Test, voiding the result and allowing a student to carry forward their prior cumulative grade).
Mitigating Circumstances and PEP
In addition to considering MCs for exam performance (Semester /Progress Tests, AKT and CCAs), the MCP will also review MCs for the Year 3 APEP and Year 5 QEPEP only. Students can submit MCs for Year 3 APEP and Year 5 QEPEP to
- raise issues that either affected them generally across these programme components (and thus potentially void the result in event of an Unsatisfactory grade). These submissions will be reviewed by the MC Panel once results are available and outcomes communicated via the PEP results email. Requests for this needs to be within 5 working days of the submission deadline.
- to report unexpected personal circumstances (for example, health / bereavement) that has had an impact of at least 5 working days to seek a 5 working day extension. Requests for this must be submitted as soon as possible once these circumstances become known to the student and with accompanying evidence. These will be reviewed on an urgent basis by the MC team in advance of the assessment submission deadline and students will be notified of the decision as soon as possible.
Due to the logistical processes required to implement a 5 working day extension, requests for this must be submitted no later than the Monday of the final week of your PEP.
NOTE: the MC extension request should not be used to report concerns regarding supervision or issues with the PEP process itself. These should be raised to the PEP team. - to request removal of late submission penalties in the event of experiencing unforeseen circumstances that resulted in the student submitting up to 5 days later that the stated submission deadline. You must still submit your PEP and apply for mitigation on this grounds both within 5 working days of the original submission deadline.
If you successfully apply for an extension / waiving of penalties, you cannot also request mitigation for a fail, and vice versa. You need to make clear on which grounds you are applying and provide evidence.
Note: MCs are not normally considered for Year 1 PEP (given it is a primarily group-based activity) or Year 2 PEP (as this is completed longitudinally over several months).
Mitigating Circumstances and Clinical Placements
Mitigating circumstances can also be applied to an Unsatisfactory outcome in a Clinical Placement Block – if accepted they will not change the outcome of that placement nor educational requirements to remediate, but if there is consequent failure of remediation it will determine whether Clinical Placements in a repeat year will be at 1st or 2nd attempt. For details of how this is applied, please visit the year-specific Progression Page.
Completing the ‘Mitigating Circumstances’ Microsoft Form
Your ‘Application for Mitigating Circumstances’ form and supporting evidence/ documentation* must be submitted electronically via microsoft Forms.
When completing the form you must ensure you:
- Fully complete the form and select from the drop-down menu the assessment(s) your submission relates to.
- Your form must be accompanied by appropriate, independent, third-party supporting or collaborative documentation which is time-specific. The evidence will be subject to verification.
Mitigating Circumstances Panel should be satisfied that any evidence is sufficiently independent and contemporaneous to confirm the veracity and impact of the circumstances that you are describing. Any evidence should allow for a Mitigating Circumstances Panel to verify that it is accurate e.g. provided on letter-headed paper, clearly states the name and signature of the author of the material, include relevant dates, and have your name visible. Do try to provide this at the time of submission and upload it with the form. If you are not able to, please submit the form before the deadline and then submit the evidence as soon as possible to sms.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk following the submission of the form. The panel will not be able to finalise a decision without evidence. Please note: A student cannot submit the same standalone, individual circumstances as a request for mitigation more than once, unless the student can show that the circumstances has exacerbated in some way, or the effects on the student have lasted longer than expected; - You must provide a statement explaining when your circumstances occurred and why they are relevant. The panel will not be able to make a judgement on your case without this;
- Indicate whether you have met with a Student Pastoral Support (SPS) Tutor (either Centrally or at your CEC or with a University Support Service;
- If you applied for mitigating circumstances stating a disability related reason, you do not normally need to provide any additional supporting evidence if you are registered with the DASS. Students registered with DASS who have stated a disability-related reason for their mitigation should not repeatedly be asked to provide medical evidence to support their application, provided that this relates to the same disability for which they are registered with DASS. However, if students have stated external factors that have e.g. exacerbated their disability, evidence of these external factors should still be provided. DASS will advise the School if they consider that further disability-related evidence is required. DASS registered students applying for the reasons above must provide a detailed explanation of how their disability is affecting their studies.
*Please Note: Evidence must be submitted digitally, if you are struggling to provide evidence in a digital format please get in touch with the team at sms.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk for support.
On submission of the form, you will receive an email providing confirmation that it has been received and some additional information.
Mitigating Circumstances for students who have been unsatisfactory in an assessment will be considered anonymously by the Mitigating Circumstances Panel and before the release of results, in line with the University Policy on Mitigating Circumstances. The panel will either accept the circumstances and void the attempt, or reject the circumstances and the student is deemed to have failed that assessment. The recommendation of the panel will be used by the Board of Examiners to confirm whether or not a student has a further attempt at the assessment or, when considering resit results, a student should be excluded from the programme due to failure at resit attempt.
When will I be advised of the outcome of my mitigating circumstances application?
Results and decisions will be published following the meeting of the Board of Examiners and students whose cases were considered will be written to. Under no circumstances will actual examination marks be changed.
Important Application and Evidence Deadlines – Dates to be confirmed
|
Year |
Assessment |
24-25 Date |
Deadline for MC Application |
Supporting document deadline |
MCP |
|
Year 1 |
Y1 Semester 1 Test |
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Year 1 |
Y1 Jan Progress Test |
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Year 1 |
Y1 PEP1 poster submission |
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Year 1 |
Y1 PEP1 abstract submission |
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Year 1 |
Y1 CCA Day 1 |
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Year 1 |
Y1 Semester 2 Test |
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Year 1 |
Y1 CCA Day 2 |
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Year 1 |
Y1 PEP Poster Presentation |
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Year 1 |
Y1 May Progress Test |
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Year 1 |
Y1 CCA Resit |
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Year 1 |
Y1 PEP1 resit submission |
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Year 1 |
Y1 Semester 2 Test Re-sit |
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Year 1 |
Y1 Semester 1 Test Re-sit |
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Year 2 |
Y2 Semester 3 Test |
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Year 2 |
Y2 CCA 1 |
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Year 2 |
Y2 Jan Progress Test |
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Year 2 |
Y2 PEP2 report submission |
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Year 2 |
Y2 PEP2 report submission for DASS students with automatic week extension |
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|
Year 2 |
Y2 Semester 4 Test |
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Year 2 |
Y2 CCA 2 |
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Year 2 |
Y2 May Progress Test |
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Year 2 |
Y2 CCA Resit |
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Year 2 |
Y2 PEP2 resit submission |
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Year 2 |
Y2 Semester 4 Test Re-sit |
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Year 2 |
Y2 Semester 3 Test Re-sit |
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|
Year 3 |
Y3 Jan Progress Test |
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Year 3 |
Y3 CCA |
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Year 3 |
Y3 May Progress Test |
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Year 3 |
Y3 May Progress Test – 50 extra questions |
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Year 3 |
Y3 APEP report submission |
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Year 3 |
Y3 APEP presentation final date |
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Year 3 |
Y3 APEP report marking deadline |
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Year 3 |
Y3 APEP DASS report marking deadline |
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Year 3 |
Y3 APEP moderation deadline |
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Year 3 |
Y3 Resit CCA |
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Year 3 |
Y3 APEP resit report submission |
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Year 3 |
Y3 APEP Resit report marking deadline |
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|
Year 3 |
Y3 APEP re-sit presentations |
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|
Year 4 |
Y4 Jan Progress Test |
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Year 4 |
Y4 Winter CCA |
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Year 4 |
Y4 May Progress Test |
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Year 4 |
Y4 May Progress Test – 50 extra questions |
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Year 4 |
Y4 Summer CCA |
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Year 4 |
Y4 Resit CCA |
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Year 5 |
Y5 CCA (Finals) |
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Year 5 |
Applied Knowledge Test 1 (Finals) |
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Year 5 |
Applied Knowledge Test 2 (Finals) |
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Year 5 |
Y5 QEPEP Submission block 5 |
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Year 5 |
Y5 QEPEP Submission block 6 |
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Year 5 |
Y5 QEPEP RE-Submission block 5 deadline |
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|
Year 5 |
Y5 Remediation block 7 |
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|
Year 5 |
Y5 QEPEP Re-submission block 6 deadline |
The following areas of the University can be contacted for support and advice relating to Mitigating Circumstances:
- The University Mental Health Support Team http://www.counsellingservice.manchester.ac.uk/
- Student Support and Advice – http://www.studentsupport.manchester.ac.uk/ (Student Support Hubs are available on campus; for details of these, students should contact their specific School or Faculty).
- Disability Advisory and Support Service – http://www.dso.manchester.ac.uk/
- Occupational Health Service – http://www.occhealth.manchester.ac.uk/
- Students’ Union Advice Service – http://manchesterstudentsunion.com/advice
- Students’ own programme or School office – please see the following for a list of School contacts – http://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/structure/facultiesschools/ and https://www.studentsupport.manchester.ac.uk/uni-servicesaz/school-support/ for a list of School Support Offices.
If you need any further assistance, please contact the relevant staff with queries as follows:
If you have a specific query relating to the Mitigating Circumstances process please contact sms.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk
If you have any additional support needs you would like to discuss, please contact the Student Pastoral Support (SPS) Team
See Contacts