Absence, special circumstances and extensions

If you find that special circumstances are affecting your studies, you should alert the School's Director of Teaching as soon as possible. You can do this directly, or through Student Services (theasc@st-andrews.ac.uk) or the School's Wellbeing Officers (panda_wellbeing@st-andrews.ac.uk). Please get in touch at the first sign of difficulties.

If, for any reason, you are unable to engage with part of a module, you should complete as soon as possible a Self-Certificate online. (See the University Student Handbook: Self-certification.)

Any illness or special circumstance that affects assessed work or compulsory activity (for example tutorial, lab work, class test) must be noted. If you are absent from a small-group teaching session please also inform the tutor or lab head in advance if possible. If you miss assessed work or a compulsory activity you should contact the module coordinator to determine what you should do to try to fill the learning or assessment objectives. You should be aware of and act upon the University's Academic alerts policy.

If you wish to request an extension for a piece of assessed (for credit) coursework, you should use the School's online extension request form. Note that this form is specific to Physics and Astronomy: if you wish to request an extension for a module in another school, then please use the form for that school. Extensions should always be requested in advance of the deadline, save in truly exceptional circumstances. Please see the University's policy on Extenuating circumstances for guidance on what does (and does not!) constitute an extenuating circumstance.

Absence from exams, which is a serious matter, due to illness or any other unavoidable reason should be reported by contacting the School and submitting a self-certificate as soon as possible. Ideally this should be completed before the exam time, and no later than three days after the exam. See the section on deferred exams in this handbook.

In some cases, for example of longer-term illness, the appropriate mechanism to assist the student is a leave of absence. See the University's student handbook: Leave of absence. This should be discussed with an adviser at Student Services, though the School's Director of Teaching can give some advice on the process and implications. See also the University’s policy on Leave of Absence, Re-engagement and Withdrawal.