Do you think extra time in exams is fair?

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There are people with autism on this thread who believe autism is not enough of a reason to have extra time. Therefore if they know so much according to you, are you gonna accept what they say? That's the problem with using appeal to authority arguments like the one you just used.

It's the handwriting speed one that is really open to abuse. I don't know enough about the others to know.


It's the cliff edge nature of the nothing/25% that seems odd. (There are also arrangements that allow 50% extra time and more, but the vast majority are on 25%). I appreciate it's probably there to make it easy to administer but it's not very logical.

Assessments for access arrangements test a range of stuff, all of which are taken to be equally important. The results are standardised at 100 and if you score less than 85 on a test that is the trigger for getting extra time. I have seen some assessments that tested so many things I suspect anyone taking them all would land up scoring under 85 in something. At the moment you score 84 in one thing and everything else is well over 100 and you get 25% extra time. Score everything under 100 but nothing below 85 and you probably get nothing. I'm not saying a fairer system would be easy to devise, just that the current one isn't very logical or fair.

I got rest breaks during my A2s due to that I was very ill; I still have the option to take rest breaks now at university. But after having done my GCSEs and AS Levels with no rest breaks/extra time, my grades did not improve at A2 when I had rest breaks.

It's a spectrum. Some people with Autism cope perfectly well without extra time. Others do need extra time in order to complete the exam to the best of their ability.

It's completely different to Dyslexia. It has nothing to do with joining words together. The problem for me is how I understand language. You can't for example, use metaphors with me because they make no sense at all. I've usually got to read some things several times before they actually make any sense at all.

I don't know what you mean by having a slow brain, but how would a foundation paper change that? By slower, I presume you mean longer to understand and interpret things, which definitely sounds like some sort of condition/learning disability, particularly if it's been an issue for a long time. In that case, you'd be rewarded extra time, not necessarily an easier paper. It would be slightly unfair to make them do a lower tier paper, because they may well be capable of an A grade, but you're capping them at a C because they have a condition.

The difficulties that people suffer with are not black and white. They may suffer from the same disability, but it can affect each person differently. You can't seem to understand that a disability/condition/illness can affect each person differently! For instance, person A with dyslexia may have no problem interpreting a question but may require someone to read for them.
Person B with dyslexia may have no trouble reading a question but may need someone to interpret for them.
Both are entitled to extra time.

Yes that it what I mean. It may sound like a learning disability but it doesn't have to be. You could literally just be less capable, hence in a lower grade. Exams are meant to test understanding and interpretation which you won't admit for some reason but is sooo obvious it is black and white.

If you're slower and are struggling to understand because you have a disability then extra time should be rewarded.
If you're slower and struggling to understand because you did not prepare/revise then extra time should not be rewarded.

No, you said that being slower to interpret things does not equal a disability, when in fact, it's a common symptom of dyslexia..

No, it's completely unfair. That's not even counting the thousands of people who are perfectly capable but get extra time!

The average writing speed for a 16 year old is taken as 16.9 wpm.

Extra time for slow handwriting is only meant to be given for students not able to use a word processor.

Literally your 2nd paragraph is what you said in the 1st. We agree /discussion

It's unfair having autism or dyslexia.

life's not fair mate

You're right, so you should stop complaining about people getting extra time and just get on with it.

but extra time isn't the 'life' part of it... my main problem isn't with the disabled people who have it, it's with the very large proportion of people who have no reason to have it, yet are still given extra time.

How do you know they have no reason to have it?

Last month one of my mates in an a level maths class said when he does practice papers he usually runs out of time as a general comment. The teacher said do you usually run out of time, and he said yes. The teacher then said he would get him extra time.

He's clever, doesn't write slowly and has no sort of condition. I think he declined the offer, but why should he and others be given extra time?

Doesn't mean he will get extra time