Left A-Level exam early due to Crohn's flare up

Hi everyone, I was just looking for some advice. I sat my A-Level English Paper 2 exam yesterday. Unfortunately I had to leave my exam early. I have Crohn's disease which flares up every now and again, and unfortunately it flared up during the exam. Would anyone be able to advise on what happens now?? I haven't had a chance to talk to my college teachers about it yet and I am getting worried. Would I have to take the component again??? And does what I did complete get marked and adjusted. I hold an offer at Oxford and I am really worried that this could have put it in jeopardy. If anyone has gone through this in previous exam sittings at all, I would be so grateful for any advice. Thank you!!

Hi everyone, I was just looking for some advice. I sat my A-Level English Paper 2 exam yesterday. Unfortunately I had to leave my exam early. I have Crohn's disease which flares up every now and again, and unfortunately it flared up during the exam. Would anyone be able to advise on what happens now?? I haven't had a chance to talk to my college teachers about it yet and I am getting worried. Would I have to take the component again??? And does what I did complete get marked and adjusted. I hold an offer at Oxford and I am really worried that this could have put it in jeopardy. If anyone has gone through this in previous exam sittings at all, I would be so grateful for any advice. Thank you!!

You need to talk to the Examinations Officers at your college as soon as possible. There are procedures (detailed here) which you school (not you) can follow to make the examination board aware of what's happened and request "special consideration".

There are two main types of special consideration. For "candidates who are present for the assessment but disadvantaged" they can add a few percent to your mark (up to 5% max). For "candidates who are absent from a timetabled component/unit for acceptable reasons" then can calculate a grade based upon the other papers.

Your situation seems to fall inconveniently between the two - your college's exams officer should know the best course of action to take. This may depend on whether you had to leave fairly soon after the exam had begun, or when it was almost over - I really don't know.

Hey, you need to ask your teachers (or exam department / learning support) to file for extenuating circumstances for your exam. I have medical problems too and my teachers are doing this for me because I have been struggling very very (very) badly. Also, I have an offer from Oxford too and was sent an email with a form (from my college) to fill in regarding extenuating circumstances for the exams just gone. Did you not get one? I am not sure if it differs between colleges or if it depends on whether you have signed up with the DAS at Oxford. I hope this helps you at least a little bit. Health comes first <3

Thank you ! I have informed my college exam department of the situation and they will be filing but we haven't had a proper chance to discuss what will happen as I haven't spoken to anyone in person or had a proper chat about it. I have signed up with the DAS, but no no form received for me :/. But yes, you are probably right, could depend on colleges and also this only happened yesterday (Thursday 8th) and was the first exam in which something like this happened so might receive something shortly. I know and I agree - everyone tells me health comes first and university/degrees can come later if needed, but I worked SO hard to get into Oxford and to maintain my grades. I am not a naturally super smart person and to get consistent As and A*s I have had to put so much work in, as well as all the Oxford admissions processes which took so much out of me with my condition on the side as well. To lose it all now because of something out of my control would be beyond devastating. The worst thing is that I don't even know how good the quality of my work even was even if they do mark it - just scared that everything I have worked so hard for has messed up now

You're completely right with what you're saying and how you feel is completely valid! I didn't mean to upset you or anything by saying that - so i apologise if that annoyed you. Getting an offer is immensely amazing and a huge achievement in itself. I've been feeling the same way, thinking that it would be such a missed opportunity if I don't end up getting the right grades and almost an embarrassment to myself and people that have faith in me getting in? Sorry it's not the place for me to talk about that but I just hope you know you're not alone. Try not to get too frustrated with yourself, getting an offer is amazing but you not only did that; you did so whilst dealing with a difficult medical issue. As time passes, if you feel continually stressed or worried about it then I would say email your college directly- perhaps the department email or the colleges email that they have been contacting you from (admissions) and let them know and ask if there's anything that could be put in place incase this negatively affects your grades? It's better to try than to not know what the outcome could be. They might need an additional letter from someone in your college to confirm what happened. They're surprisingly understanding, in my experience at least. Can I ask what your offer was for? (subject or college)

No no don't worry at all - you didn't upset me everything you said is correct. At the end of the day, it is what it is and if I'm not meant to go to university this year then I can't do anything about that. It's nice to hear that I'm not alone! I think the scary thing is I don't even know what is going to happen - there's little to no provision online about leaving an exam early - only things written for completing the entire exam at a disadvantage, and missing the exam entirely. I hear you - after everything I have been through to get into a uni like this especially with my condition, it would be so beyond horrible if it all came crashing down now. My college said they will email my Oxford college after my A-Levels with what has gone on, but I am more worried about the exam boards. From my experience Oxford have been quite understanding with my disease, however, they don't tend to take many people who miss their grades from what I have seen (which I would expect to be fair). My offer is for English Language and Literature, how about you!

Everything you've said is completely valid. I am wishing you all the best and hope that it all falls into place how it should. That is great your college will email them and that they've been understanding. They have been for my problems too and it's nice to see! Also how crazy - I am for the same subject! It would be so cool if there was some way we could connect on social media, without of course exposing our details to the whole or TSR. I am new here so not sure if there is a private messaging function?