Key Words for Extenuating Circumstances Form?

Generally what you need to do on these sorts of forms is stress how your studies have been affected. You don't need to go into detail about what's causing you to fall behind, but rather what your academic difficulties actually entail. Go into specifics about how much you've been able to revise, whether you've been able to concentrate, how the lack of energy has affected you etc

I have no idea, never experienced anything like that in life but your story really touched me, stay strong, stay prayed up, i hope things get better... ❤️✊🏽

like maybe explain that you are taking the antidepressants and explain how your home ‘environment’ is disturbed due to other family members who have ‘violent and aggressive episodes’ .. really not else sure about what else to say..

That really helps, focus on impact. It's just so difficult because I have a really complex family health background (stuff I haven't even included in my original post), so I find it really tricky to sort the irrelevant from the backstory.
I'll see if I can bullet point it out. 👍

Have you checked the form for any advice? This is a really important matter so I don't want to tell you the wrong thing, but yes in my experience the people who review EC forms are far more interested in the impact than the backstory

It's a pretty vague part of the form, it says "Nature of EC" and then elaborates "Please explain what has happened and how it has affected your assessment" but the box is less than a third of A4 page, so there's just no way I can explain everything that "has happened" as they put it. But focussing on impacts more would make sense.

I also don't know whether my brother's disruption should be emphasised more or less than my own depression? My family live in the same city as my uni and my gp told me I had to live at home while on medication but that means my brother and I are both at home, but equally I'm at risk (have difficulty with selfcare and isolation) in halls so... Rock and a hard place. I guess I'm rambling a bit at this point, it's just a really tricky thing to explain!

Yeah it is really difficult to work out to how communicate everything effectively, and it sounds like you have an awful lot that has happened. Is there someone in student support or counselling at your uni that you could speak to about this? They're on your side and will be able to advise you how to fill out to form to make the best case for yourself.

............

How about something like


I have a complex family health background, which creates empathy but little ability for my family to offer practical support or respite. In February I had a depressive episode. I was asked if I wanted to interrupt my studies, but declined, and I was offered medication by the University psychiatrist which i also declined. On reflection, these were perhaps not the best decisions, but they reflected my feelings at the time. I accepted the offer of CBT, but the course only began 2 weeks ago, and I have only had one session to date, so I have not yet, gained any measurable benefit. I am also, now taking medication, but I am currently finding the side-effects quite significant. They do not completely stop the low moods, but they give me considerable fatigue and memory issues. These fluctuate greatly from day to day, which I find very difficult to prepare and plan for.

Meanwhile, I am very worried about my younger brother, who has quite serious mental health problems significant enough to keep him off school through is GCSE year. I worry greatly about his well being and his future qualifications and life options.

I am now struggling to work out whether it would be better to complete the year, even if with lower grades than my potential, but risk a capped resit or withdraw. I still have a strong desire to complete my exams as normal, because I hope the combination of medication and CBT will have begun to have a positive effect by September. My challenge is keeping that optimistic mood going, through the low days, the tiredness, the lack of concentration and memory issues I seem to have currently.

Thank you! I feel like I may have to cut it down a bit more than that to fit it on the form, but that's p much on the nose! What I've requested is that if I am required to resit a module that it not be capped at 40% (I read the whole conditions booklet on ECs and it seems this is something that is possible).

Thank you so much this honestly helps so much!