Exam arrangements for moderately autistic student

Hello, I am an undergrad student at a Russell group university. I have diagnosed moderate autism and extreme anxiety. We have been told exams will be normal length + 1 hour submission time, and online. I have 25% extra time, but it really won't be enough for the following reasons:

When I solve the problems, I do rough work first (which is only understandable to me - it's literally scribbles on a page), then I need to convert this into plain English pretty much, and due to my poor handwriting I need to write it out again basically, which takes an immense amount of time.

I have serious anxiety regarding time pressured exams, and I end up not being able to concentrate on the task. Furthermore due to my condition I sometimes have really bad days which can give an unrepresentative picture of my ability.

Didn't matter this year as exams were 24h - but given this sudden change I don't think Ill be able to cope. I have a doctors letter to say I should be entirely graded on coursework, but is this realistic? If not, what would I likely be able to get in terms of access arrangements? Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

DecoyFerret

What do you study? How did you made it trough previous exams?

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

Original post by DecoyFerret

What do you study? How did you made it trough previous exams?

Maths, and to be honest I haven't really. My A levels were cancelled so I didn't have to go through those. My grades this year were high, and its pretty much because I get the solutions right, but I need a lot of time to ensure they're understandable to others given the way my brain works

Reply 3

Pathway

Apply for DSA and link in with your university's student support department.

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

Original post by Pathway

Apply for DSA and link in with your university's student support department.

I have a dsa already and exams didn't really come up in my needs assessment - how would I arrange an appointment?

Reply 5

DecoyFerret

Original post by Anonymous

Talk to your program manager, try to negotiate some sort arrangement, like, long form projects covering all topics as an alternative. Detailed Kaggle competition from scratch or something like that. But you have to talk to them as soon as possible. Ideally tomorrow. This might have to go trough uni exam panel or something similar. You also need proper papers from a doctor with diagnosis, like ASD-1 plus social anxiety etc.

Reply 6

Muttley79

Original post by Anonymous

I have a dsa already and exams didn't really come up in my needs assessment - how would I arrange an appointment?

That's surprising - you probably need rest breaks and a smaller room - that's standrad where I teach for students with that diagnosis. What happened at GCSE?

Reply 7

Pathway

Original post by Anonymous

I have a dsa already and exams didn't really come up in my needs assessment - how would I arrange an appointment?

It should have during your needs assessment. Ask for another one and ask for them to assess your needs specifically for exams.

Reply 8

Anonymous #1

Original post by Muttley79

That's surprising - you probably need rest breaks and a smaller room - that's standrad where I teach for students with that diagnosis. What happened at GCSE?

At GCSE I was undiagnosed and so didn't get any access arrangements. I didn't do nearly as well as school predicted

Reply 9

Anonymous #1

Original post by DecoyFerret

That's a really good idea, thanks!

Reply 10

Interea

Original post by Anonymous

I have a dsa already and exams didn't really come up in my needs assessment - how would I arrange an appointment?

Exam arrangements are usually discussed in more detail with university disability advisors, so maybe set up an appointment with them ASAP through your university's systems (it'll be much quicker than going through DSA if it's something the uni can implement internally, and at least gets the process started).

Reply 11

Anonymous #1

Original post by Interea

I've arranged an appointment but I wonder if they'll just refuse the request Ive asked for, even though I have a GP letter of support and proof of diagnoses etc.

Reply 12

Muttley79

Original post by Anonymous

At GCSE I was undiagnosed and so didn't get any access arrangements. I didn't do nearly as well as school predicted

Oh, so quite late - your DSA support needs extending so go to student support asap and discuss this.

Reply 13

Interea

Original post by Anonymous

I've arranged an appointment but I wonder if they'll just refuse the request Ive asked for, even though I have a GP letter of support and proof of diagnoses etc.

They can generally get a lot done with what you've got, but if (for whatever reason) they need any more I'm sure they'll help guide you into how to get that :smile:

They won't just flat out refuse you if they can't do exactly what you think would work best, they'll work with you to find alternatives that they can provide.

If you can't get switched to pure coursework, I just wanted to mention that along with all the standard exam arrangements they can offer (25/50% extra time, rest breaks, individual room, maybe a scribe etc.), my old uni gave me permission to choose to defer any exams to the resit period if I needed to - that might be something to ask about to mitigate the impact of those worst days/an overwhelming exam timetable with no time to recover.

Reply 14

Anonymous #1

Original post by Interea

They can generally get a lot done with what you've got, but if (for whatever reason) they need any more I'm sure they'll help guide you into how to get that :smile:

Thanks

having looked at my uni's access arrangements, it looks like they do extra time and stuff like that (but I've no idea how much that is) but no mention of an alternative mode of assessment. I've no clue what they'll do