Is handwriting an extenuating circumstance for Oxford.

Why wasn’t this picked up on before the exams? If your handwriting is illegible you could have asked for a word processor or even a scribe, then your marks might have been better. I dont think that your handwriting being messy is alone to count. Maybe if you had a condition diagnosed afterward or your school failed to put in place reasonable adjustments or something which had previously been agreed then yes but I doubt this counts. Have you got the papers remarked and asked that they decode your answers fully? I am not sure of this but wouldn’t an examiner try and work out what you wrote? Is it possible that your marks are just lower than expected regardless of whether your work could be read or not?

My handwritings always been pretty bad so mulitplied with rushing in the exam it became illegible (my teachers agree). I've never really considered using a word processor but my handwriting has definitely worsened over time.

I dont think Oxford will take this as extenuating circumstances, you would need evidence to back it up and proof that this is the reason for the poor grades and then they would probably just ask why you hadn’t sorted it sooner or asked for accommodations. I think its unluckily this is enough for them as as i said before examiners are experienced with poor handwriting so there is little evidence that this is the reason your grades were not as high as you hoped unless you have confirmation of this from your exam board- speculation from yourself and teachers doesn’t count as evidence. I hope you find a way to figure this out though.

Thank you for your advice. It's just I can look at the script (I have it after requesting a remark) and say it's not legible, and that's my own writing, if I can't read it the examiners got no chance. On top of this, in a poltics essay I got 8/30. I've never got this low in all of sixth form (I think I got 14/30 in my first ever essay). And I didn't think it was teribble when I did it I thought it was average.

That does sound very unfair ☹️ sorry to hear that that happened. I think if you resit definitely ask about having a word processor if possible and if you get better results with this you could put on your Oxford application that the first time your completed exams without an accommodation which is now allowed and allows you to demonstrate your aptitude and abilities in your subjects representative of your aptitude. This might be better grounds to ask for them to consider you than you resitting and saying the first time wasn’t my fault because my handwriting was rubbish on the day and so i resat and did better. Best of luck!

Thank you this is really helpful. So you think I should say I failed to put in place an accommodation?

I think you should say that you failed due to being unable to accurately represent your ability on the paper due to your handwriting (if you have any reason for this such as it worsening due to hands shaking or an injury or anything) and having recognised this you resat the exams with the appropriate accommodation to show your true abilities and so this improved your results

Can you type your A level papers instead? I know that some students at my school were allowed to use laptops due to handwriting