What can I do in Case of Illness or Misadventure?

Do you feel sick the night before the English paper? Is it ten minutes to your Maths exam and your train has been cancelled?

Do not worry! The Board of Studies has put systems in place to make sure that being sick on the day of an assessment task or exam will not affect your final results or ATAR. In this article, I am going to run you through some of the most common scenarios, involving illness or misadventure, and take you through what you need to do to secure your marks.

Assessment Tasks and Trial Exams

As these are internally organised at your school, the system may vary slightly.

I have an English in-class Assessment tomorrow and I am too sick to go to school. What do I do?

1. Email your student advisor/director of studies/year group leader informing them that you are too ill to attend your assessment.
2. Call your GP/Doctor’s office and book an appointment for the day of the assessment task.
3. Call your school receptionist/absentee line on the day of the assessment, reiterating what you wrote in the email.
4. Attend your doctor’s appointment, and obtain a Medical Certificate, corroborating that you are too sick to go to school.
5. Scan the doctor’s certificate to your advisor/director of studies/year group leader.
6. Rest up!
7. Email your teachers asking them for any work that you will miss during the course of your absence.
8. Go to school when you feel better.

I have contracted tonsillitis, and won’t be at school for the next three weeks! What do I do?

1. Email your director of studies/student advisor telling them the situation.
2. Organise a doctor’s appointment.
3. Get a medical certificate which allows you to have the amount of time off school that you need to get better.
4. Email your teachers, informing them that you are too sick to be at school. If you are well enough to do work from home, ask for your teachers to send you any class work. If you are not well enough to study at home, let your teachers know that you will need help catching up upon your return.
5. Rest and recuperate.
6. Ask your school to reschedule any assessment tasks or hand-in task dates.

I have experienced long-term educational disadvantage. What do I do?

Educational disadvantage is considered to be any circumstance which you have experience in year 12, or the years leading up to year 12, which has hindered your ability to perform to your best. This may include a chronic illness, a learning disability, a difficult family situation, a mental illness or a drastic change in lifestyle.

Most of UAC’s participating institutions have Educational Access Schemes (EAS) to help students who have experienced long-term educational disadvantage gain admission to tertiary study. To be eligible for EAS consideration your educational performance must have been seriously affected, normally for a period of at least six months during Year 11 and/or 12 or equivalent, due to circumstances beyond your control and choosing.

To get more information on how you can apply for bonus point consideration, click here.

My train has been canceled and I am going to be 20 minutes late for my assessment. What do I do?

1. Call your school informing them of the situation. They will let you complete the assessment because you were not able to control the situation. If you were simply late because you slept in, it was a scenario you could have controlled, and you will not be able to complete the assessment with the full amount of time. You will most like only have the remaining time from when you arrive at the exam room.
2. Be sure to check train timetables.

Someone bullied me/wronged me/other which led to an anxiety attack, right before my assessment task. What do I do?

1. Do the assessment task, if you can.
2. Find your school counselor.
3. Have a session and try to subdue the attack.
4. Get the counselor to fill out a misadventure form, which states that you were unable to complete the assessment to the best of your ability. This form will go to the marker of the assessment. If you perform well below your average for that subject, the marker will adjust your mark to an estimated result. 

HSC Final Exams

I get a chronic illness and cannot sit any of my exams. What happens?

1. Go to your doctor and get a diagnosis, a medical certificate and an estimation of how long you will be sick.
2. Inform your school of the results.
3. Ask your student advisor for the Board of Studies Illness/Misadventure paperwork.
4. Book a doctors appointment for every exam day that you are sick. Your doctor needs to examine you and write a report for every exam day that you are sick. These documents need to be meticulously filled out to ensure that they are approved. The more information, the better.
5. Rest. Do not even think about studying until you feel well enough to do so.

Your Results: For every exam you do not sit, the Board of Studies will use your internal mark as a reference. This will replace you exam mark. Your ATAR will be calculated using this result.

A fire alarm goes off during my exam. What happens?

1. Follow the instructions of the exam supervisors.
2. Complete the exam as usual.
3. Approach the student advisor at the end of the exam, and ask them if they are able to fill out a group misadventure form for all of the students completing the exam when the distraction occurred.

Your Results: If a group misadventure goes in, the Board of Studies will observe the assessment mark of each student in comparison to the exam result of each student. If there is a disparity, the marks will be adjusted accordingly.

I get sick in the middle of an exam, and cannot finish. What happens?

1. Notify the exam supervisor that you are too ill to finish. They will escort you out.
2. Go to your doctor on the same day and get a Medical Certificate.
3. Fill out an illness form.

Your Results: The Board of Studies will use your internal mark as a reference. This will replace you exam mark. Your ATAR will be calculated using this result.

If anything is unclear, click here for more information.

Good Luck!