Access plans – Exam or end-of-unit assessment (EoUA) adjustments

Your examination or EoUA adjustments are listed in the Exam or EoUA adjustments section of your access plan. Please make sure you are familiar with your adjustments.

• It can take up to one week from the release of the exam timetable to update all Disability Resource Centre registered students’ exam or EoUA schedules. Please wait one week after the release of the examination timetable before contacting us.
• You will receive confirmation of the additional time that will be allocated to your exam each study period – this will be sent to your Deakin student email.
• If your plan is activated after Week 8 you will not receive confirmation – your Disability Liaison Officer will advise if your exam or EoUA can be implemented.
• You’re strongly advised to check your exam EoUA  platform (drop-box/quiz tool) 24 hours before the scheduled start time. If your additional time has not been applied, please contact us.
• If there is an irregularity in your exam adjustment confirmation email, please first check the format of your exam (see 'Format' section below)

• Please make an appointment with your Disability Liaison Officer before Week 10 of the study period.
• Additional medical documentation may be required to alter existing examination arrangements.
• Requests for substantial adjustments or alternative assessment requests will require approval from your faculty to ensure accreditation requirements of the unit/course can be met.

• An explanation of end-of-unit assessment and exam formats can be found on the Understanding End of Unit Assessments and Examinations webpage.
• Your unit site will contain information about your assessment. Brief information may be in your unit guide at the start of the study period, and further information may be added throughout the study period.
• Make sure you check your unit site carefully including the ‘announcements’ section and the ‘assessments’ information (under your content tab).

• Please check your unit site to confirm if your exam is campus based or online. If unsure, check with your teaching staff.
• Some exams are held on campus but conducted on a computer (e.g some Medicine exams).
• Make sure you know where you need to be at least 2 weeks before the examination period commences.

• StudentConnect does not show individual additional time adjustments.
• StudentConnect will show the date of your exam, your exam release time and the expected duration of your exam.
• Where required, your faculty will add additional time to your exam in CloudDeakin prior to commencement of your exam.
• Additional time is not added to EoUAs that do not have enforced time limits e.g. Start at any time and finish any time within a scheduled 24-hour window.

All students should be familiar with the information on the exam locations webpage.

You should also check your exam format to clarify if there will be an alteration to your exam schedule.

Flexible conditions may mean some ‘exam adjustments’ are not required and you can manage your own schedule e.g., no 9am exam as you can start your exam at any time in a 24-hour window as long as you can complete your paper by the scheduled closing time.

• Regardless of whether you have an access plan or not, you should apply for special consideration if you cannot sit or complete an exam.
• An access plan is not sufficient evidence of not being able to sit or complete an exam as scheduled. All students are notified of their examination timetable weeks in advance of the examination period and are expected to make arrangements so that they can be available to sit as scheduled.
• A special consideration application will need to convey the severity of health or other issues and confirm an inability to sit an exam on its scheduled day. Medical documentation confirming circumstances and your ability to sit on the scheduled examination day will be required.

• If you require assistive technology in examinations or EoUA you must have discussed this technology with your Disability Liaison Officer and have it included as an adjustment in your access plan.
• Not all technology will work with University assessment platforms so, it is essential that you use the 'try it out' exam prior to your live exam each study period.

Read more information under how to prepare for your exam

This information is only relevant if you have approved additional time as an ‘exam’ adjustment or ‘exam or end-of-unit assessment’ adjustment in your access plan prepared with the Disability Resource Centre (DRC). Further information about the DRC can be found on our Disability support webpage.

All students should be familiar with the information on the Supervised online exams webpage. Rest breaks are specifically addressed in the ‘exam rules’ and ‘during the exam’ sections.

Rest breaks should be kept to a minimum (under 5 minutes) wherever possible, especially in closed book exams. For many students, a short toilet break/s and time to stretch will be sufficient to manage health during the exam. We do understand that for some students there may be a need to have a longer rest break to manage health/personal needs.

You should be aware of the following:

• If you require a rest break you must announce to your webcam that you are having a break.
• If you can and wherever possible, take your break in view of the camera e.g. stretching, having a snack etc.
• Be aware that a longer break may mean you need to log back into your exam.
• Supervised online exams look for anomalies in the recording, e.g. an extended break, the presence of another person. It is essential that if you require extended breaks and/or the presence of a support worker that this is noted in the exam adjustments section of your access plan. You must carefully check your access plan. If updates are needed, you must make contact with your Disability Liaison Officer before Week 10 of the study period.
• The presence of another person in an exam is generally not permitted, unless prior permission is provided via an access plan. A support worker must be deemed essential for you to be able to undertake the exam.  Support workers must not provide any support in identifying responses. Conversations are recorded and academic breaches are taken seriously. Support workers should be aware they will be recorded.
• If you have carer responsibilities you are advised to make alternative arrangements for caring responsibilities. We understand this can be difficult to arrange however, the exam timetable is published well in advance of the examination period to enable care arrangements to be made.

• You should be aware that taking rest breaks later in your exam may impact your capacity to log back in and submit.
• You should be aware of the timer on your screen.
• You are encouraged to make sure you have time to review your exam and submit prior to your exam window closing.
• You are encouraged not to take a break in the final 10 minutes of your exam to ensure you can finalise and submit their paper in a timely way.
• Once the exam is timed out, you cannot log back in.

• All anomalies are reported to the examination team for possible academic integrity breaches.
• The examination team are aware of exam adjustments that are in place for DRC registered students. If anomalies ‘fit’ with your access plan, it is likely no further action will be taken.
• Your Disability Liaison Officer may be consulted for advice.
• Anomalies that require further investigation will follow standard University academic integrity processes.

• Read the ‘how to prepare' section on the Supervised online exams webpage and follow the advice.
• Consider the format of your exam – are there multiple-choice questions? How many sections are there?  If you have extended responses, how many can you reasonably do before you require a break?
• It can be better to manage pain/fatigue with regular short breaks to move and stretch. Consider what works best for you and plan your time.
• Information about your examination format and other essential examination information will be available on your unit sites.
• As a student, you have a responsibility to make sure you regularly check information on individual unit sites.

• If you have technical difficulties during your exam, there will be IT support staff available.
• You can contact IT support via the online request form or by phone on 1800 463 888 (+61 3 5227 8888 if calling from overseas).
• If your examination was severely impacted due to technical difficulties, you should apply for special consideration to explain your circumstances. Evidence of the difficulties experienced will be required and an IT ticket can help confirm the events you experienced in your exam.