Deadline Extensions and Deferred Testing

Assignment Extensions

Students may experience episodic health challenges, learning challenges, religious observances, family responsibilities, and/or other matters making it difficult to submit assignments on the due date. While students are encouraged to make extension requests with advanced notice, this will not always be possible.

Extensions support students by providing an additional 72 hours to submit an assignment without a late penalty, in recognition of the student’s circumstances. There may be cases when 72 hours isn’t sufficient (alternatively, not possible). This timeline should be used as a guide and not an absolute.

A longer extension may be required if:

• A student is experiencing (or has recently experienced) significant illness including hospitalization 
• A student has significant family responsibilities

A shorter extension may be more appropriate if:

• The extension will have a cascading effect, resulting in the need for additional extensions (e.g., daily assignments as part of an experiential learning course)
• The extension will go beyond the last day of class

*The above are examples only. There may be additional instances not listed which require consultation. Please contact the Student Accessibility Centre for further discussion/questions.

Testing Deferrals

Students may experience episodic health challenges, learning challenges, religious observances, family responsibilities, and/or other matters making it difficult to write an exam on the scheduled date. While students are encouraged to inform their professor with advanced notice, this will not always be possible.

Testing deferrals support students by providing an alternate date for a quiz/test/exam. The student should consult with the professor to determine an alternate date, which may include a make-up exam date if that is already being planned by the course professor.

Faculty support
 

With a deferred quiz/test/exam, you may already have a rewrite date scheduled in your syllabus. If the student has other testing accommodations, the Centre requires your approval of a rewrite date to schedule the student in. If the student does not have testing accommodations, you can schedule a date/time and location to write with the student directly.

In the rare occasion a deferral is not reasonable, alternative options may be provided where appropriate such as:

• Adding the weight of the assessment to the final exam
• Reweighting remaining assignments
• Allowing the student to make up the percentage of the exam by submitting an additional paper, project, or report instead
• Dropping assessments with low impact/low percentage (e.g., the lowest 2 of 5 grades)

The above list is not comprehensive, please feel free to contact the student’s advisor to discuss other options.
 

Testing Deferrals for Faculty of Engineering

Even with an approved accommodation of Testing Deferrals, Engineering students must adhere to the Faculty of Engineering Student Absence Reporting process. Students are to submit a request for deferral of any assessment by completing the Missed Course Work or Assessment Form.

Testing Deferrals for Faculty of Law

Per the Faculty of Law:

“Where it can be established that, for medical or personal reasons, a student's ability to pursue a class or to write an examination or complete an assignment for credit is significantly hampered, the Faculty may allow the student to write a special examination or complete a special assignment”

Special examinations are held in July.

Where a Special is granted in a paper course, a deadline is set by the Studies Committee and this deadline would be no later than the end of the Special examination period in July.

If you have any questions about extensions or deferrals, please contact access@dal.ca.