This is a description of special assessment arrangements that are considered ‘standard arrangements’, as per the LSHTM’s Special Assessment Arrangements Policy, and which apply to summative timed assessments ie. assessments which count towards the final grade. It is not an exhaustive list of special assessment arrangements that can be put in place for disabled students at the School.
Some of the special assessment arrangements listed below may not be relevant to you. Please refer to your Learning Support Agreement (LSA) for a list of the special assessment arrangements that will apply to your summative assessments.
Use of a computer
- Students who have been granted the use of a computer for an assessment can use either the computer or paper answer booklets, or a combination of both, to complete the assessment.
- When using the computer, students should start a new Word document for each question that they answer.
- Likewise for any questions answered in the answer booklets, students should use a separate answer booklet for each question.
- Students should clearly mark the question they are answering on the computer document and/or answer booklet.
- If students answer part of a question on the computer and then another part in a paper answer booklet it is advised that they make it clear and state “see answer booklet” to refer to the rest of the question.
- Instructions about saving documents on the computer will be given on the day but you need to remember to save your work regularly.
- An invigilator will collate the computer and paper answer booklets after the exam finishes.
Rest breaks
- Students who have rest break time allocated will have this time added in full to their assessment duration and their assessment end time will be adjusted accordingly (for example, students granted rest breaks of 10 minutes per hour will be allocated a total of 30 minutes for a 3-hour assessment. These 30 minutes will be added to their assessment duration, so if the assessment was originally scheduled to finish at 12:00, their adjusted end time will be 12:30).
- Students will be responsible for timing their own rest breaks within the overall time allocated for their assessment. Students will not be permitted a further extension to their adjusted end time due to taking too long a break(s).
- Rest break durations will not be monitored. Students can take these breaks in the assessment room, abiding by exam conditions, or use these breaks to leave the assessment room under supervision. If needed, students can use this time to write their assessments at a slower pace, taking short regular breaks.
- Students do not have to take their rest breaks, and the adjusted assessment end time will remain the same whether or not breaks are taken.
- To leave the room, you should raise your hand, wait for an invigilator to arrive, and inform them that you wish to take a break.
- Rest break time is calculated before any applicable additional time is added eg. if a student has rest breaks and 25% additional time, the rest break time is calculated before the additional time is added.
Additional time
- Additional time is granted to allow students extra time to complete the assessment.
- If students need to use the toilet then this time will come out of the overall assessment time, as with any other student.
- Students do not have to use the entire amount of additional time, but the adjusted assessment end time will remain the same. Students may be able to leave the assessment room earlier than the adjusted end time at the invigilator’s discretion, so not to disrupt other remaining students.
Food and drink
- All students are permitted to bring water into the assessment room.
- Students who are permitted to bring in food and drink as part of their special arrangements should ensure that they do not bring in anything that will be a distraction to other students, eg. food in noisy wrappers / food which is noisy to eat. It is advisable to bring unwrapped food in a clear plastic bag and drinks in clear unlabelled plastic bottles.
Medication
- All students are permitted to take unboxed tablets (eg. Paracetamol, Ibuprofen) into the assessment room.
- Students should remove the medication from any cardboard packaging and place it in a clear plastic bag.
- Students with any other medication requirements (eg. insulin injections, blood testing kit, eye drops, etc.) will need to have this recorded as a special arrangement via a Learning Support Agreement (LSA).