An approved deferral allows you to postpone an attempt at an assessment to the next appropriate opportunity without being marked as absent. 

It is important to note the following:

• A deferral is not a right. Permission to defer will only be given where you have provided a completed deferral form, and have sufficiently demonstrated your inability to complete an assessment due to mitigating circumstances. Supporting evidence must be relevant and proximate to the period of assessment. You must ensure the evidence you provide satisfies the School's Standards of Evidence.
• Your completed deferral form and evidence must be submitted to the SSC in good time and at least 24 hours prior to either the start time of a centrally organised exam or at least 24 hours prior to any other assessment deadline (which can include an agreed extension) to be considered.
• If you submit your deferral request within 48 hours of an exam start time/assessment deadline, we cannot guarantee it will be processed before the assessment deadline. If you choose not to sit the exam/submit the assessment and your deferral request is rejected you will receive a Zero Absent (0AB) mark.
• You must submit your deferral request no later than 24 hours before an exam start time or assessment deadline (which can include an agreed extension). Requests received after this time cannot be considered. 
• It will take at least two working days from the day after you submit your deferral form and evidence for the SSC to consider and process your deferral appropriately. The outcome of your deferral request will be sent to the email address you submitted your form with. 
• You may request to defer any assessment appropriate to your individual circumstance. You must list each component of assessment you are seeking to defer on the deferral form. 
• If you do not request to defer all components of assessment within a course, you will be expected to attempt and complete all non-deferred components in accordance with published deadlines.
• When submitting your deferral request, you should demonstrate that you have attempted to mitigate against any foreseen circumstances that would prevent you from engaging with an assessment  (e.g. requesting an extension). 
• If you do not have an approved deferral, and you do not submit an assessment or sit an exam, you will be marked as absent. Please see the Exceptional Circumstances Guidance for further information on what to do if an assessment has taken place.
• You should refer to the Repeat Teaching webpages if your deferral is approved and you wish to apply for repeat teaching.
• If you have a deferral approved, and attempt the assessment anyway, your deferral request will stand and any mark you achieve in that assessment will be void. 
• If you have a query about the deferral process, please refer to the Student Guidance for Deferrals for support in the first instance.
• Please note, this section is for "Taught Students" only. Any research (i.e. PhD) students must refer to the Research Students Deferral Procedure below for guidance.

Research students are subject to a slightly different process than taught students. It is important to note the following:

• A deferral is not a right. Permission to defer will only be given where you have provided a completed deferral form, and have sufficiently demonstrated your inability to complete an assessment due to mitigating circumstances. Supporting evidence must be relevant and proximate to the period of assessment. You must ensure the evidence you provide satisfies the School's Standards of Evidence.
• Your completed deferral form and evidence must be submitted to your home Department in good time and at least 24 hours prior to either the start time of a centrally organised exam or at least 24 hours prior to any other assessment deadline (which can include an agreed extension) to be considered. Should your department approve your deferral, please return the completed deferral form to the PhD Academy for processing.
• When submitting your deferral request, you should demonstrate that you have attempted to mitigate against any foreseen circumstances that would prevent you from engaging with an assessment  (e.g. requesting an extension).
• If you have a query about the deferral process, please seek advice from your home department in the first instance.

The School has a “fit to sit” policy that applies to all students. If you submit an assessment or sit an exam, the School considers you have declared yourself fit enough to do so.

Therefore if you know you are unwell or not fit to attempt an assessment in advance of the due date, you should seriously consider making a deferral request. Where you subsequently proceed to attempt the assessment, feel you have underperformed and submit Exceptional Circumstances, the Exam Boards are entitled to take in to account that you have declared yourself fit to sit. 

A deferral request must be submitted no later than 24 hours prior to an assessment taking place. If this deadline has passed you should refer to the School's webpage for Exceptional Circumstances and the Student Guidance for Exceptional Circumstances.

If you are considering requesting to defer multiple assessments, please bear in mind that if these assessments will be due during the undergraduate or postgraduate in year resit periods, then it is likely all exams/assessments will be due within a one week or seven day period. Therefore, you should carefully consider the number of exams/assessments you are seeking to defer.

You may normally only request to defer an assessment once. This rule only applies to assessments due for submission in the 2023/24 academic year and future academic years. This means if you have deferred assessments into the 2023/24 academic year you may still apply to defer them again on one more occasion.

You can receive support with sitting exams and submitting assessments in the following ways:

• For non-exam formats of assessment such as coursework, essays, dissertation etc, you should consider if an extension is more appropriate for your circumstances. For further information about extensions, please review the School's Extension Policy webpage and the Student Guidance for Extensions.
• In some cases, if you have a documented medical, physical or mental health condition and/or a Specific Learning Difficulty such as dyslexia or dyspraxia you may be entitled to Central Exam Adjustments (CEAs) to assist you with your exams. Please review the following CEA webpage and “Deadlines for applying for CEAs” section below for further information about the types of adjustments that might be available and how to apply for CEAs.  

You should submit your deferral request in good time to ensure you are informed of the decision before the assessment takes place. As noted above, it will take at least two working days from the day you submit your deferral form and evidence to confirm the outcome of your request. 

For all assessments you should request a deferral no later than 24 hours in advance of either the exam start time or submission deadline (which can include an agreed extended deadline). Requests received outside of this criteria will not be considered. 

For non exams, if you require more time to submit the work as a result of your circumstances, you should consider if an extension request might be appropriate. Please see the Extension Policy webpage for further guidance.If you are not fit enough to complete the work even with an extension you should seek advice from your home Department or advice about your options from the Student Advice and Engagement Team.

When entering a title for your enquiry, please ensure that you enter your assessment code and deadline. Thus the format should look like "DF101 - 31.10.23".

Please review the Student Guidance on Deferrals for additional information and support. 

Please submit your request in good time and more than 24 hours prior to the assessment deadline. Requests received outside of this criteria cannot be processed. We shall try to confirm the outcome of your request within the next two working days after your submission.

You will be sent an e-mail to the email address you used to submit your deferral. This will confirm the outcome of your deferral once we have considered and processed your request.

PhD students: please speak to your department directly about deferring assessed courses.

You should request to defer as soon as possible. If you request a deferral within 48 hours of an assessment we cannot guarantee you will receive the decision prior to the assessment taking place. 

Please note that certain assessments cannot be deferred (e.g. components based on class attendance or participation, in-class presentations etc...). In these instances, or if you are unsure, please contact the department responsible for the assessment for further guidance. 

In cases where the 24 hour deadline is approaching and you do not have evidence, but you expect to be able to provide evidence after the deadline, then you must submit the form within the normal deadline. You must make your intention to defer known in advance by submitting the form and indicating in the form there is evidence to follow. In such cases we won't make a decision about whether or not your deferral can be approved until after we have received your evidence. Normally you will be required to submit this to us no later than 2 weeks after the assessment deadline. Please see the "What happens after submitting a deferral" section.

If your deferral request is rejected, you may try to obtain further evidence and resubmit your request if there is more than 24 hours before the assessment deadline or start time of the exam. 

If there is less than 24 hours prior to the start of exam or assessment deadline, you may try to obtain further evidence to submit with an Exceptional Circumstances (ECs) form within the normal ECs deadline. The Exam Board will then consider ECs when they meet to consider to ratify your results.

You will receive an outcome email to the email address you submitted your deferral request from. It will take at least two working days from the day after you submit your deferral form and evidence to confirm the outcome of your request. 

If you do not receive an outcome in time for the relevant exam or assessment, you should consider if you are "fit to sit". Please note that sitting an exam or attempting an assessment means you have declared yourself "fit to sit".

If you request to defer is successful, it may still appear on your personal exam timetable in LSE for You and/or on Student Hub. However, the deferral outcome email you receive serves as confirmation that your entry to the exam has been removed. 

You can find information concerning on the re-entry webpage about when your deferred assessment(s) will take place. You will auomatically be re-entered to take any deferred, discounted or failed courses. 

If you are facing difficulties with your studies, whether for academic or personal reasons, there are many sources of support that may be able to help. 

If you anticipate difficulties with your assessments due to a documented medical, physical or mental health condition and/or a Specific Learning Difficulty such as dyslexia or dyspraxia, you should contact the Student Wellbeing Service as soon as possible to find out what teaching and learning support is available and/or if you are eligible.

Most departments remove material from Moodle in the summer to prepare the pages for the next academic year. If your deferral request is approved please ensure that you save any material from Moodle before the end of the academic year. If you have any queries please contact the Department which runs the course(s). 

Will I have to pay any fees when I come back to sit my deferred assessment(s)?

There are no tuition fees to pay as you would have paid for, and received, all tuition in the previous academic year.

If you are sitting a deferred first attempt at your assessment(s) then there are also no re-entry fees due. However, if you have deferred a resit, you will have to pay the re-entry fees of £60 per full unit and £35 per half unit.

Will I be entitled to tuition/supervision?

You will not be entitled to tuition or supervision for deferred exams or assessments (including your dissertation).

Can I have access to the Library even if my student ID card has expired?

Yes, and if your ID card is due to expire you can you can request a new one.

What syllabus will I be examined on when I come back to sit the deferred assessment(s)?

You will take assessments based on the syllabus which you were taught in the academic year you received teaching for the course.

How do I register for my deferred assessment(s)?

You will automatically be re-entered for your deferred assessments by the Student Records Team. Visit re-entry for more details. 

Can I defer part of a course, can I for instance, complete assessed course work and just defer the exam?

You must be specific in your deferral request about both the course and the specific assessment (or assessments) you wish to defer. For example, if you defer January exams but still have May/June exams to take for the same courses that year, then you would still be expected to sit your May/June exams that year. The marks achieved for these May/June exams would be combined with the marks you achieve for the deferred exams once you have taken them to produce an overall course mark. 

Are there limits on how many times I can defer?

Deferral is a permission and not always granted. You will normally only be allowed to defer an assessment once and be expected to attempt it during the next appropriate assessment period. 

The School will not normally approve a deferral if it would result in the student exceeding the maximum period of registration.The normal maximum period of registration is stated in the General Academic Regulations for your programme. Failure to achieve an award within the maximum period of registration allowed will result in deregistration.

Every taught programme has a maximum period of registration: this is five years for a three-year undergraduate programme, six years for a four-year undergraduate programme, and two years for a Masters programme.

If by deferring an assessment you will extend your studies beyond the maximum period, you may not be permitted to continue with your studies, irrespective of any outstanding assessment opportunities. If you are unsure whether you are likely to exceed your maximum period of registration or require any further advice on this, please contact the Student Services Centre in plenty of time before your deferral deadline.

Can I change my mind after I have deferred?

Once a deferral has been approved, you will not be able to withdraw it if you submit an assessment/sit an exam.

I have a student visa. If I defer, can I remain in the UK?

Your visa status may change as a result of your deferral. The School is required to report to UK Visas and Immigration any changes in the registration status of Student visa holders. This means that your Student visa may be amended or curtailed (cancelled).

Please contact the Student Advice and Engagement Team for more details and advice.