Exceptional Circumstances (EC) submissions must include appropriate corroborating evidence in English. Forms submitted without evidence are highly unlikely to result in any action.

The sections below provide guidance on the type of evidence we expect, when to submit your evidence, the technical requirements, and how you can get documents translated.

Your evidence must show the impact on your assessment

Sub-boards will expect very compelling evidence for EC submissions. The EC process is considered a last resort (after extensions and/or deferrals) so sub-boards will want to see evidence which fully meets the requirements laid out in the Standards of Evidence document. 

For example if you injure yourself a discharge note or photographs are unlikely to be helpful on their own, instead (or in addition) you should provide a letter from your GP explaining the impact on your performance. We expect you to obtain appropiate evidence  showing the impact and set timeframes allow for this. 

You should always aim to provide evidence which shows the impact on your ability to perform during the specific assessments listed in the form. 

In some cases a statement from an LSE member of staff (for example you Academic Mentor, a Student Counsellor, a Mental Health Adviser, or a Disability Adviser) may be acceptable. The types of circumstances where a staff supporting letter can be accepted is set out on page two of the Standards of Evidence document.

When to submit your evidence 

You must submit your EC form by the relevant deadline and it should contain all of your evidence. If your evidence is not complete then you should wait until it is all ready before submitting your form, so long as you still meet the deadline.

If you are unable to obtain all of your evidence by the deadline, then you should submit the your EC form with the evidence you do have (or with no evidence) and explain why  you have had to do this (there is a space to for this on the form). Remember that it is highly unlikely that exceptional circumstances submissions without supporting evidence will result in any action.  

If you evidence becomes available after the deadline you can submit a new form but please bear in mind that it may not be considered if it arrives after the deadline. It is not possible to add evidence to a form you have already submitted.

Longer term circumstances and conditions

Generally speaking, we do not consider ECs to be appropaite for longer term conditions or circumstances.  The EC procedure is designed to help students who experienced unexpected short-term circumstances at the point of submission or during an exam. If your circumstances affected you over a long period of time then you should normally seek support (e.g. from the Student Services Centre, your Academic Mentor, or the Disability and Mental Health Service) or interrupt your studies rather than submitting assessments and ECs. The EC form will ask you to explain why these support services were not appropiate. 

However, we understand that you may experience a sudden or unforeseen deteroriation or 'flare-up' of a long term condition or circumstances. In these instances you should  explain this in your statement and provide evidence of this deteoriation or 'flare-up' along with evidence of your longer term condition. Your aim should be to provide evidence which explains why the specific assessments were impacted. 

Technical requirements

The EC form will only allow you to upload PDF files. Given the timeframes invovled, and role of EC submissions, we expect you to collate your evidence into a single PDF document before submitting your form. There are lots of free tools that will allow you to convert and combine files into a PDF. You may find it easiest to put your files into an MS Word document (or similar) and then save this as a PDF. 

The maximum file size is 2GB. If your evidence document is very large there are free tools that will allow you to compress PDFs but please do check that the file has not become corrupted when after compression. The EC form will allow you to submit multiple files as evidence but we would encourage you to avoid this because it makes it hard for us to consider your submission properly. If you upload more than 5 files the submission of your form may fail. 

Translating evidence

All evidence must be signed, dated, and written in English. If your evidence is not written in English, you will need to provide a certified translation.

The LSE Language Centre are able translate documents from languages that they teach. There is a fee for this service and requires at least 72 hours. Visit Language Centre Additional Services for more information.

Alternatively, you can use an external translation agency. You should contact your embassy for a list of authorised agencies.

When you provide translated evidence, the original (untranslated) document must also be provided.