Special consideration policy

Applications on the grounds of a medical condition must document how your medical condition significantly affected your ability to prepare for your exam or perform to your best ability in the exam.

You are required to complete the online special consideration application form, including the medical certificate section to support your special consideration application. It is a requirement that the medical certificate section is completed by a registered medical and/or health practitioner at the time of your consultation. If it is not possible for the registered medical and/or health practitioner to complete the medical certificate section of the application form, a separate medical certificate from a registered medical and/or health practitioner will be accepted if it contains the following:

• information about how your studies or exam performance have been affected by your medical condition
• the dates of consultation with the registered medical practitioner/health professional
• an indication of whether the condition is mild, moderate or severe
• the dates that you have been or will be affected.

It is your responsibility to ensure the separate medical certificate covers this information if you cannot complete the medical certificate section of the special consideration application form. If your medical certificate does not contain all the relevant information or references ‘illness’, ‘medical condition’, or ‘not fit for work’, this may not be enough information for the Special Consideration Committee to assess.

Please note the following when applying on the grounds of a medical condition:

• A Statutory Declaration (or equivalent) will not be accepted in replacement of a Medical Certificate from a registered medical and/or health practitioner or completion of the medical certificate section of the application form. 
• If you are applying due to COVID-19, a positive RAT or PCR result does not replace the requirement to complete the medical certificate section of the application form, or a separate medical certificate from a registered medical and/or health practitioner. If you cannot provide the medical certificate section of the application form or a medical certificate, please refer to ‘Applications on the ground of personal hardship’ to determine your eligibility to apply under this category. 
• Your medical and supporting documentation must include information on how the medical condition has impacted your studies and/or exam performance. If your application doesn’t contain this information, the Special Consideration Committee may not assess it.
• The recency of the documentation that is supplied will also be considered. All medical documentation supplied must be in English. Any documents that are not supplied in English must be supplied with a certified translation.
• If you have been granted a Reasonable Adjustment, you are not automatically granted special consideration for your exam result. You should apply for special consideration each semester if your disability or medical condition has impacted your studies leading up to the exam, or if any of the other grounds for special consideration have impacted your exam performance or studies during the semester in a manner which is not addressed by any Reasonable Adjustments made for you.
• Falsifying or forging any supporting documentation is considered academic misconduct and will be treated in accordance with the Academic Misconduct Policy.

Please note: to apply under the grounds of a medical condition, you must have experienced this condition yourself. If you wish to apply for special consideration due to carer responsibilities for another individual’s medical condition (for example, an ill relative or unwell child), please refer to the section on personal hardship below.

Applications on the grounds of personal hardship must document how your hardship significantly affected your ability to prepare for your exam or perform to your best ability in the exam.

Personal hardship may include, but is not limited to, family issues, personal issues or financial issues. Some examples are:

• divorce
• death in the family
• ill relative requiring your care
• unpredicted or sudden home moves
• redundancy
• attending court cases during the exam period
• unforeseen circumstances that affected your exam preparation or performance in the lead-up to your exam.

A heavy workload, including working hours, unpredicted work demands, work travel commitments or pressures of work are not considered extenuating or grounds for special consideration. If your special consideration application is work-related, it will not be accepted nor reviewed by the Special Consideration Committee.

You are required to complete the relevant sections of the special consideration application form when applying on the grounds of personal hardship. All special consideration applications on the grounds of personal hardship must be submitted with a third-party statement from someone who can best attest to your adverse circumstances. The author of the third-party statement must be someone unrelated to the candidate by birth or marriage (this includes any family members or de facto relationships). For example, if you are applying on the basis of a death in the family, an ill relative or unwell child (where you have carer responsibilities) you may consider providing a third-party statement from one of the following people: the doctor / healthcare practitioner of the ill relative or child; your employer / manager; or the teacher / centre manager at your child’s school or childcare centre.

The third-party statement must meet the following criteria for the application to be processed:

• written by someone not related to you by birth or marriage (including family members or de facto relationships)
• state the relevant dates of the personal hardship and when you were affected during the respective semester
• include a detailed explanation of your personal hardship and how the hardship impacted your studies and/or exam performance
• specify how the author of the letter knows you (e.g., manager, employer, doctor of ill relative, lawyer)
• written on official letterhead or with the current contact details of the author (email, phone number and residential address)
• signed and dated by the author, and
• where applicable, state the relationship to the deceased/ill relative.

Applications on the grounds of personal hardship that do not include a third-party statement meeting the criteria above may not be processed or reviewed by the Special Consideration Committee. For example, applications due to the care of an unwell relative are not considered sufficiently demonstrated with a medical certificate for that relative. You will need to supply a third-party statement from someone who can best attest to their circumstances and that clearly establishes how the circumstances or hardship was beyond your control and include information on how it affected your studies and/or exam performance.

In addition to the third-party statement, you are encouraged to provide additional supporting documentation that can attest to your claim, such as additional medical certificates and/or information hospital admission forms, statutory declaration and/or police report.

The recency of the documentation supplied will also be considered as part of the application. All documentation supplied must be in English. Any documents that are not supplied in English must be supplied with a certified translation.

Applications on the grounds of an exam incident must relate to an incident that occurred during* your exam.

You must document how the incident was beyond your control and significantly affected your exam performance.

You are required to complete the relevant sections of the special consideration application form when applying on the grounds of an exam incident.

Candidates must supply the following documentation within the special consideration application form:

• a statement describing the incident that took place during the exam
• how the incident affected your exam performance
• when the incident occurred and how long it lasted
• if the incident was discussed with CPA Australia and/or the exam provider prior to applying for special consideration
• the actions undertaken by the supervisor or proctor to support you.

If you are sitting your exam at a test centre, please ensure you report any exam incidents on the day of your exam immediately to your exam supervisor. Your exam supervisor may issue an incident ID that you can reference in your special consideration application. If you are sitting an online proctored exam, please contact CPA Australia immediately after your exam to report the incident. Following receipt of an application, CPA Australia may seek verification of the exam incident.

It is your responsibility to ensure you understand and adhere to the rules and policies for your chosen exam format. Special consideration applications submitted on the grounds of an incident relating to a breach of exam rules or policies may not be accepted or reviewed by the Special Consideration Committee.

*If you wish to apply for special consideration due to an incident that occurred before your exam (or related to a previous exam experience), please refer to the section on personal hardship above.

No. This policy only applies to candidates who are enrolled in a CPA Program subject. Candidates who apply for special consideration relating to circumstances that adversely affected their preparation and/or performance in a Foundation exam will not be accepted.

If your study has been affected and you don’t feel adequately prepared for your exam, or you’re simply no longer able to attend your exam, you may:

• cancel your enrolment for your subject, up to the closing date 
• defer your enrolment to the following semester, up to the closing date.

Special consideration is not applicable if you wish to cancel or defer your exam. If you wish to cancel or defer your exam, please visit My CPA Program to manage your enrolment.

If you have a disability, medical condition or learning impairment you may also apply for a reasonable adjustment before your exam and prior to the closing date for applications.

You must submit your application for special consideration before the closing date for the relevant semester. Your application must address how you were affected during the respective semester, and applications will not be accepted after the closing date (including once exam results have been released).

You can access the Special Consideration Application via our online application portal.

Once you’ve completed the relevant sections, you’ll be prompted to submit your application.

If you are applying for special consideration for more than one subject, please use the one application form, unless the grounds on which you are applying for the subjects differ, in which case you will need to complete separate application forms for each subject.

Neither CPA Australia, nor our exam delivery partner, will submit a special consideration application on your behalf. All applications must be submitted by the candidate before the closing date for their circumstances to be considered.

If you call CPA Australia to request special consideration or to report an exam incident, it is not a formal request. You must complete the online special consideration application form and submit this before the closing date to be considered.

If you experience an incident during your exam, the supervisor or proctor may provide you with a case number. This is not a special consideration application; the case number is provided so your incident can be validated by CPA Australia. You must complete the online special consideration application form and submit this before the closing date to be considered.

If your application is received before the closing date, we'll acknowledge it in writing before results are officially released. Applications with insufficient supporting documentation won't be considered and you'll be notified in writing.

Applying for special consideration doesn't change how your exam will be marked. You'll still be marked on the entire exam, including the questions you may not have answered.

Your final scaled score will reflect your performance across the entire exam. It won't be adjusted based on any questions you may not have completed.

Once your application has been received and acknowledged, the Special Consideration Committee will assess applications that meet the following criteria:

• you sat the exam
• you received a fail grade and your scaled score (exam marks) were within the limited range below the pass mark (540).

For your application to be reviewed by the Special Consideration Committee, your scaled score must fall within the limited range below the pass mark. If you received a fail grade and your scaled score sits outside the limited range (a clear fail), your application won't be reviewed by the Committee and your results won't be considered for adjustment.