Special consideration policy

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

You must have experienced this medical condition yourself. If you wish to apply for special consideration due to carer responsibilities for another person’s medical condition (for example, an ill relative or unwell child), please refer ‘Applications on the grounds of personal hardship and supporting documentation’.

You are required to complete the relevant sections of the online special consideration application form and provide a CPA Australia Special Consideration Medical Form completed by a registered medical and/or health practitioner at the time of your consultation. 

If this is not possible, a separate medical certificate from a registered medical and/or health practitioner will be accepted if it contains the following: 

• the date/s of consultation/s with the registered medical practitioner/health professional
• the date/s that you have been or will be affected by the medical condition
• information about how your exam preparation and/or performance has been affected by your medical condition
• an indication of whether the condition is mild, moderate or severe (please note, references to ‘illness’, ‘medical condition’ or ‘not fit for work’ do not sufficiently indicate severity).

If you cannot provide the CPA Australia Special Consideration Medical Certificate Form, it is your responsibility to ensure the separate medical certificate contains the required listed above. A separate medical certificate that does not contain the required information may not be enough information for the Special Consideration Committee to assess.

All medical documentation supplied must be in English. Any documents that are not supplied in English must be supplied with a certified translation.

The following will not be accepted in place of the CPA Australia Special Consideration Medical Form or a medical certificate from a registered medical and/or health practitioner with the required information:

• statutory declaration (or equivalent)
• prescription for medication
• positive RAT or PCR result if applying due to COVID-19, or
• results of a medical test or scan (e.g. Xray, MRI, blood test, eye test, etc.).

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

• The recency of the documentation that is supplied will also be considered. 
• Falsifying or forging any supporting documentation is considered academic misconduct and will be treated in accordance with the Academic Misconduct Policy.

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
• other unforeseen circumstances that caused hardship and affected your capacity to prepare for your exam or perform to the best of your best ability in the exam, excluding personal medical conditions. For personal medical conditions please refer to ‘Applications on the grounds of medical condition and supporting documentation’.

If your special consideration application is work-related, it will not be processed and will not be reviewed by the Special Consideration Committee. The following examples are not considered extenuating or grounds for special consideration:

• a heavy workload 
• increased working hours
• unforeseen work demands
• work travel commitments. 

You are required to complete the relevant sections of the online special consideration application form when applying on the grounds of personal hardship, and provide a third-party statement from someone who can best attest to your adverse circumstances. 

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

• be written by someone not related to you by birth or marriage (including family members or de facto relationships)
• specify how the author of the letter knows you (e.g., manager, employer, doctor of ill relative, lawyer)
• 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 clearly establish how these circumstances were beyond your control 
• where applicable, state the relationship to the deceased/ill relative
• include a detailed explanation of how the hardship impacted your exam preparation and/or performance
• be written on official letterhead or with the current contact details of the author (email, phone number and residential address), and
• be signed and dated by the author and be written in their own words.

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, if you are applying due to unexpected carer responsibilities for an unwell child, your application will not be considered sufficient if you provide a medical certificate for that relative as your only supporting document. You must supply a third-party statement. In this example, you may consider providing a third-party statement from one of the following people: 

• the doctor / healthcare practitioner of the ill relative
• your employer / manager, or
• the teacher / centre manager at your child’s school or childcare centre.

In addition to the third-party statement, you are encouraged to provide additional supporting documentation that can attest to your claim, including but not limited to the following examples: 

• medical certificates and/or information 
• hospital admission form
• statutory declaration 
• police report.

All documentation supplied must be in English. Any documents that are not supplied in English must be supplied with a certified translation.

Please note the following when applying on the grounds of personal hardship:

• The recency of the documentation that is supplied will also be considered. 
• Falsifying or forging any supporting documentation is considered academic misconduct and will be treated in accordance with the Academic Misconduct Policy.

Applications on the grounds of an exam incident must relate to an incident that occurred during your exam. If you wish to apply for special consideration due to an incident that occurred before your exam, please refer to the section on personal hardship above.

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 online special consideration application form when applying on the grounds of an exam incident, including:

• a detailed 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 a case 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.

Please note the following when applying on the grounds of an exam incident:

• It is your responsibility to ensure you understand and adhere to the rules and policies for your exam format. Please refer to CPA Australia’s Exam scheduling and delivery policy for more information.
• 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.

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.