Where students are unable to attend their final exam, due to illness, events or misadventure, a supplementary exam may be given. The supplementary exam period is published at the beginning of each year (see Key Dates for Exams), it is an official exam session and students should make themselves available for them if and when required.

Supplementary exams are managed by the UNSW Exams team, except for AGSM, ADFA, Art & Design, and the School of Optometry. Please contact these schools directly for further information.

A supplementary exam may be awarded to students where:

  • illness or misadventure has prevented a student from completing their end of term exam, and their absence can be proven to be beyond their control.

or

  • a student is in their final term at UNSW and is considered a potential graduand. These students do not need to complete a special consideration application as they will be awarded a supplementary exam at the discretion of the School. If you want to make enquiries about your eligibility - please contact your School. 
    • Students who receive a supplementary exam due to a Fail based on the overall course result will have their final mark for the course capped at 50% after completing the potential graduand supplementary exam.

 

In all cases, the form of the supplementary assessment need not be identical to the original assessment, but it must assess the same learning outcomes.

Students will be notified of their eligibility for a supplementary exam via myUNSW only.

Note: The supplementary exam timetable can only be finalised once all special consideration applications have been assessed.

 

For Term 1 2025 students will be notified that their supplementary exam has been approved no later than Friday 23rd May.

The supplementary timetable gets created and released gradually, as we follow-up on all of the students approved for their supplementary exams from the final exams that only ended the previous week(s).

Each student will be able to see their timetable seven (7) days prior to their exam via myUNSW, e.g., it is a staggered release, if your supplementary exam is going to be on a Monday then it will be able to be viewed on your myUNSW timetable the Monday before. Please continue to check your myUNSW timetable every day until your exam appears.

Please note: The seven (7) day notice does not apply to students receiving a potential graduand supplementary exam.

If on Friday 23rd May your supplementary timetable has not been updated and you have been awarded a supplementary exam, please contact us at [email protected].

Term 1 2025 supplementary exams will take place on Monday 26th through Friday 30th May.

Please familiarise yourself with key exam dates via the Key Dates page.

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