Illness and exam attemts
If you are ill on the day of an exam, you must report sick. If your illness is sufficiently documented, the exam does not count as an attempt.
It is always best to report sick immediately and not delay. The Student Ambassador receives enquiries from students who have run out of exam attempts because they have been ill and have not reported it.
You report sick to your faculty or department. Requirements and deadlines for reporting sick vary from faculty to faculty.
Read more about how to report sick for an exam and what the deadlines are on your study information page > Illness, parental leave and special support > Illness (requires login)
If you become ill during an exam, for example a written take-home assignment, where you have, say, a week to submit, we recommend that you apply for exemption to postpone the deadline for submission.
We recommend that you apply for exemption to postpone the deadline by the number of days for which you can document by a medical certificate that you have been so ill that you were not able to work on the assignment.
Read more about how to apply for exemption at your faculty on your study information page > Planning your studies > Rules and exemptions (requires login)
If you follow your programme according to the rules, you are entitled to three exam attempts for each course. Use them with care.
The study board may grant you exemption for extra exam attempts. However, the study board must assess whether you can document that you are in a situation that can be described as special circumstances.
If you do not pass your exam at the three attempts, you can apply for extra attempts. This is something the study board will grant you if the study board assesses, that you can document that your situation contains special circumstances.
Read about exemptions and special circumstances.
Read more about more than three exam attempts on your study information page > Exams > If you do not pass (requires login)
If you do not comply with the requirements for maximum duration of study and first-year exam, you will lose your right to three exam attempts.
As a general rule, you are required to complete your studies within the maximum duration of study. If you have not applied for and been granted exemption to exceed the maximum duration of study, you will lose the right to any unused exam attempts.
If you are a bachelor student, this also applies to the exams that are included in the first-year exam. The University may withdraw your registration if you do not meet the first-year exam requirement, no matter that you have not been given the opportunity to sit three exam attempts in your first-year exam courses. However, you must have had the opportunity to use at least two exam attempts during your first year of studies before your registration can be withdrawn.
Read more about the maximum completion time and the first-year exam requirement on your study information page > Planning your studies > Study activity requirements" (Requires login)
If you are ill for an extended period of time, you may need to apply for exemption for, for example:
- Delay of the first-year exam requirement
- Studying at reduced hours
- More than three exam attempts
- Extended maximum duration of study
Read more about this on your study information page > Illness, parental leave and special support (requires login) or contact the student counselling service.
You may also need to apply for exemption for additional SU grant portions. Read more about this on your study information page > SU and grants > Your SU (requires login) or contact SU at the University of Copenhagen.