ACCA is committed to ensuring that no student is disadvantaged in their examinations because of any special educational need, disability or temporary injury. In order to ensure this we make special access arrangements to enable all students to access our exams.
Requests for access arrangements will be considered in accordance with the UK Equality Act 2010. This requires reasonable adjustments to be made where a disabled person or a person who has suffered accidental injury or acute illness (whether short or long term) would be at a substantial disadvantage in taking an examination compared to someone who is not disabled.
An adjustment may not be considered reasonable if it involves unreasonable costs, timeframes or affects the security or integrity of the examination. In most cases it will not be reasonable for adjustments to be made to assessment criteria within an exam (the learning outcomes we wish to assess) as to do so would undermine its integrity and effectiveness in providing a reliable indication of the knowledge, skills and understanding of the student. An example of an adjustment that may be considered unreasonable, would be the provision of a paper based exam in place of a computer-based exam where students are required to demonstrate skills in the use of technology. To make this provision would mean changing the assessment criteria for the exam and would, therefore, undermine its integrity. Further information on ACCA’s transition to computer-based exams can be found in How ACCA exams have evolved over time (PDF, 97kb).
In line with the Act, disability includes people who have:
- Cognition and learning needs
- Communication and interaction needs
- Sensory and physical needs
- Social, mental and emotional needs
- Unforeseen medical circumstances.
To help all students demonstrate their competence in the areas being assessed in our examinations, each request will be considered on an individual basis by our experienced team. ACCA also works with a number of external agencies to ensure our awareness and assessment capability is both relevant and up to date, allowing us to make adjustments that are both appropriate and work in the best interests of our students.
How to apply
Requests should be submitted, along with the required supporting documentary medical evidence via the additional support portal on MyACCA.
To help you submitting your request we have a short video to show you.