WSET Special Consideration Policy

Special consideration is any adjustment given to a student who has temporarily experienced an illness or injury, or other event outside of their control at the time of the exam that significantly affects their ability to take the exam or their ability to show their knowledge and understanding in the assessment.

Special consideration is only for things that happen immediately before or during an exam that have a material impact on your, the student’s, ability to take the exam or on your performance.

To be eligible for special consideration, you must have completed the whole course and would have been fully prepared if not for the temporary illness, injury or other uncontrollable event.

A special consideration may be for an individual (e.g. a student becomes ill the day of the exam and has a doctor’s note) or a group of students (e.g. an exam is interrupted by a natural disaster).

You may be eligible for special consideration if, for example:

• Your performance on the exam is adversely affected by an event outside of your control. This may include temporary illness, temporary injury, bereavement, or exam room conditions; and
• Reasonable adjustments which were agreed in advance of the exam proved inappropriate or inadequate.

Applying for Special Consideration

If you have taken an exam, or your exam is immediately approaching, and you feel that you have a temporary injury or illness, or other uncontrollable event that has interfered with your ability to complete your exam, please contact the Independent Wine Education Guild (IWEG) at atheunissen@iweg.org as soon as possible. IWEG will provide you with a special consideration application form, which must be completed and returned with supporting documentation within five (5) working days after the affected exam. The information you submit will be shared with WSET and will be handled under Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s (WSET) privacy and data protection policy.

If there has been serious disruption during an exam affecting a group of students, IWEG will submit a detailed report of the circumstances and candidates affected to WSET to request a special consideration.

IWEG will keep records of all applications for special consideration.