The School requires you to sit all assessments in the academic year in which you received tuition. Under certain circumstances the School will allow students to postpone one or more assessments to the next academic year. This is known as deferral. If you are absent from an examination of fail to submit a dissertation without official approval to defer, you will receive a mark of zero (i.e a fail) for that course, which will count as an attempt.
N.B. Deferral of assessment is not a right and permission will only be given in exceptional circumstances.
Re-entry students who wish to defer must defer all courses and will not be permitted to split re-entry.
Students who have missed tuition and do not feel able to sit examinations or hand in assessments should consider interrupting their studies. Please see the Interruption| web pages for details.
How to request a deferral
If you wish to defer an examination you must do the following:
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Complete the Deferral form. You should include your reasons for wanting a deferral and attach any supporting evidence.
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Obtain the approval of the Chair of the Sub-Board of Examiners for your degree programme. Please check with your department if you do not know who this is.
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Submit the completed form, including the Chair of the Sub-Board's approval, to the Registry team within the Student Services Centre.
When to request a deferral
Permission to defer an examination must be sought after all tuition has been received (late Lent term) and no later than Friday of the first week of the Summer term except in the case of unforeseen and exceptional circumstances.
Permission to defer a dissertation submission to the following academic year must be sought no later than 7 days prior to the submission deadlineexcept in the case of unforeseen and exceptional circumstances.
Approval
Certain deferral requests will require additional approval, as outlined below:
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Undergraduate students - requests to defer more than one assessment but less than all assessments require the additional approval of the Dean of Undergraduate Studies.
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Graduate students - requests to defer for the second time or more require the additional approval of the Chair of the Graduate Studies Sub-Committee.
The Registry team will submit your request to the Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Chair of Graduate Studies Sub-Committee as required. You do not need to obtain the additional approval prior to submitting your form to Registry.
Confirmation
An email confirming the School's decision on your deferral application will be sent to your LSE email account. We aim to process deferral forms within three working days of receipt. Please note that it may take us longer to process requests during busy periods.
Deadline Extensions
Extensions to deadlines for assessed course work are not dealt with by Registry. If you wish to apply for an extension to assessed work you must contact your department directly.
LLB Students
LLB students cannot normally ask for deferral.
General Course Students
If you wish to defer an examination you must complete the following Deferral form (PDF) (also available as a Word document). You should include your reasons for wanting a deferral, and attach any supporting evidence. You will need the approval of the General Course tutor and your home institution, and the form should then be returned to the Student Services Centre. An email confirming the School's decision will be sent to your LSE email account.
PhD Deferrals
PhD students should consult their departments directly about deferring assessed courses.
Deferral Fees
No fees are charged if you are taking a deferred exam/ assessment as a first attempt.
If the deferred assessment is a second attempt at a paper, then the standard assessment re-entry fees apply: £60 per full unit paper and £35 per half unit paper. See Re-entry| for further information.
Frequently Asked Questions
Please see the Deferral FAQs| if you have any queries regarding deferrals.
Re-entry
Students who defer examinations are automatically re-entered in the next academic session. Please see Re-entry| for details.